Death on Patent War

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When Aaron Swartz was 14, he helped create RSS software, revolutionizing the way people subscribed to and consumed information online.

As an adult, he co-founded Reddit, a social news website, and railed against Internet censorship through the political action group Demand Progress.

Swartz' legal troubles began two years ago when prosecutors said he broke into a restricted computer wiring closet in an MIT basement to access the school's network without permission. He then allegedly downloaded the articles from JSTOR, a nonprofit database for scholarly journals. Swartz has been charged with wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer and recklessly damaging a protected computer.

He was scheduled to go to trial in April on 13 counts including computer fraud. He was distraught over the possibility of millions of dollars in fines and up to 35 years in prison, friends and family said.

As a result Swartz was found dead Friday, January 11 in his New York apartment. He apparently had hanged himself.

Furor over Swartz' death has reached the White House in the form of a petition asking for the removal of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz who pressed the case against Swartz. The petition has been signed by nearly 12,000 people and needs 25,000 signatures by Feb. 11 to garner an official response from the White House.

Swartz's family and supporters have laid blame for his death on an aggressive prosecution that used its powers to "hound him into a position where he was facing a ruinous trial, life in prison."

"Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach," Swartz' family and partner said in a statement that also had harsh words for MIT. "Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT contributed to his death," the statement said.

However Swartz's death just highlighted problem with government which execute they power to protect big companies tried Internet censorship and patent law as well.

For example IBM has dominated the U.S. patent race for two decades IBM earned 6,478 utility patents last year, topping the list of patent winners for the 20th year in a row Samsung was the second most prolific patent winner, with 5,081 patents received in 2012, according to IFI, which tracks and analyzes patent data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Canon placed third with 3,174 patents, followed by Sony (3,032), Panasonic (2,769), Microsoft (2,613), Toshiba (2,447), Hon Hai Precision Industry (2,013), GE (1,652), and LG Electronics (1,624)

Earning its first appearance among the top 50, Google increased its 2012 patent count by 170% to 1,151 patents and landed at 21 in IFI’s rankings, up from 65 in 2011. With its 170% spike, Google made the largest gains, percentage-wise, in patent awards among the top 50 assignees.

Apple, which made its first appearance in IFI’s top 50 in 2010, also made big gains. Apple earned 1,136 patents, an increase of 68% compared to its 2011 tally, and landed at 22 in the rankings, up from 39 a year earlier. Google’s patent haul exceeded Apple’s by just 15 patents.

Other big gainers include: Alcatel-Lucent (636 patents, a gain of 59%); Hong Fu Jin Precision (782 patents, a gain of 59%); Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (843 patents, a gain of 59%); Research in Motion (986 patents, a gain of 49%); and Taiwan Semiconductor (650 patents, a gain of 49%).

Cisco’s patent count declined. The company earned 951 patents in 2012, down from 980 patents in 2011, and slid in the rankings, dropping to 31 from a rank of 22 in 2011. HP increased its patent count to 1,394 (up from 1,308 patents in 2011) but slid one slot in the rankings to 15.

Other tech companies on IFI’s list include: Qualcomm (ranked 17 with 1,292 patents); Intel (ranked 18 with 1,290 patents); Broadcom (ranked 20 with 1,157 patents); Texas Instruments (ranked 37 with 829 patents); and NEC Corp (ranked 38 with 823 patents).

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