Bonum Certa Men Certa

Apple Keeps Losing Patent Cases, Now Pursues Trademarks on Designs!

Brands flood



Summary: The USPTO, a vassal to aggressive US brands, continues to enable abuse and bullying rather than open innovation

Groklaw does a great job covering Apple's attacks on Android as Jones declares:

Apple just lost another round. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has denied Apple's petition for en banc review of Judge Lucy Koh's decision not to order a permanent injunction against Samsung. The court also denied Apple's motion asking for permission to file a reply brief.


Apple's war on Linux (using software patents) goes back to when Apple threatened Palm with lawyers -- a period not covered by this interesting new infographic. Muktware says:

In one of the most dramatic and closely watched court-battle (after Oracle-Google), judge Lucy Koh has issued four rulings on post-trial briefs.

In a nutshell there won't be a new trial, as Samsung wanted, because the judge thinks that the trial was fair despite allegations that the jury foreman could have been biased. She also ruled that there won't be any more money for Apple as the iPhone maker failed to prove they were 'undercompensated' by the jury. The most important ruling was that she also found that 'Samsung did not willfully' infringe'.


Here is more and an update from Jones, who writes: "Apple and Samsung must be groaning. The trouble with Tribbles, of course, is that there's no seeming end to them -- "they are born pregnant" and threaten to consume all the onboard supplies, but Judge Grewal, like Spock, is immune to their effects, so he refuses most of the requests, saying over and over that the parties have failed to show in a particularized way how revealing the materials would be harmful."

Here is what this one pro-Apple site says, as spotted by Jones:

OS X is degrading into a base for an entertainment platform.


How true. And notice what Apple does with trademarks now:

Apple has been granted a trademark on the design of its Apple Stores by the US Patent & Trademark Office.


The USPTO might be simpler to stop than Apple, which is very wealthy and has successfully brainwashed a lot of people. Monopolies on store design are a ridiculous concept. So much for free market...

