Have you read about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)? How about the Supreme Court’s Bilski case? You know of Intel and maybe of AMD, their chief rival in computer CPUs. Have you ever heard of ARM Holdings? Did you know that Apple is rumored to be thinking of acquiring them? Do you know why this matters to you? You couldn’t escape all the news stories about Apple’s launch of the iPad but do you know why this is important?
There is lots of news that grabs our attention but has little impact on our lives. Celebrity-related gossip or irrelevant high-profile stories like Apple customers downloaded over a billion apps on their iPhones may appeal to you. There are many stories that get reported but fly under our radar because they do not have celebrities in their headlines. This does not mean these stories are unimportant. Many of them are crucial because they will impact our lives now or in the near future.
The draft ACTA treaty is important. It is a pact that has been negotiated in secret by countries including the US, Canada, Japan, and others and the European Commission. It addresses cross-border intellectual property (IP) law. The big content companies, such as FOX, Viacom and SONY, are rumored to be behind this treaty and to have had overbroad influence on its provisions. Treaty law may trump national and state law. Thus it matters. Internet service provider (ISP) safe harbor law may change. Our right to due process as delineated in the Constitution may be curtailed or eliminated when accused of IP-related crimes. Current illegal government searches may become legal and mandatory because of the treaty. If you want a good summary analysis of the state of the ACTA negotiation go to http://j.mp/bfRiLE. You may read the draft treaty at http://j.mp/d4dgrS.
Patent law has been around in the US since 1790 when Congress enacted the first Patent Act. In the early 1990s software patents became a reality. Many people and the EU believe they should not be allowed because software is an abstraction, a form of language which is not patentable. The Bilski case is now before the Supreme Court awaiting its ruling. Thus far, Federal Courts have denied the patent, which involves a business method for hedging risks in commodities trading. If the Supreme Court upholds the lower courts, tens of thousands of software patents granted to companies like IBM, Microsoft, Apple and others may be invalidated. The consequence of that would be significant to companies who don’t have large patent portfolios to trade can do when “infringing” on another company’s software patent. If software patents fall, so will the costs of many technology products. Innovation may rise.
I recently researched chips used in mobile devices to educate myself. All roads led to ARM Holdings, which designs the chips used in most cell phones and many other mobile devices. An ARM chip powers the Apple iPhone. An ARM chip powers the Motorola Droid phone and every BlackBerry phone. An ARM chip also runs the iPad. Apple’s profits are skewing towards ARM-based devices and away from Intel-based computers like iMacs and MacBooks. Tech blogs have been abuzz with the rumor that Apple is going to buy ARM Holdings. If this happens it will have a major impact on the largest worldwide technology growth market. Apple could stifle competition.
How the Mets, Yankees or Red Sox are doing may be important to you. Whether Tiger Woods has reformed may interest you. The above technology news items are probably more significant to our lives.
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