Google, Facebook ask court to reject patents on abstract ideas
As patent spats continue to command much of the tech world's
attention and corporate resources, a group of prominent
companies is taking a stand against a practice it sees as
hobbling innovation.  Google, Facebook, Zynga and five other
tech giants filed an amicus brief with the U.S. State Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Friday, asking the court to
reject the patents central to a lawsuit between two financial
institutions. CLS Bank has sued Alice Corp. for allegedly
infringing on four patents covering a computerized method of
having a third-party hold funds in escrow on behalf of two other
contracting parties.  The 37-page brief (see below), also signed
by Dell, Intuit, Homeaway, Rackspace, and Red Hat, argues that
combining phrases such as "on a computer" or "over the Internet"
with an abstract idea doesn't deserve a patent. The brief said
the issue was "critically important in the high-tech context"
and that granting such patents st