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM CEO Says IBM is Just Reliant on Buzzwords That Are Overhyped
IBM has nothing to show anymore and telling fairytales to shareholders is a temporary 'fix'
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part XI - No Comment From Steve Rowan, Niloofar Simon, and Christoph Ernst About Cocaine Inside EPO
What kind of patent office is this?
Giving a Voice to the Community (Even When It's Inconvenient or 'Scary')
Once upon a time we were threatened with deplatforming for merely reposting articles by Daniel Pocock; we no longer have this problem
Judgment: French army vanquishes German FSFE on Hitler's birthday, Microsoft contract dispute (1716711)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
Links 25/01/2026: Microsoft BitLocker Backdoored for Decades Already, Microsoft-Backed ICE Still Murders Civilians
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/01/2026: "Expert in a Dying Field" and Global Commands
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 24, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, January 24, 2026
After the Slop Bubble
At the end, looking back, we'll all generally understand that the net effort of slop was environmental destruction
Projection of Fanatic From Microsoft
Microsoft Lunduke is pandering to the 4Chan 'crowd'
Digg.com (Digg) is a Censorship Platform, Just Another Social Control Media/Network, Controlled by the Few
We are not going to bother with any social control media
Spam, Slop, and Fake 'Articles' Regarding "Linux"
Serial Sloppers like these are harming real reporting about Linux and GNU
Rape investigation dropped: Will Fowles & ALP transgender deception
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Diversity, Grooming & Debian transgender Zero
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Pauline / Maria / Alice Climent(-Pommeret) & Debian transgender offensive cybersecurity deception
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Did judge with transgender sister & Debian conflict of interest help cover-up a death?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 24/01/2026: CBS News Demolished From the Inside and Many Publishers Admit Layoffs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/01/2026: Dreams and Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's First Talk in US College Since 2018: Videos and Photos
There are some backstories
Judge Richard Oulevey (Grandcour Choeur, Tribunal Vaud) & Debian shaming abuse victims and witnesses
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
EDPB/CNIL privacy expert Amandine Jambert (cryptie, FSFE) implicitly admitted lying about harassment when she resigned admitting conflict of interest
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 24/01/2026: TikTok Controlled by Alt Reich in US Now, White House Shares Fake, Manipulated, Misleading Images Already
Links for the day
Projection Tactics - Part IV: SLAPP by Americans Against Techrights (UK) to Hide Serious Abuses Against American Women
"PRs need to stop being complicit in suppression of information via SLAPPs"
Dirty Laundry at Debian and Elsewhere
We cannot just brush aside real issues involving real people and their families
Illegal, Unconstitutional Kangaroo Court for Patents Drops the Masks, Shows Its Real Purpose is to Serve Multinational Monopolists and Crush European SMEs
Europe (or the EU) is rapidly becoming a corporate project, not a unified governance initiative
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part X - EPO Strikes to Begin Next Week
Things gradually escalate this month
Gemini Links 24/01/2026: Snow, Boxing, and Lisp is Fun
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 23, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, January 23, 2026
Senior management and HR email privacy: Martin Ebnoether (venty), Axel Beckert (xtaran) & Debian abuse in Switzerland
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Pierre-Elliott Bécue, ANSSI & Debian cybertorture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
MJ Ray, Micah Anderson & Debian on drugs, prostitution at DebConf6 fight
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Excellence in Ethics: a list of victories for the truth
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Richard Stallman Giving Public Talk, Answering Questions From the Audience
We understand (from the organisers) that there will be a video of the talk
Forbes Covers in 2026 What Was Already Clear for Over a Decade: Microsoft's BitLocker 'Encryption' is a Back Door
One that's promoted by the loudest boosters of UEFI 'secure boot' as well
The Grapevine Says IBM's American RAs (Mass Layoffs) Soon to Follow European RAs, PIPs and "Reviews" as Pretext for a Likely Baseless Dismissal
The days of honourable corporations and work ethics are long gone it seems...
Links 23/01/2026: Minus 24 deg C in South Korea, "Iran Internet Blackout Passes Two-Week Mark"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/01/2026: "Witch Watch" and English on the Net
Links for the day
Reminder That "Linux" in the Site's Name (and Domain) Does Not Imply Authentic Journalism About GNU/Linux
the sad fact that some once-legitimate sites became slopfarms
Further Comments Illuminate Observations Regarding IBM's Layoffs (RAs) Plan for Europe
Some shed light on the expected scale
Links 23/01/2026: Growing Censorship, Intel Falls (Another Bubble, Propped Up by Cheeto Bailout), and Huge GAFAM Layoffs Continue
Links for the day
Working for Freedom Makes You a Target
it's not about what you do but about who gets served
Appeasing Bullies Doesn't Work
The reason we're still here and very active is that we're good at what we do
Claim That IBM Mass Layoffs Began Again in Europe, With Rumours It'll Close Offices
Unless IBM issues a statement (admission) to the media or issues WARN notices (in the US), the lousy media will simply assume - however wrongly - that nothing is happening and there's nothing to report
How Microsoft Will Tell Shareholders That the Business is Failing in a Few Days
It'll resort to "AI" storytelling (lying about slop having potential for some unspecified future year)
Flying to See Today's Talk by Richard Stallman
It's probably not too late to reserve a seat for today's talk
The Fall of Freenode Didn't Kill IRC and the Web's Issues (Not Limited to LLM Slop) Didn't Kill Everything
As long as there are enough people willing to keep the simple (or "old") stuff it'll refuse to die
GAFAM Layoffs by Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) Hide the Real Scale of Their Financial Troubles
the "official" numbers of layoffs will never tell the true story
'Domesticated' Animals Not More Valuable Than Free-range Wildlife, Proprietary ('Commercial') Software Isn't Better Than Free Software
the proprietary software giants (companies like SAP or Microsoft) have a lot of lobbyists
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part IX - EPO Budget Funnelled Into Cocaine and Moreover Rewards Cocaine-Addicted Management for Getting Busted by Police
Any day that passes without European media and European politicians doing anything about it merely discredits the media and the EU (or national governments)
Richard Stallman Won't Talk About "AI", He'll Talk About Chatbots and LLMs Lacking Any Intelligence
This really irritates people who dislike the message; so they attack the person
Slopfarms Still Fed by Google, Boosting Fake 'Articles' That Pretend to Cover "Linux"
At this point about 80-90% of the search results appear not to be slopfarms
Gemini Links 23/01/2026: The Danish Approach to Deepfakes and Random vi Things
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 22, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, January 22, 2026