07.16.13

All Software Patents Are Bad Patents

Posted in Patents at 4:13 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Patents on algorithms are bad and ugly

Good, the bad, and the ugly

Summary: Debunking the myth of ‘good’ software patents — one that several fake opposers of software patents put forth

There is a good article about software patents over at Groklaw. PolR, who writes a lot about this topic, says the following:

How Many Patents Must Be Read to Clear All Patents Rights on Software?

There is a popular theory about the ills of the patent system that there is nothing wrong with software patents. According to this theory, all the problems are due either to bad actors called trolls or to poor quality patents. Then, as the logic goes, the patent system may be fixed by curtailing the activities of bad actors and by improving the quality of the patents.

The main point made there is that to see where low-quality patents actually are we just need to look at all software patents. To make this point in a timely fashion, Slashdot has the post “Google Patents Displaying Athletes On Sports Fields” and Against Monopoly says:

Bad patents are an old story, but they keep getting worse. This one is granted for “displaying pictures of athletes on the fields on which their sport is played” link here.

This is generally a point we made many times before. Software patents are bad patents, there is no such thing as a ‘good’ software patent. Read the post from PolR for more details. Another popular myth debunked therein is the myth that only patent trolls are the problem, On dozens of occasions we wrote about this annoying myth which currently guides the policies at the White House [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. █

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

Links 26/4/2018: KStars 2.9.5, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, NetBSD 8.0 RC1

Links for the day
Battistelli Misuses EPO Budget to Saturate the European Media With Puff Pieces About His Event

The latest examples of 'synthetic' coverage or fluff about Battistelli's expensive event that he cryptically and mysteriously chose to have at his other workplace in Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Battistelli's EPO Continues to Promote Software Patents and Even Pays the Media to Play Along, Impacting Other Continents

With silly new terms such as "4IR" (the EPO used to say "ICT", "CII", "Industry 4.0" etc.) Team Battistelli is hoping to make software patents look/sound acceptable, honourable and inherently innovative or "revolutionary"
Links 25/4/2018: Ubuntu 18.04 Coming Shortly, Fedora 28 Next Month

Links for the day
Koch Brothers and Big Oil Could Not Buy the Decisions in Oil States, SAS

In Oil States Energy Services v Greene’s Energy Group, a case which Koch-funded think tanks meddled in (including those whose panel guests send me threatening legal letters), ends up with dissent from a Koch-connected Justice citing or quoting those very same Koch-funded think tanks
The European Patent Office (EPO) Wastes a Lot of Money on External PR Agencies for Battistelli's 'Heist'

The EPO's management is once again scattering/throwing EPO budget at PR agencies and media companies (publishers/broadcasters) to disseminate a bunch of puff pieces and virtually ignore the very obvious conflict of interest, which should be a scandal on par with that of FIFA (resulting in the arrest of its boss, Mr. Blatter)
Today's EPO is Not Compatible With the Law and It's Grossly Incompatible With Truth and Justice

Today, once again, the EPO openly advocates software patents while media promotes loopholes (notably hype waves)
Quick Mention: As Expected, the US Supreme Court Cements PTAB's Role With Trump-Appointed Gorsuch Dissenting

Oil States has been decided and it's very good news for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); even Conservatives-leaning Justices support PTAB
Links 24/4/2018: Preview of Crostini, Introducing Heptio Gimbal, OPNsense 18.1.6

Links for the day
Patent Maximalists Step Things Up With Director Andrei Iancu and It's Time for Scientists to Fight Back

Science and technology don't seem to matter as much as the whims of the patent (litigation) 'industry', at least judging by recent actions taken by Andrei Iancu (following a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee)
Mythology About Patents in the East

Misconceptions (or deliberate propaganda) about patent policy in the east poison the debate and derail a serious, facts-based discussion about it
Patent Trolls Watch: Red River Innovations, Bradium Technologies/General Patent, and Wordlogic

A quick look at some patent trolls that made the news this Monday; we are still seeing a powerful response to such trolls, whose momentum is slipping owing to the good work of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)
Holding Benoît Battistelli Accountable After the EPO

The many abuses and offenses committed by Mr. Battistelli whilst he enjoyed diplomatic immunity can and should be brought up as that immunity expires in two months; a good start would be contacting his colleagues, who might not be aware of the full spectrum of his abuses
Links 23/4/2018: Second RC of Linux 4.17 and First RC of Mesa 18.1

Links for the day
The Good Work of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and the Latest Attempts to Undermine It

