Bonum Certa Men Certa

Software Development Times Magazine (SD Times) Sometimes Composed by Patent Lawyers

Honoré Daumier



Summary: Literature that's supposed to be for developers is actually working against their interests

SD Times is supposed to be about enabling developers and every now and then we find it advocating tools that allow an abusive company to control developers. But this time we find it hosting a brand new "Guest View" from lawyers, who are simply the leeches that create a system for wave-riding the work of programmers, taxing their work with litigation and paperwork (filing and gardening of patents). This new article is composed by "E. Robert Yoches, partner, Erika H. Arner, partner, Huzefa Kapadia, associate, and Uttam Dubal, associate, are attorneys at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP."



Just to quote the opening:

The software-related and business-method patent markets are depressed, and there is little hope for a bailout. A federal appeals court decision, In re Bilski, rendered a multitude of business-method patents illegitimate, and the Supreme Court’s decision in the case, which could come as soon as next week, could cause even greater damage. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), at least, seems to be anticipating a more restrictive decision.


The Bilski case "could cause even greater damage"? How so? It's an attempt to make a first step in the right direction. Many surveys show that software developers, for example, are against software patents because they already have copyrights and they realise the impact software patents, which would prevent them from writing any program without unknowingly stepping on someone else's algorithmic monopoly. It cuts both ways.

“To them -- the lawyers -- patents are just this imaginary market of invisible assets.”The lawyers who write at SD Times also say that "The software-related and business-method patent markets are depressed, and there is little hope for a bailout." Shame on them, bringing terms like "bailout" into it. Like other failing businesses (newspapers and the copyright cartel for example) they think that it's a responsibility of someone else to keep their antiquated practices alive. They should tell their sob story to patent maximalists like IAM and SD Times ought to have rejected this piece.

Notice the use of the word "markets". To them -- the lawyers -- patents are just this imaginary market of invisible assets. It enables racketeering [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Why is SD Times giving this coverage?

If someone requires proof that software patents depress innovation, look no further than Apple's lawsuit against GNU/Linux [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] (Microsoft supports this action [1, 2, 3]). Here it is again in Reuters:

Earlier this month, Apple sued Taiwan-based HTC and accused it of infringing 20 hardware and software patents related to the iPhone.


And here is another formal announcement about a software patent.

USPTO Awards Arc Flash Software Patent to EDSA



EDSA, the leading developer of power analytics solutions for the design, testing, and management of complex electrical power systems, today announced that is has been awarded a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its Paladin€® Real-time Arc Flash Advisorâ„¢ software. It marks another significant patent award for EDSA, as the Company increases its technological lead in the emerging field of Power Analyticsâ„¢.


It's bad enough that the USPTO grants monopolies on algorithms; now we have the multinationals attempt to do the same thing in Europe and ACTA would make that easier. The last thing that the software community ought to do is give room for the lawyers community to sing praises about software patents. But that's exactly what SD Times is doing, having just censored an article about the harms of software patents (as applied to Mono). Earlier this month it was an SD Times writer who apparently broke the news about Novell helping the companies that sue GNU/Linux (both Apple and Microsoft). It came from the same author [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] who censored the said article, it was about Moonlight, and the news about it continues to arrive even through unrelated articles.

Apple might see more of the share of US revenue if things keep up as it does have a high number of pre-orders already set and companies such as Novell working on developing games for the iPhone OS.


At least we still know where Novell stands.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
 
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025