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President Donald Trump has selected Andrei Iancu, the managing partner of a major Los Angeles law firm, to be the next head of the US Patent and Trademark Office [USPTO].
His most notable work in the tech sector is likely his representation of TiVo Corp. in its long-running patent battles with companies like EchoStar, Motorola, Microsoft, Verizon, and Cisco. TiVo ultimately succeeded in compelling those defendants to pay up for its pioneering DVR patents, and payments to TiVo ultimately totaled more than $1.6 billion, according to Iancu's biography page.
Iancu also had a hand in Immersion Corp's $82 million jury verdict against Sony Computer Entertainment in which a jury found that Immersion's patent claims on tactile feedback technology were valid and infringed.
[...] Iancu earned his JD, along with an MS in mechanical engineering and a BS in aerospace engineering, from UCLA. He worked as an engineer at Hughes Aircraft before attending law school.
Handling the business of a large and successful law firm like Irell & Manella means that Iancu is no slouch when it comes to management skills. And his varied set of clients could help him avoid the tug of war that often pops up between tech and pharma over how to manage the patent system.
If confirmed by the Senate, Iancu will replace Michelle Lee, the outgoing USPTO director who left shortly after Trump's inauguration. Lee, a former Google attorney, was a favorite of the tech sector.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @09:22PM (10 children)
When will you fools quit begging for scraps, and start building your own world instead?
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday August 28 2017, @09:28PM (5 children)
Um, last time I checked, TiVo was long, long since dead and buried. If you want a DVR, you have to rent it from the cableco. But Netflix, Hulu etc. have basically made it obsolete.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @09:32PM
Give it a chance sometime.
(Score: 4, Informative) by NewNic on Monday August 28 2017, @09:45PM (3 children)
Last time I drove past TiVo's HQ (this morning), they appeared to be open.
If you want to use a TiVo with cable, you can rent a Cablecard for a small monthly amount.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday August 29 2017, @03:17AM (2 children)
Isn't Cablecard that thing that in theory all cablecos support, and which lets you use 3rd-party equipment with your cable subscription, but in reality it doesn't actually work because that would conflict with the cableco's interest in having you rent equipment from them instead?
As for TiVo, it's dead. According to their Wikipedia page, they were acquired by Rovi (formerly Macrovision), and they plan to stop all hardware production and focus on licensing. As I said before, if you want a DVR, you have to rent it from the cableco. TiVo just licenses patents to the companies that make the cableco's devices.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TiVo_Inc. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday August 29 2017, @03:36AM
Cablecards do actually work. Maybe not everywhere, but they definitely work in my area.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday August 29 2017, @03:42AM
Also, go look at the source material for the claim in the Wikipedia article that TiVo plans to discontinue selling hardware: it doesn't say that. One can infer that it's a likely outcome, but there is no publicly disclosed plan for this.
Still, if my TiVo quits working and cannot be replaced, that's going to push me over the edge to cutting the cable-tv cord.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday August 28 2017, @10:43PM (1 child)
When will you fools quit begging for scraps, and start building your own world instead?
When the relevant patents expire.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 28 2017, @11:45PM
You don't need to watch that show; alter your passions.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @04:34AM (1 child)
When they stop forbidding citizen from exploring the southern hemisphere, lest we find that large section of arable land as big as the USA "on the other side of the south pole" as described by General Byrd. [youtube.com] And indeed there may be other continents as yet undeiscovered. Just look at the poor patch job of Antarctica on any aerial map, it's clearly not accurate and could be cover for more land. For example, where on Google Earth is the land, warm fresh water lakes, and mountains of coal, as shown in this video of Antarctica? [youtube.com]
You see, the current rulers have always done this, first with their tales of giant beasts lurking in evil forests did they keep the ignorant peasants from leaving to other lands. Next with the concept of a world one could fall off the edge of did they scare explorers away from exploring that which they historically knew existed. [andrewcollins.com] Now with the maps wrapped around the 3D globe model they still say there is no more to explore, and tell of the extreme danger to human life, this time outright forbidding exploration via the longest lasting international treaty ever signed.
The truth is: We're not allowed to build our own world. The last time colonization of a New World was allowed it challenged the world order and became a super power. They wouldn't risk another America, and the powers that be would do anything, Anything, to ensure they stay in power.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @04:45PM
that second youtube link doesn't exist anymore