Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell Continues to Exploit Broken USPTO and Collect Even More Software Patents

Troll picks cows



Summary: Novell is still playing along with the 'Dark Side' of the software patents debate, taking advantage of a system which seems broken beyond repair

Novell is not shy to admit that it likes software patents and it takes some pride in them too. "Inventive people who write more software patents per capita than anywhere else" is how Novell's CTO described the company's staff just under a year ago and before he quit.



People can be easily confused by Novell's membership in the OIN, which does not make Novell an opposer of software patents. But then again, Novell is a predominantly proprietary software company with interest in blocking rivals in some areas of its operation. Novell is also indirectly sponsoring the BSA, which lobbies in favour of software patents.

Over the years we have given many examples of Novell applying for and receiving new software patents. A few days ago another one was announced as coming from Provo. Here is the summary:

Adaptive method and system for encoding digital images for the internet, patent No. 7,826,616, invented by Kasman Ellis Thomas, of Wilton, Conn., assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.


The USPTO is suppressing rather than fostering innovation and those who support its continued existence possibly pursue the wrong path/s. Over at O'Reilly Radar (whose editors sometimes promote or defend software patents, notably Andy Oram), there is now an announcement about a patent database which would only make the USPTO stronger, not weaker. "U.S. Patent data that once carried a high access fee is now available for free online," says the summary. From the post: "Just one year ago, I posted a piece on O'Reilly Radar about an unlikely group working happily together to vastly increase the amount of U.S. Patent information available at no charge on the Internet. I've done no heavy lifting whatsoever on this project, so it has been a pleasure to watch the U.S. Patent Office, the White House, and Jon Orwant at Google plow through this rather daunting task.

“What's actually making a real difference at the moment is federal intervention regarding patents on genetics for instance.”"The system is now in full production including all the current feeds that were previously only available for big bucks by subscription. Also available for the first time is the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) data, which is the full "wrapper" for a patent application. PAIR data was only available previously on a rate-limited query-only service."

How about just showing that the USPTO is doing the wrong type of thing? What is done here is similar to what Peer-to-Patent has been doing, namely complementing the functionality of the USPTO. This would achieve not so much in terms of progress. What's actually making a real difference at the moment is federal intervention regarding patents on genetics for instance. We wrote about it several times last week and NPR writes about it too at the moment (notice: NPR has also been promoting patents of companies like Monsanto after Bill Gates, a Monsanto shareholder and major promoter, had paid a lot of money to NPR and received self-praising pieces in return).

Dana Blankenhorn joins this debate of patents on the living as he complains about patents in medicine and names this new patent from Zynx Health. From the press release:

Zynx Health, the market leader in providing evidence-based and experience-based clinical decision support solutions, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued United States Patent 7,822,626 covering their “extensive suite of tools that facilitate and enhance the capability within a healthcare institution to establish and maintain an evidence-based best practice approach to providing patient care.”


Well, here is a new example of a press release boasting a software patent which does not paint itself as "saving lives" or whatever (for PR purposes). The title says: "Guidance Software Secures Search Patent from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office" (USPTO).

“What's actually making a real difference at the moment is federal intervention regarding patents on genetics for instance.”
      --Slashdot
Writing on behalf of swpat.org, Ciaran tells Slashdot that things are getting worse at the USPTO and it makes the front page with a very misleading headline. The descriptive summary says: "Anyone who feels that patent quality is just far too high nowadays will be glad to hear that the USPTO has decided to ditch four of their seven tests for obviousness. Whereas the 2007 guidelines said that an idea is considered obvious if it consisted of '[predictable] variations [...] based on design incentives or other market forces' or if there was 'Use of a known technique [prior art] to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way', the new guidelines do away with those tests. The classic 'teaching-suggestion-motivation' test is still there, with two others. For software developers, silly patents are not the main problem, but they certainly aggravate the matter. As described in one patent lawyer's summary, this change will 'give applicants greater opportunities to obtain allowance of claims.'"

TechDirt has also just published this criticism of Judge Rader, to whom the problem with the USPTO is not one to be taken too seriously. TechDirt wrote a good and very lengthy post to explain why Rader is wrong:

Law professor Doug Lichtman's latest "IP Colloquium" podcast is an interview with Judge Randall Rader, who's the chief Judge of CAFC, the appeals court that handles most patent cases. Rader is known for being outspoken and opinionated (but also very, very smart), so it's always fascinating to hear what he has to say. The first part of the interview is interesting from a purely procedural standpoint, as Rader goes through the process by which the CAFC makes decisions, including the fact that nearly every case is decided almost immediately after the oral hearings. It sounds like they almost never feel the need to sleep on a decision. However, the latter part of the interview is where things get really interesting. While Lichtman and I tend to disagree over copyright issues, we find a lot more common ground on patent issues, with Lichtman pointing out the harm that patents often seem to do to innovation, as well as questioning why independent invention isn't a sign of obviousness.

