“We find a breakup would not yield compelling upside from the current stock price,” the research report states.

Investors may want to keep in mind this one sentence in the Wall Street Journal report:

Meanwhile, analysts Clay and Fred Moran of the Stanford Group note in a research report Wednesday that breaking Yahoo’s business is unlikely to “drive value” for Yahoo shareholders.

Update at 10:40 a.m. PDT, with analyst report on potential break-up of Yahoo and updated stock performance

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has been sidling up to other companies about teaming up to make a bid for Yahoo, a move that would result in a breakup of the Internet search pioneer, with Microsoft retaining the search portion of Yahoo’s business.

The stock price jumped 6.3 percent to $21.48 a share early Wednesday, just a day after Yahoo’s shares fell below $20 to come very near the level where they were trading prior to the start of Microsoft’s buyout bid in February.

Some of the people familiar with these talks say they are preliminary and unlikely to result in a deal with Yahoo.

Yahoo shares shot up 6 percent in morning trading Wednesday, on word that Microsoft may seek partners to make another bid for the company’s search business.

Should such a breakup occur, Stanford Group’s “sum-of-the-parts” assessment would give Yahoo a value of $20 to $24 a share.

A potential break up of Yahoo’s business would likely result in Microsoft acquiring Yahoo’s search engine, while a large media company could merge its Internet properties with Yahoo, the report states. Yahoo’s Asia assets and investments, meanwhile, could be spun off or sold.

The demo was loud and entertaining, and the technology is cool. If you’re a musician looking for a jamming product, also check out eJamming, which I covered from the at the January 2007 Demo conference.

Artists can lay down new sounds on top of tracks other people have recorded previously, and anyone with access to the tracks can mix music.

The Bojam mixer.

New completed songs can then be sold on the site.

Prepare. To. Demo.

Most rousing demo award at TechCrunch50 goes to Bojam, simply because they had the music (”Africa,” by Toto). The service is a music mixing product and online store.

Microsoft has thus far offered few details on what it might look to cut if its deal goes through, and Ballmer didn’t offer much in the way of new details in the magazine interview.

Microsoft says it can find $1 billion in cost cuts by combining Yahoo’s business with its own Internet services operation, however CEO Steve Ballmer says the Yahoo name isn’t one of the things on the chopping block.

Even if the brand lives, though, it is unclear which of Yahoo’s technologies Microsoft would adopt. A merged company would have to choose among two e-mail systems, to ad platforms and two instant messaging systems, to name just a few of the many overlaps.

“Yahoo, the brand, will live,” Ballmer told BusinessWeek.

NASA managers brief reporters on a valve problem that delayed Discovery's launch. Left to right: NASA spokesman Allard Beutel, Mike Moses, chairman of NASA's Mission Management Team, and Pete Nickolenko, Discovery's launch director.

(Credit:
NASA)

Engineers plan to test the suspect hydrogen fill-and-drain valve Wednesday to determine if the valve or a sensor system that measures its position is to blame for the readings that forced NASA to order Discovery’s second delay in a row. Bad weather blocked a launch attempt early Tuesday.

If it turns out the position sensor was to blame–and if NASA managers can get comfortable launching Discovery without full instrumentation in a critical system–then a launch attempt Friday at 12:22 a.m. EDT might be feasible.

But if engineers are forced to open the shuttle’s engine compartment and replace any suspect components, launch could be delayed to around October 17.

Discovery’s current launch window closes after Sunday because of upcoming Japanese and Russian space station launches and because of a scheduling conflict with the Air Force Eastern Range, which provides tracking and telemetry support for all rockets launched from Florida.

Telemetry indicates the position indicator is to blame for Discovery’s latest problem and “right now, I’m pretty confident…we’ll be really good to go on Friday if we come out with a good technical story that says we can fly without instrumentation,” said Mike Moses, chairman of NASA’s pre-launch Mission Management Team.

“So we both have to first prove it is instrumentation and then prove we’re OK to fly without instrumentation,” he said.

Engineers plan to begin testing the valve Wednesday afternoon or early evening after Discovery’s external tank is fully drained and free of any residual hydrogen gas.

“Heading into the midnight timeframe tomorrow, we’ll probably know whether we are going to keep pressing forward (for a Friday launch) or we’ve learned we’re not going to make it,” Moses said.

Because the space station launch window moves about 23 minutes earlier per day, Discovery has two launch opportunities Friday, the first at 12:22 a.m. and the second at 11:59 p.m.

