The Morning Briefing: The patent exchange

"The Morning Briefing" is SmartPlanet's daily roundup of must-reads from the web. This morning we're reading about patent sales and court cases.

1.) Germany is center of Microsoft, tech patent suits. Two-thirds of all patent claims in Europe are now filed in German courts, where tech companies find it's easy to block the sale of a rival's product by filing suit. Microsoft last week ended its relationship with its German distribution partner as its German patent tiff with Motorola heats up in that country.

2.) Patent wars persuade Microsoft to reload. The global gold rush in technology patents gained speed on Monday when Microsoft agreed to pay more than $1 billion for 800 patents held by AOL. The price -- $1.3 million a patent -- reflects the crucial role that patents are increasingly playing in business and legal strategies.

3.) Yahoo files e-book advert system patent applications. Yahoo has signalled it is investigating e-book adverts as a way to stimulate its earnings. It says in two U.S. patent applications that ads for digital book readers have been 'less than optimal\ to date.

4.) Facebook fires back lawsuit at Yahoo. Facebook on Tuesday fired back against a wide-ranging patent lawsuit from Yahoo, alleging infringement of ten of its own patents as the relationship between the former internet partners turned increasingly bitter.

5.) Augme files patent infringement suit against competitor Millennial Media. Augme Technologies, a leader in interactive media marketing that provides the only patented end-to-end mobile marketing platform, has has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court of Delaware against Millennial Media, an independent mobile advertising and data platform company.

Bonus: SEFE Inc. receives patent for dynamic electrical converter system

Image credit: Joel Bez

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com