05.12.08
Posted in News Roundup at 1:57 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Links 10/12/2018: Linux 4.20 RC6 and Git 2.20
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US Courts Make the United States' Patent System Sane Again
35 U.S.C. § 101 (Section 101), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and other factors are making the patent system in the US a lot more sane
Today's USPTO Grants a Lot of Fake Patents, Software Patents That Courts Would Invalidate
The 35 U.S.C. § 101 effect is very much real; patents on abstract/nonphysical ideas get invalidated en masse (in courts/PTAB) and Director Andrei Iancu refuses to pay attention as if he's above the law and court rulings don't apply to him
A Month After Microsoft Claimed Patent 'Truce' Its Patent Trolls Keep Attacking Microsoft's Rivals
Microsoft's legal department relies on its vultures (to whom it passes money and patents) to sue its rivals; but other than that, Microsoft is a wonderful company!
Good News: US Supreme Court Rejects Efforts to Revisit Alice, Most Software Patents to Remain Worthless
35 U.S.C. § 101 will likely remain in tact for a long time to come; courts have come to grips with the status quo, as even the Federal Circuit approves the large majority of invalidations by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) panels, initiated by inter partes reviews (IPRs)
Florian Müller's Article About SEPs and the EPO
Report from the court in Munich, where the EPO is based
EPO Vice-President Željko Topić in New Article About Corruption in Croatia
The Croatian newspaper 7Dnevno has an outline of what Željko Topić has done in Croatia and in the EPO in Munich; it argues that this seriously erodes Croatia's national brand/identity
The Quality of European Patents Continues to Deteriorate Under António Campinos and Software Patents Are Advocated Every Day
The EPC in the European Patent Office and 35 U.S.C. § 101 in the USPTO annul most if not all software patents; under António Campinos, however, software patents are being granted in Europe and the USPTO exploits similar tricks
Team UPC is Still Spreading False Rumours in an Effort to Trick Politicians and Pressure Judges
Abuses at the European Patent Office, political turmoil and an obvious legislative coup by a self-serving occupation that produces nothing have already doomed the Unitary Patent or Unified Patent Court (UPC); so now we deal with complete fabrications from Team UPC as they're struggling to make something out of nothing, anonymously smearing opposition to the UPC and anonymously making stuff up
Patents on Life and Patents That Kill the Poor Would Only Delegitimise the European Patent Office
After Mayo, Myriad and other SCOTUS cases (the basis of 35 U.S.C. § 101) the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is reluctant to grant patents on life; the European Patent Office (EPO), however, goes in the opposite direction, even in defiance of the European Patent Convention
EPO 'Untapped Potential'
"Campinos is diligently looking for ways to further increase the Office’s output without increasing the number of examiners," says the EPO-FLIER team
Links 9/12/2018: New Linux Stable Releases (Notably Linux 4.19.8), RC Coming, and Unifont 11.0.03
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Links 8/12/2018: Mesa 18.3.0, Mageia 7 Beta, WordPress 5.0
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The European Patent Organisation is Like a Private Club and Roland Grossenbacher is Back in It
In the absence of Benoît Battistelli quality control at the EPO is still not effective; patents are being granted like the sole goal is to increase so-called 'production' (or profit), appeals are being subjected to threats from Office management, and external courts (courts that assess patents outside the jurisdiction of the Office/Organisation) are being targeted with a long-sought replacement like the Unified Patent Court, or UPC (Unitary Patent)
Links 7/12/2018: GNU Guix, GuixSD 0.16.0, GCC 7.4, PHP 7.3.0 Released
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The Federal Circuit's Decision on Ancora Technologies v HTC America is the Rare Exception, Not the Norm
Even though the PTAB does not automatically reject every patent when 35 U.S.C. § 101 gets invoked we're supposed to think that somehow things are changing in favour of patent maximalists; but all they do is obsess over something old (as old as a month ago) and hardly controversial
The European Patent Office Remains a Lawless Place Where Judges Are Afraid of the Banker in Chief
With the former banker Campinos replacing the politician Battistelli and seeking to have far more powers it would be insane for the German Constitutional Court to ever allow anything remotely like the UPC; sites that are sponsored by Team UPC, however, try to influence outcomes, pushing patent maximalism and diminishing the role of patent judges