[...]

Rader does admit that there are cases where companies feel compelled to pay up because the cost of "licensing" is more than the cost of fighting the battle in court. He actually calls it "a form of systematic blackmail" -- and he says he's trying, in his role, to decrease the cost of patent litigation. He suggests a plan to limit discovery for this purpose, which he admits would require a big change in policy (and one that I have trouble believing would actually get anywhere). But that only discusses one small part of the problem, and does not cover many, many, many innovation-hindering situations, especially in cases where there's independent invention or patent thickets. Lichtman pushes back again, even pointing to situations like Intellectual Ventures showing up at your door with tons of patents.

Rader's response is really bothersome and ignores the reality. He first brushes it off, by calling it "arguing by anecdote," but this is a very real situation that happens all the time.


The USPTO is still protected by people who benefit from its existence. These people are rarely -- if ever -- those who invent new products. Some of them are not even scientists as their background is in law. It is time to take power back from the USPTO, which originally was a well-intended institution providing an incentive for publication (and thus dissemination) of applicable ideas.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) Scrutinises the Man Who Illegally Grants (and Forces Others to Illegally Participate in Granting) Software Patents in Europe
EPO compels examiners to break the law in the name of obeying illegal "rules" or "orders"
The Latest Rumour Says The Next (as Correctly Predicted Before) Wave of Layoffs at Microsoft is 3 Weeks Away, "Larger Than the First Wave"
Step 2
TV Licensing Used to SPAM Your Postbox, Now It Does the Same to E-mail
First they ask for your E-mail address; then they start nagging you via E-mail
Our Priority is Still Tackling Software Patents and Corruption in Patent Offices
Meanwhile we got compliments on our recent articles, which means that they are effective
Slopwatch: Another Day, Another Slopfest, LLM Slop Scrapers Slow Down Our Site
We too have some slop issues; this past day this site and the sister site had to answer about 2.5 million requests (not counting Gemini Protocol) and it's slowing things down for everybody
 
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IX: Minimum Wages For You (Experienced Scientist), Alicante/EU Paydays For Me (Unproductive, Corrupt Official)
Does UPRP maladministration extend to the false belief that qualified and experienced scientists can play the role of circus clowns?
"The Liberating Power of Simply Telling People the Truth."
'polite' bullying
EPO's Gareth Lord Asked About "Quality and Productivity" or, Put Another Way, Why the EPO Keeps Granting So Many Invalid/Illegal Patents
letter to Lord
The Toxic Playbook
Either you support Prince Mohammed bin Salman or you're a nazi
It's Possible That BetaNews Got Cracked, But Nobody Talks About It, The Site Contains an Outdated Old Image, No Activity
It's possible that they will never explain what happened to the site and users' accounts
Links 12/06/2025: Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/06/2025: Video Game Diegesis and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Why the Militants Have Lost Every Battle Since 2022 (When Attacking My Wife and I in Various Ways, Even Attacking Our Employers)
This takes patience, sure, but at the end most evildoers face the consequences for their actions
Politics Will Impact Software Choices
Will those systems respect users' freedom?
EPO: Neglecting Children to Promote American Monopolies by Shielding Them From European Competition
Yesterday the Central Staff Committee at the EPO spoke about another "reform" at the Office
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 11, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Links 11/06/2025: More Vulnerabilities Found in 'Smart' Phones, China Extends Reach in the Pacific
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/06/2025: Grain and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Links 11/06/2025: "Quantum" Hype From IBM, US Closer to Martial Law, and “The Nation” Celebrates Milestone
Links for the day
IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Links 10/06/2025: Apple Hype and Physical Attacks on Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/06/2025: Loon Lake, Farming, and Forth
Links for the day
Links 10/06/2025: Jaws at 50 and US Democracy Crushed Very Rapidly (Martial Law Seems Imminent)
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VII: Washing Their Hands After Corruption and Abuse
"Tragedy or comedy?"
Culling Bad RSS Feeds of Bad Sites
Not throwing out the baby with the bathwater
If 'Microsoft v Techrights' is Dealt With by a 'Microsoft Court' (or a Court Outsourced to Microsoft)
More on that later
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 09, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 09, 2025
Gemini Protocol Turns Six in 10 Days From Now
If you haven't tried it yet, then give it a go today
Live as You Preach
technology is fast becoming dysphoric