As part of a continued fight against patent trolls, Google is offering to give startups two starter patents to help them get off the ground and defend their IP.
TechCrunch reports that the Patent Starter program allows startups to give away non-organic patent families to them, and make offers to buy patents in the future.
Google will send a shortlist of three to five families of patents for the startups to choose from, and they have to only be used defensively to protect against a lawsuit.
The startup’s revenue for 2014 must be between $500,000 and $20 million, and it’s open to the first 50 eligible businesses.
Participation in the program requires startups to join the LOT Network, a group designed to block patent trolls, for two years.
Twitter introduces event targeting advertisements
Twitter has announced a new tool aiming to take the guesswork for marketers out of targeting users following live events.
The tool will help “simplify, inform and automate” the process of advertisers wanting to target people following major global events, which was previously done largely manually through hashtags and the like.
It includes a calendar of highlights, insights on how the events have performed on Twitter in the past, and a one-click event activation button.
“Whether it’s a presidential election, Coachella, Mother’s Day or the Super Bowl, if it’s happening in the world, it’s happening on Twitter,” senior product manager Dinkar Jain says in a blog post.
Amazon announces huge Q2 results
Amazon stock has already risen 17% after revealing second quarter results that far exceed analysts’ predictions.
With $23.2 billion in revenue for the period, Amazon’s net sales were up 20% to $23.18 billion. The company is now worth over $250 billion, marking the first time Amazon has climbed above rivals Walmart.
“The teams at Amazon have been working hard for customers,” Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos says.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 119.12, falling 0.67% overnight to 17,731.92. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US74 cents.
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