The Mission Management Team plans to meet at noon Thursday to assess the progress of troubleshooting and to make a formal decision on whether to proceed with launch.

The space shuttle Discovery early Tuesday, after stormy weather delayed launch. Problems with a fuel valved triggered another delay to Friday at the earliest.

(Credit:
NASA)

The problem developed around 5:52 p.m. Tuesday when the 8-inch-wide liquid hydrogen inboard fill-and-drain valve in Discovery’s aft engine compartment was commanded to close during fueling, a routine step to slow the rate at which hydrogen flows into the shuttle’s external tank.

One position indicator showed the valve was no longer wide open, but the closed indicator never provided a reading and engineers were unsure of the valve’s actual position.

The valve must be fully closed for launch. In the event of a delay, the valve also must be able to open back up to drain the giant external tank. In addition, the valve is opened in orbit to blow residual propellant out of the engine plumbing and into space.

NASA flight rules forbid cycling the valve for troubleshooting once fueling has started out of concern about galling, debris creation and the possibility a failing valve could get stuck or break in the closed position. Following the rules, NASA managers called off the countdown and ordered engineers to drain the external tank.

Based on two past failures, engineers found galling can create debris in the line that can cause a valve to jam.

Moses said engineers “really do think this is just telemetry. … We have the pressure traces, we know it looks like the valve is going its full range of motion. But we have a much bigger database at ambient temperatures when we do valve checkouts on the ground pre-launch than we do here at cryo conditions. So we want to get back to that pre-launch state where we know it’s an inert system, go run some valve cycle tests, compare those two sets of data and show we really do have just a position indicator problem.

“That’s postulating,” he said. “The teams are going to spend the next two days gathering the technical analysis that says if that’s truly the situation, we’re comfortable launching in that scenario. And then go gather the data to make sure it really matches with what we think.

“If we find that’s not the case…or the team just doesn’t get comfortable that we really can tell truly that this valve is actually open or actually closed without this position indicator, then we would probably not be in position to launch 48 hours from now,” he said.

As if engineers didn’t already have their hands full, telemetry during Tuesday’s fueling indicated elevated levels of hydrogen gas in the tail service mast on the left side of the shuttle where the liquid hydrogen feedline attaches to the orbiter.

Launch Director Pete Nickolenko said engineers planned to take advantage of the launch delay to troubleshoot that issue as well.

SpringSource, which announced the acquisition Tuesday, develops a popular open-source tool called Spring Framework designed to help accelerate the development of Java applications for enterprise servers.

With the acquisition, SpringSource is looking to build on Covalent’s products and services that target Apache Software Foundation open-source projects, such as the Apache Tomcat Application Server and Apache Geronimo Application Server. Both companies derive revenues from selling support services.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. But it’s unlikely that SpringSource used up all of the $10 million it raised in venture funding last May to do the deal.

In summing up the benefits of the merger, Rod Johnson, SpringSource’s chief executive, noted in his blog: “Not only does Covalent bring Apache leadership, but our combined company now has significant leadership on Apache Tomcat and HTTP. Two weeks ago, Sun paid $1 (billion) for the “M” in LAMP. Now that Covalent’s outstanding Apache expertise and services are part of SpringSource, we are strong leaders in the “A.”

The “M” Johnson is referring to is Sun Microsystem’s megabuyout deal of open-source database company MySQL. And the “A,” of course, is for Apache. Both are part of the popular open-source development products referred to as LAMP, which stands for Linux, Apache Web server, MySQL, and the PHP development language that is used by enterprise companies and on the Internet.

The acquisition is designed to enable the combined company to become a one-stop shop, providing open-source products and services to quickly develop, test, deploy, and run enterprise applications using Apache Software Foundation projects and SpringSource’s Spring Portfolio.

Yesterday, a US federal court of appeals handed open source a significant victory. An earlier district court ruling in Jacobsen v. Katzer had put open-source licensing on shaky ground by treating the Artistic License as a contract, with some injurious readings on likely remedies under an open-source license.

As Mark Radcliffe details, the Jacobsen ruling [PDF] is a boon to all open-source licensing, and not merely those that choose to use the Artistic License:

The CAFC reversed the District Court’s decision and its reasoning is very helpful for the open source community. The court found that the limitations in the Artistic License were “conditions” on the scope of the license and, thus, Katzer was liable for copyright infringement (as well as breach of contract). The CAFC noted that the Artistic License imposed its obligations through the use of the words “provided that” which is generally viewed as imposing a condition. Although the reasoning is limited to the Artistic License and the interpretation of each open source license will depend on the wording of its provisions, this decision is a welcome change to the District Court decision. The case has been remanded for the District Court to determine if the other criteria for injunctive relief have been met, but the CAFC’s decision strongly suggests that they have been met.

