Software patents are unwanted. They are clearly rejected by citizens of the United States (those who are apathetic tend to neither be involved nor even understand this subject). Those patents sure are wanted by monopolists as these patents' existence is a clear sign that new companies are not allowed to enter the markets. The existence of software patents in the US is evidence of the fact that the country is run by monopolists/plutocrats and those who are voted into parliament (or equivalents) ignore voters who put them there; Instead, they pay attention to funders of their campaign which mostly means very wealthy corporations and their owners. The current US president, for example, is funded by Microsoft, the Ballmer family, and the Gates family (those families alone gave hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions, as documented in our wiki pages). So what is the chance of a reform being passed which dissatisfies Microsoft? Or an antitrust probe into Microsoft's abuse with patents? Not even the proposal was raised. Instead they go after the victim of Microsoft's abuses, Google. There seem to be some attempts around Canada to see what Microsoft does with patent trolls. Nokia was virtually hijacked by Microsoft to shaft MeeGo and pass patents to a Canadian patent troll called MOSAID [1, 2], quite obviously to attack Android. Where are US regulators and EU regulators? Is this the digital Wild West, where every dirty tactic is permitted and no laws at all apply to corporations? It sure worked for banks, right?
"The current US president, for example, is funded by Microsoft, the Ballmer family, and the Gates family (those families alone gave hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions, as documented in our wiki pages)."It ought to be mentioned that for at least a day the petition against software patents in the US has been inaccessible due to maintenance. Everyone who signs it must be quite sceptical about Obama's ability to obey the request, but it is about making a statement really. If the government does not not listen, this validates claims of its blindness towards the public.
Over at Groklaw, the Lodsys troll is being tracked for its attack on Android developers. "The U.S. Patent and Trademark has acted on the first of two reexamination requests filed by Google against two of the Lodsys patents,"writes Prof. Mark Webbink, "this one on U.S. Patent No. 7,222,078. The USPTO granted [PDF] Google's reexamination request and ordered the reexamination of claims 1-7, 10-16, 18, 22, 24, 25, 30-32, 38, 46-48, 50-53, and 69-74. Those are all of the claims for which Google requested reexamination." Lodsys is picking patents from Microsoft's patent troll, Intellectual Ventures. Microsoft is also amassing mobile patents of its own.
In another new post from the site, Webbink looks at Oracle's case against Google and over at Slashdot it is pointed out that Microsoft now flags Google software as a "virus". To quote: 'A Google employee in the above support thread notes that Microsoft has now pushed another update to resolve the issue. "On September 30th, 2011, an incorrect detection for PWS:Win32/Zbot was identified. On September 30th, 2011, Microsoft released an update that addresses the issue. Signature versions 1.113.672.0 and higher include this update."' More here.
How abusive does Microsoft have to become before the government takes action against such malice and also extortion? Many people have become rather cynical about it. Thy hardly feel like there is anyone in the Establishment looking out for their rights. ⬆