Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO Crisis and Microsoft's Patent Trolls

Patents news roundup

Software patents protest against EPO



Most significant among the patents news is today's demonstration, which we wrote about a few days ago and shall elaborate on over the weekend. The Stop Software Patent initiative has a summary accompanied by many photos.

On Thursday, 18 September 2008, staff members of the European Patent Office (EPO) demonstrated in Brussels for a reform of its supervisory board. Examiners are complaining about the broken governance of the Institution. Examiners do not trust neither members of the Administrative Council, neither their President Brimelow. A patent examiner confessed that most of them were against software patents but as civil servants they were not allowed to speak out publicly about their concerns.


This was also covered here, among other places.

The EPO staff are trying to make their voice heard by a series of actions against the undermining of the European Patent Organisation by its governing body and management (see below). In particular, on September 18th, a strike of EPO staff was observed by the vast majority at all four sites of employment, over 250 of whom travelled to Brussels to take part in a demonstration. The demonstration route went from Square Frère Orban to the Berlaymont, the seat of the European Commission.


Unrest does not prevail just in Europe. On we move to some problems concerning the US system, where NASA's patents are outlined and then described for the unnecessary things that they are.

ReallyEvilCanine writes in to let us know that Ocean Tomo, the patent auctioning company has worked out an agreement to auction off a package of 25 NASA patents covering things like signal processing, GPS for spacecraft and sensor technologies.


There are some more thoughts about it here. [via Digital Majority]

Wow. Mike Masnick writes about NASA’s plan to auction off some of its patent portfolio to the private sector. When I read this I had to do a double-take: NASA has a patent portfolio?

This is absurd. The purpose of patent law is to promote the progress of the useful arts by giving inventors an incentive to invent. NASA engineers already have an incentive to invent: they’re being paid taxpayer dollars to do so. Accordingly granting patents to NASA is a pure dead-weight loss to the economy. It restricts the free flow of ideas with no offsetting benefit from improved incentives. Indeed, this is precisely why the copyrights on government-created works are immediately placed in the public domain.


Nathan Myhrvold



Onwards we go to the most relevant target -- one whose mode of operation includes predatory action against Free software, as opposed to a peaceful embrace or coexistence.

Yesterday we wrote about Nathan Myhrvold, the peripheral patent troll from Microsoft. Matt Asay describes his operation as a "massive patent pyramid scheme." It's not the first time.

Cisco and others have coughed up hundreds of millions of dollars to Intellectual Ventures, and have taken some steps to try to combat the company and its ilk. It's a nice gesture, but Myhrvold and his investors apparently bring too much cash to the table, earning Intellectual Ventures the dubious distinction of being the world's largest patent troll.


Speaking of financial pyramid schemes, Bill Parish wrote the following about Microsoft: "Sadly, many of these brilliant people have been blinded by the stock price and unable to see that Microsoft is also the key architect of the greatest financial pyramid scheme this century. It is not uncommon for participants in pyramid schemes to lose their emotional bearings. My close friends who work at Microsoft are particularly upset over my work and it is possible that even Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer do not realize the implications of their financial practices."

“Myhrvold, much like his former employer and current investor, dislikes GNU/Linux...”Another smart mind, whose site is now "down for renovations and rethinking," wrote this about Microsoft: "As with all pyramid schemes, it is important to get as close to tier 1 as possible. From a practical standpoint, usually only tiers 1 and 2 will derive significant long-term economic rewards from such schemes."

Watching the assessments regarding Microsoft's financial state (it is claimed to have lost a lot of money), one has to wonder what Microsoft might do next. Myhrvold, much like his former employer and current investor, dislikes GNU/Linux (see video). Some are even expecting lawsuits from this patent troll (Acacia, which is also somewhat associated with Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11], has already done plenty of that).

Intellectual Ventures Getting Antsy; Expect Lawsuits Soon



So what is new in this one? Well, less than a year after raising a $1 billion patent hoarding fund, he's out raising a new $2.5 billion fund. So it seems like he's good at getting press and raising money -- but not so much actually making money at this point (well, Myhrvold personally is doing fine, since the piece notes that he gets a 2% management fee, just like a VC). And that's where the saber rattling comes in. The article notes that Cisco and Verizon have paid up between $200 and $400 million as licensees -- though, to make it more confusing some of that is invested back into the fund for equity.


Cisco, which is a victim in this case and also a recent protester, actually sells hardware. So does IBM, as we pointed out very recently. There's lots of money in this business.

To Microsoft, on the other hand, it's hard to monetise such work differently. Due to competition, so-called "piracy" is a must to Microsoft. Free software is Microsoft's #1 rival because it forces the monopolist to concede its margins or give away its software for free (gratis). It keeps Microsoft more humble. Here is a quote from 2007:

"It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not."

--Bill Gates



This one from the news is rather amusing.

Microsoft: 83 pct of Montenegro software pirated



Microsoft in Montenegro says that 83 percent of software in the Balkan country is pirated.

The company says illegal software cost the country US$7 million in 2007.


Microsoft paints itself as a victim, as if it couldn't put an end to had it really tried harder. Microsoft loves (and sometimes even encourages) this so-called 'piracy'. In this particular case, they try to warn the nations that it is the nations' loss and therefore they should do Microsoft's job. It takes some nerve.

The Xbox and Zune businesses, which were intended to formulate Microsoft's entrance into hardware sales, have backfired badly, raking billions of dollars in losses. It's interesting to find that, based on this new interview, Microsoft wanted to just buy Nintendo.

In the second part of an interview with The Guardian, Peter Moore has revealed that Microsoft considered buying Nintendo.


That would not be surprising.

"Usually Microsoft doesn't develop products, we buy products."

--Arno Edelmann, Microsoft Manager (2007)



The morbid patent obsession in the US is costing not only American businesses because Japanese global market leaders, in this case Nintendo, could suffer an embargo because of these ludicrous patents.

The U.S. International Trade Commission has agreed to look into Hillcrest Laboratories' allegations that Nintendo infringed Hillcrest's patents in making its popular Wii video game, the ITC said on Wednesday.


Are patents truly so wonderful?

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day