A very good ruling, and a very good day, for open source. I’m not sure why there should be much confusion in the first place as to whether open-source licenses should be given a place at the licensing table, but this case at least takes us one step closer to making open-source licenses full partners in software developers’ arsenal.

One of the new improvements, flexible reminders, seems like the most minor–but it’s not. Setting up reminders in the previous system had presets on when you’d be able to get the message. The new system is far more customizable and lets you drop in whatever time you want, complete with an option for days, which means you could set a reminder years in advance. You can still set whether you want it as a pop-up, e-mail or SMS message, the last of which I find to be the most useful if your mobile phone doesn’t sync up with Google Calendar.

The other major improvement, which is more business-centric is the option to selectively e-mail meeting attendees. Like Outlook you can now get a separate list of people who have replied yes, no, or maybe and e-mail specific groups without perturbing the others. In both the business and social world, this is a great way to send notices and reminders without spamming the in-boxes of people who have already responded.

Alongside these two features is a slight upgrade to the event creation tool which now allows for overlapping events, as well as a new two-click calendar subscription shortcut that lets you subscribe to someone else’s calendar without having to deal with special invites or permissions.

One of the updated features is the option to create new draggable calendar events over other ones. Previously you'd have to create it elsewhere then drag it over–making it a two-step process.

(Credit:
CBS Interactive)

(Credit:
LucasArts/BioWare)

Updated at 4:13 p.m. PDT: This story now includes more information from the press event announcing ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ at LucasArts Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO–At a press event at LucasArts’ headquarters in the Presidio here Tuesday afternoon, LucasArts and BioWare unveiled Star Wars: The Old Republic, a new massively multiplayer online game.

Click tio view image gallery.

(Credit:
LucasArts/BioWare)

The game is set about 350 years after the popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games and about 3,500 years before the Star Wars movies.

The companies did not divulge a release date and it appears that they will not show any live game play. But with the announcement, LucasArts and BioWare–which is now owned by Electronic Arts–have pulled the curtain back on what appears a large-scale online game in which players will be able to take on roles and create their own, personal Star Wars story lines.

“We’re excited to be working again in the Star Warsuniverse,” said BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka. It’s a “rich period, (a) dynamic period full of Jedi and Sith and other dynamic characters you get to play.”

Muzyka explained that the designers of the game wanted to ensure that The Old Republic was a story-based MMO that followed in the tradition of the Knights of the Old Republic.

He added that while people have often asked BioWare if the company would ever produce the third installment in the Knights of the Old Republic franchise, this new game amounts to installment Nos. three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and beyond.

“The game is that big,” Muzyka joked.

As designers, Muzyka added, he and his team ensured that The Old Republic featured four main “pillars.” These include exploration, discovery, combat, and story.

An exterior screen shot from Korriban in the new game ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic,’ from LucasArts and BioWare.

(Credit:
LucasArts/BioWare)

BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk also explained that the game is designed around making it possible for players unfamiliar with MMOs or with the Knights of the Old Republic franchise to pick it up and start playing immediately.

James Ohlen, the creative director of BioWare’s Austin, Texas, studio, where the game was designed, explained that players would get to choose many different things in the game like class, whether they’re good or evil, how the story unfolds, whether they represent the Galactic Empire or the Sith Republic and more. And within separate classes, he said, each class has their own story line to pursue.

For now, the companies are not saying when the game will be released–or even what year–or discussing the business model behind it.

But as Muzyka said, “Fans certainly expect a certain way to get into (an MMO), and we’re going to accommodate them.”

That suggested that the game would be based on a traditional MMO subscription model in which players would pay a monthly fee to play.

And while Star Wars fans will have to wait some time before getting their hands on the game, there is a full synopsis of the story line, as made available by LucasArts and BioWare in press materials:

The Galactic Republic stood for generations as a bastion of peace in a galaxy of warring star systems. Protected by its stalwart Jedi guardians, the Republic held the greatest hope for the progress of civilization and galactic unity.

