ArsTechnica.com: The holder of a patent covering the navigation and access of files based on representational thumbnails is taking some big names into the ring with hopes of a financial knockout. David Chartier reports: "Products like Microsoft's Vista, Apple's Cover Flow feature, and Google's Chrome browser are cited for infringement. Cygnus is seeking the typical damages and permanent injunction that prevents further infringement, but is also stating that these big three may not be the only companies it goes after." The company is also seeking damages from the time infringement began, which is much earlier than the patent date of March 18, 2008. Will the courts side with the little guy with big aspirations or will they simply slap a smallish fine on the offenders with some kind of "play nice" licensing agreement thrown in to sweeten the pot? Stay tuned for more developments in this thrilling patent battle but for now just read Microsoft, Apple, Google sued over icon software patent to see if this move by Cygnus makes any sense at all. 

ArsTechnica.com: One ISP is already pushing back on the RIAA's new tactic of using them to police copyright infringement by a subtle subterfuge technique according to David Chartier's ISP tells RIAA piracy protection doesn't come free. Chartier writes, "Jerry Scroggin is the owner of Bayou Internet and Communications(BIC), a small ISP based in Monroe, Louisiana with around 11,000 small business, residential, and municipal customers. BIC already receives notifications from the RIAA each month, and each time 'I ask for their billing address,' Scroggin told CNET. 'Usually, I never hear back.'" Chartier also reports that Verizon is not going gently into that good night which could make the RIAA's new program to catch pirates using ISPs as their stool pigeons a shot in the dark. After all, enforcement of any kind takes time, and therefor costs money, so maybe the RIAA should make payments to ISPs for their efforts if they hope to have any success with this change of methodology.

Wishing you and yours health, wealth and happiness in the coming New Year!

Gigaom.com: Palm, Inc.'s still lively corpse is getting an injection of financial adrenaline from U2's Bono and Co. according to a blog post by Om Malik. "It must be Christmas, as the guys at Elevation Partners are feeling generous enough to invest another $100 million into beleaguered smartphone maker Palm, which has been slip-sliding away for a very long time." Palm does have a small army of Treo-loving supporters and a new operating system for its smartphones, but can this keep them from joining the ranks of the dead pool? The circumstances of it's success or failure might be completely out of their control, Malik suggests: "Palm, like most vendors, is at the mercy of the carriers, which will ultimately decide the devices they want to push to the end users." Maybe Google's Android-based phone will come to the rescue, just in the nick-of-time?

A VC Blog: Fred Wilson revisits a historical moment in the annals of the United States and provides some much-needed perspective on what many view as an apocalyptic event in The Founder's Footprints.  Wilson takes for his raw material the belief that the founder of any given venture leaves an imprint, or in his terms their "DNA," that remains long after their passing from the position of power and posits that this same phenomenon is going to be the saving grace of a nation in fearful circumstances. Wilson writes, "The fact is the United States was founded by an amazing set of men that included Franklin and Jefferson, two of the greatest friends of science and innovation that have ever lived. And our country has benefited from that fact immensely. The DNA of the United States comes directly from our founding fathers; Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Washington, and the rest of them. And their desire to make the big experiments, to push the envelope of what a nation could be is firmly implanted in our psyche a full 233 years after the Declaration of Independence." The question remains if the people of this nation are still able to hear the call of history and return to its roots of "can do" and hard work.