The U.S Patent Office strikes a serious blow to patent troll NeoMedia Technologies.
From Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) U.S. Patent Office Rejects All Ninety-Five NeoMedia Patent Claims
EFF's Patent Busting Project, continues to march forward, this time with more good news about the petition that EFF, in conjunction with Paul Grewal and James Czaja of Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder, filed last April seeking reexamination of the NeoMedia bar-code lookup patent.
We're happy to report that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) recently rejected all ninety-five claims [5.3 MB PDF] of the patent.
The PTO agreed to take another look at the patent last October after EFF filed a petition for ex parte reexamination that called to the PTO's attention a wealth of prior art that the PTO had not previously considered and that showed that the NeoMedia patent claims were not novel.
After consideration of the prior art EFF submitted, the PTO found that none of the ninety-five claims in the NeoMedia patent should have been allowed.
NeoMedia Technologies, Inc., claimed to own rights to all systems that provide information over computer networks using database-like lookup procedures that rely on scanned inputs, such as a barcode. NeoMedia has used these claims not only to threaten and sue innovators in the mobile information space, but also to intimidate projects focused on increasing awareness among consumers about the social and environmental impact of the products they buy. (red print emphasis is mine)
On October 15, 2007, the day before the Patent Office ordered the re-examination, the Chairman and member of NeoMedia's Board resignation became effective.
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