Deep in unknown space, however, a mighty Sith Empire was forged, led by dark Sith Lords who dreamt of galactic domination and vengeance against their ancient Jedi enemies. After centuries of preparation, the time came for the Sith to make their return.

With a massive fleet and an awe-inspiring army of fearless troops, the Sith Emperor launched a surprise assault, quickly capturing dozens of worlds in the Outer Rim, and sparking a war unlike any other in the galaxy’s history.

From the frozen wastes of Ilum to the desert plains of Dathomir, violent battles killed untold millions. Despite its avowed neutrality, surface structures on the water-covered world of Manaan were completely destroyed, forcing the Selkath to retreat to their ocean underworld. Other star systems fared worse–some destroyed, others left uninhabitable. The carnage concluded with the Sith Empire sacking the Republic’s capital planet of Coruscant and forcing the Republic Senate into the controversial Treaty of Coruscant.

In the years since the treaty, fear and uncertainty have gripped the galaxy, enabling the Sith Emperor to pursue his own mysterious purposes while the Republic has made efforts to rebuild its infrastructure and adjust military priorities to the new galactic landscape.

Now, tensions between the Republic and the Empire are running high, and a series of border skirmishes and proxy wars have broken out, even on planets as historically peaceful as Alderaan. The uneasy truce established by the Treaty of Coruscant is quickly tearing apart at the seams, and a return to all-out war has begun in all but official terms.

A new generation of heroes, both light and dark, emerges to face the difficulties of these chaotic times, and fight for the fate of the galaxy in this most desperate age.

The Republic

For more than twenty thousand years, the Galactic Republic has been the most civilized and advanced power in the known galaxy. Governed by the Galactic Senate with representatives from hundreds of star systems and planets, the Republic has been the center of peace and progress, a bright beacon in the darkness of outer space.

The revered Jedi Order has sworn itself to defend the Republic, to battle the darkness, and to bring peace and balance to the greater galaxy. The Jedi have served for millennia in this capacity, and in that time they have earned themselves the admiration of their allies, and the hatred of their enemies.

Less than a century ago, the greatest of those enemies returned…

The onslaught of the Sith Empire caught the Republic and the Jedi completely by surprise, and during a long and arduous war, the Republic was broken. After the capital planet of Coruscant was ravaged by the Sith’s Imperial forces, the Supreme Chancellor and the Senate were forced to sign the painful Treaty of Coruscant, which required the Republic to withdraw its support of several long-standing allies, including the ever-loyal Bothans.

Struggling with a wave of withdrawing star systems, an insurmountable supply crisis, and chaos on the streets of Coruscant, the Senate has become paralyzed in the years since the treaty. The bitter and divided nobility of the Core Worlds disputes every decision, damaging the morale of the Republic’s already discouraged citizens.

Blaming the Jedi for the failures that led to Imperial domination, the Senate has distanced itself from the Republic’s legendary guardians. The Jedi remain committed to protecting the Republic, but the Jedi Council has moved from Coruscant to the ancient Jedi homeworld of Tython.

The Republic has trained up new squads of Special Forces, disciplined teams capable of working together with near-perfect efficiency. These elite troopers still work often in conjunction with the Jedi, but in many places, the troopers have taken the prominent role in providing the Republic’s defense.

Despite a post-war economic depression and the continued expansion of its enemies, the spirit of the Republic remains independent, brave, and strong. New leaders are stepping forward even now to stand against the dark Sith Empire, liberate the galaxy, and restore the Republic to its former glory.

The Empire

The true origins of the Sith remain shrouded in mystery. The Sith race was, in fact, largely unimportant until three thousand years ago, when Dark Jedi exiles arrived on Korriban and subjugated the Sith beneath their rule and their philosophy.

As the years passed, the Dark Jedi intermarried with those they ruled, and within generations, the word “Sith” took on new meaning. This powerful new civilization began expanding rapidly, led by a growing population of ambitious dark Force-users. Fifteen hundred years ago, the Sith civilization’s boundaries reached the Republic, and the Great Hyperspace War began.

Dark Lord of the Sith Naga Sadow led his armies in an aggressive campaign to destroy the Galactic Republic. Though the Sith were successful at first, the Jedi Order rallied back to defeat their dark counterparts, systematically destroying the Sith civilization on Korriban.

Unbeknownst to the Jedi however, the last Emperor of the Sith managed to escape the carnage and fled into Deep Space with his most trusted Dark Lords. These surviving Sith began rebuilding their society on a distant planet, hoping to one-day return for revenge.