Many of the Same People Are Still in Charge of the European Patent Office Even Though They Broke the Law
"EPO’s art collection honoured with award," the EPO writes, choosing to distract from what actually goes on at the Office and has never been properly dealt with
Links 6/12/2018: FreeNAS 11.2, Mesa 18.3 Later Today, Fedora Elections
Links for the day
EPO, in Its Patent Trolls-Infested Forum, Admits It is Granting Bogus Software Patents Under the Guise of 'Blockchain'
Yesterday's embarrassing event of the EPO was a festival of the litigation giants and trolls, who shrewdly disguise patents on algorithms using all sorts of fashionable words that often don't mean anything (or deviate greatly from their original meanings)
The Patent Litigation Bubble is Imploding in the US While the UPC Dies in Europe
The meta-industry which profits from feuds, disputes, threats and blackmail isn't doing too well; even in Europe, where it worked hard for a number of years to institute a horrible litigation system which favours global plaintiffs (patent trolls, opportunists and monopolists), these things are going up in flames
Links 5/12/2018: Epic Games Store, CrossOver 18.1.0, Important Kubernetes Patch
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Links 4/12/2018: LibrePCB 0.1.0, SQLite 3.26.0, PhysX Code
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EPO Management Keeps Embarrassing Itself, UPC More Dead Than Before, and Nokia Turns Aggressive
The EPO’s race to the bottom of patent quality continues, it’s now complemented by direct association with patent trolls and law stands in their way (for they repeatedly violate the law)
The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) and IBM Are Part of the Software Patents Problem in the United States
IBM's special role in lobbying for software patents (and against PTAB) needs to be highlighted; even Ethereum’s co-founder isn't happy about IBM's meddling in the blockchain space (with help from Hyperledger/Linux Foundation)
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Not Falling for Attempts to Prevent It From Instituting Challenges
In the face of patent maximalists' endless efforts to derail patent quality the tribunal keeps calm and carries on smashing bad patents
Links 2/12/2018: Linux 4.20 RC5, Snapcraft 3.0, VirtualBox 6.0 Beta 3
Links for the day
The Patent Microcosm Hopes That the Federal Circuit Will Get 'Tired' of Rejecting Software Patents
Trolls-friendly sites aren't tolerating this court's habit of saying "no" to software patents; the Chief Judge meanwhile acknowledges that they're being overrun by a growing number of cases/appeals
35 U.S.C. § 101 Continues to Crush Software Patents and Even Microsoft Joins 'the Fun'
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) and even courts below it continue to throw out software patents or send them back to PTAB and lower courts; there is virtually nothing for patent maximalists to celebrate any longer
The Anti-Section 101 (Pro-Software Patents) Lobby Looks at New Angles for Watering Down Guidelines and Caselaw
By focusing on jury trials and patent trolls the proponents of bunk, likely-invalid abstract patents hope to overrule or override technical courts such as the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)
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Challenger said,
May 12, 2008 at 11:43 am
Sometimes I think that M$ is responsible to some extent to the growth of FOSS and Linux. If it wouldn’t be for the exploitation of M$ – we wouldnt have seen such rapid adoption of FOSS by other companies.
Challenger said,
May 12, 2008 at 11:44 am
there would be no GPL/FOSS/Linux/OpenJDK/OpenOffice…if it wasnt for M$..
Roy Schestowitz said,
May 12, 2008 at 12:32 pm
The Free Software movement predates Microsoft’s dominance. Had it not been Microsoft, it probably would have been someone else, unless of course there was diversity in the market and far less abuse of power.
Watching the iTunes/iPod monopoly, however, not to mention Intel’s recently-exposed corruptions (been going on for ages), I believe the problem is a regulatory one. The market rules just don’t work. That’s what anti-Trust laws were made for a long time ago, but some governments neglect them (possibly given some dosh to do so).
Roy Bixler said,
May 12, 2008 at 1:10 pm
In the case of the US, the reason for the lax anti-trust enforcement is largely the ideological bent of the current administration. They strongly prefer that the government takes a passive role when it comes to regulating the market. A rally cry during the Reagan years was to “get government off your back.” Now, it is very clear to that he was referring to big business.
ZiggyFish said,
May 12, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I wonder if the soon to be new government, well fix US’s stand on Microsoft.