A week's roundup of news about PTAB, which is eliminating many bad (wrongly-granted) patents and is therefore becoming "enemy number one" to those who got accustomed to blackmailing real (productive) firms with their questionable patents
District Courts' Patent Cases, Including the Eastern District of Texas (EDTX/TXED), in a Nutshell

A roundup of patent cases in 'low courts' of the United States, where patents are being reasoned about or objected to while patent law firms make a lot of money
The Federal Circuit's (CAFC) Decisions Are Being Twisted by Patent Propaganda Sites Which Merely Cherry-Pick Cases With Outcomes That Suit Them

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) continues to reject the vast majority of software patents, citing Section 101 in many such cases, but the likes of Managing IP, Patently-O, IAM and Watchtroll only selectively cover such cases (instead they’re ‘pulling a Berkheimer’ or some similar name-dropping)
Patents Roundup: Metaswitch, GENBAND, Susman, Cisco, Konami, High 5 Games, HTC, and Nintendo

A look at existing legal actions, the application of 35 U.S.C. § 101, and questionable patents that are being pursued on software (algorithms or "software infrastructure")
In Maxon v Funai the High 'Patent Court' (CAFC) Reaffirms Disdain for Software Patents, Which Are Nowadays Harder to Get and Then Defend

With the wealth of decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) wherein software patents get discarded (Funai being the latest example), the public needs to ask itself whether patent law firms are honest when they make claims about resurgence of software patents by 'pulling a Berkheimer' or coming up with terms like “Berkheimer Effect”
Today's European Patent Office Works for Patent Extremists and for Team UPC Rather Than for Europe or for Innovation

The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) and other patent maximalists who have nothing to do with Europe, helped by a malicious and rather clueless politician called Benoît Battistelli, are turning the EPO into a patent-printing machine rather than an examination office as envisioned by the EPC (founders) and member states
The EPO is Dying and Those Who Have Killed It Are Becoming Very Rich in the Process

Following the footsteps of Ron Hovsepian at Novell, Battistelli at the EPO (along with Team Battistelli) may mean the end of the EPO as we know it (or the end altogether); one manager and a cabal of confidants make themselves obscenely rich by basically sacrificing the very organisation they were entrusted to serve
Short: Just Keep Repeating the Lie (“Quality”) Until People Might Believe It

Battistelli’s patent-printing bureau (EPO without quality control) keeps lying about the quality of patents by repeating the word “quality” a lot of times, including no less than twice in the summary alone
Shelston IP Keeps Pressuring IP Australia to Allow Software Patents and Harm Software Development

Shelston IP wants exactly the opposite of what's good for Australia; it just wants what's good for itself, yet it habitually pretends to speak for a productive industry (nothing could be further from the truth)
Is Andy Ramer's Departure the End of Cantor Fitzgerald's Patent Trolls-Feeding Operations and Ambitions?

The managing director of the 'IP' group at Cantor Fitzgerald is leaving, but it does not yet mean that patent trolls will be starved/deprived access to patents
EPO Hoards Billions of Euros (Taken From the Public), Decreases Quality to Get More Money, Reduces Payments to Staff

The EPO continues to collect money from everyone, distributes bogus/dubious patents that usher patent trolls into Europe (to cost European businesses billions in the long run), and staff of the EPO faces more cuts while EPO management swims in cash and perks
Short: Calling Battistelli's Town (Where He Works) “Force for Innovation” to Justify the Funneling of EPO Funds to It

How the EPO‘s management ‘explained’ (or sought to rationalise) to staff its opaque decision to send a multi-million, one-day ceremony to Battistelli’s own theatre only weeks before he leaves
Short: EPO Bribes the Media and Then Brags About the Paid-for Outcome to Staff

The EPO‘s systematic corruption of the media at the expense of EPO stakeholders — not to mention hiring of lawyers to bully media which exposes EPO corruption — in the EPO’s own words (amended by us)
Short: EPO's “Working Party for Quality” is to Quality What the “Democratic People's Republic of Korea” is to Democracy

To maintain the perception (illusion) that the EPO still cares about patent quality — and in order to disseminate this lie to EPO staff — a puff piece with the above heading/photograph was distributed to thousands of examiners in glossy paper form
Short: This Spring's Message From the EPO's President (Corrected)

A corrected preface from the Liar in Chief, the EPO's notoriously crooked and dishonest President
Short: Highly Misleading and Unscientific Graphics From the EPO for an Illusion of Growth

A look at the brainwash that EPO management is distributing to staff and what's wrong with it