E-Commerce Blog

Interested parties the world over anxiously wait as the U.S. top court prepares its ruling regarding the patentability of business methods. The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments in the matter of Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw v. David Kappos in an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which upheld the United States Patent Office decision last year. Should the Supreme Court find that business methods are not patentable subject matter, this may in turn negatively impact the patentability of software patents.

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What to Do While Waiting for Bilski

Palm had its hands full over the weekend. The company’s Sunday launch of its new US$99 Pixi smartphone had to compete with fresh rumors begun Friday that the company was a possible target of a takeover by Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia. Those rumors sent Palm stock soaring by 8 percent on Friday, although Monday’s trading was back within normal ranges. The share price boost started with reports on various Web sites that Nokia was considering a buyout in order to jump-start its presence in the U.S. market and acquire Palm’s ready-for-smartphone operating system.

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Would Palm Buy Scuttle Nokia’s Symbian Strategy?

Apple has won a summary judgment in its copyright infringement case against Psystar. The Miami-based startup turned heads last year with its offer of a $400 Mac clone — that is, non-Apple hardware running the Mac OS X Leopard operating system. Several claims in the case remain to be briefed and tried if it doesn’t settle first, which it likely will, as this motion has all but cut the legs out from Psystar’s legal strategy. There is also the matter of damages, which the judge will rule upon at a damages hearing scheduled for December 14th.

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Ruling Snuffs Psystar’s Mac Dreams

Eight decades after pioneering the concept of broadcasting, NBC is on the verge of a startling move that illustrates broadcast television’s decline. Cable TV operator Comcast is expected to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal, perhaps as early as this week, bringing the network of Johnny Carson, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Hope, Milton Berle and Tom Brokaw under the corporate control of the company that owns the Golf Channel and E! Entertainment Television. “This is highly symbolic,” said Tim Brooks, who had worked at NBC for 20 years and now writes books on television history.

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NBC’s Sale to Cable Co. Signals TV Sea Change

United Airlines was my Internet destination as I continued sampling travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times. The first item to catch my eye was an unusual graphic — neither a 1) plane 2) automobile 3) hotel nor 4) iconic celebrity hawker. Instead it was a stylized drawing of a woman’s outstretched leg with a big bow on her ankle. It was United’s way of illustrating its holiday fares promotions; a design element that took me by surprise after weeks of reviewing travel Web sites that appeared to give little thought to layout or aesthetics.

Continued here:
United Offers a Touch of Class