Patent potpourri

Vesmir’s smart depopulation. WesternGeco/ION settlement. IBM gives up ’stupid’ patent.

Vesmir, creator of PetroDE, has been awarded US Patent No. 9,594,773 for its ‘smart depopulation’-based large dataset mapping technology. The patent covers a ‘pattern-retaining’ method for displaying ‘big’ geographic datasets. ‘Smart depopulation’ adjusts the resulting display such that ‘only literally a fraction’ (sic) of the data requested is actually shown. The algorithm was developed by Dylan Herron.

A final order from the District Court in regard to ION’s patent litigation with WesternGeco means that ION has to pay WesternGeco an additional $5 million above the $20.8 million paid earlier.

All will be relieved to learn that IBM has given up on its ‘out-of-office’ email patent, lampooned by the Electronic Frontier Foundation as a ‘stupid patent of the month.’ EFF attorney Daniel Nazer described the patent as ‘abstract, obvious and absurd.’

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