Over the course of the next thousand years, the Sith Empire recovered its strength. The Emperor developed a massive Imperial military, a fleet of advanced warships, and undertook dark rituals which prolonged his life and his undisputed rule.

When the time for vengeance arrived, the Sith began infiltrating star systems in the Outer Rim, sowing seeds of discord and making secret deals with local criminals and warlords. With all the pieces perfectly in place, the Sith launched an enormous offensive which caught the Jedi completely off-guard. In the first wave alone, the Sith succeeded in seizing control of several star systems in the Outer Rim, destroying the Republic’s shipyards in the Sluis sector, and strangling the popular Rimma Trade Route.

After the initial crush, the Emperor’s brilliant strategies continued and the brutal force of the Imperial military slammed the Republic time and time again, from the deep sinkholes of Utapau to the tall forests of Agamar. Though it seemed the Empire was capable of waging war indefinitely, the Emperor surprised the Republic yet again.

While the Emperor’s Dark Council engaged Republic leaders in peace talks, several Sith Lords and an elite Imperial army sacked the Republic’s capital planet. Destroying the Jedi Temple and holding the planet hostage, the Sith left Republic leaders no choice but to surrender several outlying star systems by signing the Treaty of Coruscant.

Since the treaty, the Emperor has withdrawn to pursue his own mysterious goals, deferring control to the Dark Council, and setting the stage for a brutal power struggle. In the political vacuum, the strongest and most cunning Sith and Imperial leaders are rising up to assume authority, consolidate the Empire’s dominion and crush its enemies.

The three-member board that sets statutory copyright licenses e-mailed the Digital Media Association (DiMA), the National Music Publishers’ Association, Apple, and other download stores with its decision to keep the royalty rate at 9.1 cents a song. The board also set the same rate for CDs and established a 24-cent rate for ringtones. The decision is the first time the board has established royalty rates for digital downloads. The rates are set for the next five years.

What all this means of course is that Apple will not be shuttering iTunes–as if there was ever much of a chance of that–and appears to remain very much in control over the economics of digital music.

Alarm bells were set off on Tuesday when Fortune magazine reported that Apple had told the CRB that “it most likely” would shut down iTunes if forced to pay too high a royalty rate. Eddy Cue, Apple’s iTunes manager, had told the royalty board in April 2007 that the company “would not continue to operate (iTunes), if it were no longer possible to do so profitably.”

The group representing music publishers had sought a per-song rate boost from 9.1 cents to 15 cents, a 66 percent increase. The rate is paid to music publishers by the record companies, which deduct it from the 70 cents Apple pays them for every song it sells. Certainly, nobody can predict what Apple will do, but at this point, it looks as if the company got what it wanted. In short, Apple won.

“We’re pleased with the CRB’s decision to keep royalty rates stable,” said an Apple spokesman.

” What DiMA had asked for was a reduction to 4.5 cents (or 55 percent). When you look at 9.1 it’s only a disaster but 4.5 is Armageddon.”
–Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America

A music industry source said that Cue’s statement to the CRB may have gone a long way in persuading the CRB not to boost rates. “Sure it was posturing,” said the source. “That’s what you do in court. I don’t think Apple would have gone out of business but a statement like that from the biggest music retailer is going to carry some weight.”

Mark Litvack, an entertainment and copyright attorney and a former legal counsel for the Motion Picture Association of America, said rates have traditionally gone up during these kinds of negotiations. But Apple has “effectively set the economics of the music industry, which now appear to be frozen.”

Music industry sings the blues
The group representing music publishers applauded the CRB’s decision publicly but not everybody on that side of the debate was happy. One music industry source familiar with the negotiations said the publishers would probably have liked more money but should be happy that the CRB didn’t attach the rate to a percentage of a music store’s revenue.

That would have created huge accounting headaches, according to the source. The decision also prevents DiMA from going to Congress in the same way that the Webcasters did last week, according to the source.

Pandora, an online radio service was part of a movement to negotiate a new rate for streaming music (as opposed to downloads) with the music industry. That movement lobbied hard in Washington and won congressional OK to reach a settlement with the music industry on a compulsory license.

But in my dealings with music publishers, I’ve heard them complain for a long time about the 9-cent royalty rate. In some corners, the lack of any increase will not be received well. Nobody has been a more vocal proponent of raising rates than Rick Carnes, president of the Songwriters Guild of America. On Thursday, Carnes acknowledged he had hoped for an increase. Still, he insisted there was still plenty to be happy about.

“What DiMA had asked for was a reduction to 4.5 cents (or 55 percent),” said Carnes, who has written songs for Alabama, Reba McEntire, and Dean Martin. “When you look at 9.1 it’s only a disaster, but 4.5 is Armageddon…If you look at record sales, they’ve just been a disaster. It’s hard to go to the judges and ask for money at this point of time… Everybody is hurting, frankly, and until we get a solution to the massive looting on the Internet we’re not going to be able to move this thing much.”

Mike McGuire, a music industry analyst for Gartner, said that the royalty board made a wise decision for consumers, musicians, and download stores by not raising rates. The download stores are competing against piracy, and obtaining illegal downloads is simple and they’re hard to compete with on price: they’re free.

“This was a smart move by the CRB,” McGuire said. “This is still a new and struggling industry and now isn’t the time for a drastic rate increase that will have an effect on pricing.”

Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Such were the aspirations of Bob Noe, the founder of Agrizap–maker of the patented Rat Zapper, a trap for dispatching pests through electrocution. Agrizap’s Rat Zapper, which is about the size of a shoebox, is powered by four AA batteries, and is sold online for about $40 at RatZapper.com.

The slightly larger Rat Zapper Ultra uses D-cell batteries which, according to the Website, enables it to kill “even bigger, badder rats and mice.” In the event of serious infestation, or for those with an overdeveloped desire to integrate their equipment, Agrizap also offers the ultimate high-tech equipment including its Battle Station command post and radio-monitoring equipment for use with its traps.

For several years, under an oral marketing agreement, Noe sold the Rat Zapper through Woodstream, one of the nation’s oldest mousetrap makers. The relationship broke down in 2003 when Woodstream launched its own competing Electric Mouse Trap, a CPU-controlled rodent-killing device, for which it now appears to hold several of its own patents. In July 2004, Agrizap sued Woodstream for patent infringement and fraudulent misrepresentation in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia division.

The lawsuit raised so many issues that it would make a good case study for students of intellectual property law. There was even a discovery dispute of some note, when Agrizap’s former operations manager testified during his deposition that the older Gopher Zapper product had been offered for sale at a California trade show. Three months later, the witness tried to recant his testimony through written changes to the transcript. The court did not allow the changes, and the Gopher Zapper was considered “prior-art” to the patent-in-suit.

The claims of Agrizap’s patent-in-suit are directed to a rodent trap with a mechanical portion, in which the rat would physically be made part of a high-voltage electric circuit, and an electrical portion, which used discrete electrical components including a “resistive switch” to sense the presence of the rodent and administer the lethal electric dose. The patent also required a “timing module” to switch off power and disarm the device.

Woodstream challenged nearly everything about Agrizap’s patent claims, arguing first that it did not infringe and that the claimed invention was previously known, obvious, barred by prior sale, not enabled, indefinite, listed the wrong inventors, and was unenforceable. Ultimately, after a two-week trial, the jury was not persuaded by these defenses and found that Woodstream had infringed claim 16 of the patent. That means the jury found that Woodstream’s microprocessor was the same as the discrete resistive switch and discrete timing module claimed in patent.

The law that allows computer software to be patented is rooted in the notion that software instructions transform a general purpose CPU into a different machine by creating electrical paths within the device. Extending this reasoning, some patent holders have tried to argue that a CPU, when programmed to perform a given function, is literally transformed into the specific set of discrete electrical components found in their patent claims. This approach has not found favor with the courts. For example, in the Overhead Door case, the Federal Circuit held that a software instruction running on a microprocessor could not literally infringe a mechanical circuit component. Following the Overhead Door decision, the judge ruled that as a matter of law, Woodstream’s microprocessor-based device could not literally infringe the patent whose claims were directed to discrete circuit components.

Agrizap did not leave the courtroom empty-handed. The jury found Woodstream liable for fraudulent misrepresentation and awarded $1.28 million in damages. In this instance, the judge did not disturb the jury’s decision because evidence presented at trial showed that in response to specific requests for assurances that it was not copying the Rat Zapper, Woodstream’s senior management misled Noe. The company was, in fact, planning to develop and market its own competing product.

Both sides have appealed the decision at the Federal Circuit, where a hearing on the issue took place Feburary 7. Stay tuned for the latest chapter in the war of the rats–and the Federal Circuit’s latest decision concerning microprocessors.