Microsoft and IBM Still Lobby for Software Patents in the US

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2014-01-06 16:55:31 UTC
Modified: 2014-01-06 16:55:31 UTC

[This article was written in February 2013 and was accidentally never published]

Bulbs

Summary: IBM -- not just Microsoft -- part of the problem known as software patenting

THIS morning we chastised IBM for its OIN strategy; but IBM plays a role in actively promoting software patents, and not just in the US (IBM promoted software patents in Europe and New Zealand for example). The other day we found this report:

Software patents, facing new scrutiny in the U.S., drive innovation and protect huge investments by developers, representatives of software companies said during a Capitol Hill briefing.

Here is a key part which says: "The U.S. patent system isn't perfect, but lawmakers and judges shouldn't solve current controversies by eliminating software patents altogether, executives with Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Covia Labs and Procter & Gamble said during a briefing Thursday before congressional staffers in Washington, D.C."

The Hill has published "Microsoft, IBM executives defend software patents", which means that they go against Obama's apparent will.

Executives for IBM and Microsoft defended the value of software patents on Thursday, saying they are key to protecting their companies' competitive edge and innovation.

"We think software patents or patents that are implemented in software are important and valuable, and necessary to protect the investments that we make in research and development and to preserve our competitive advantage," Neil Abrams, vice president and assistant general counsel at IBM, told The Hill following a Thursday briefing hosted by BSA |The Software Alliance and National Association of Manufacturers on Capitol Hill about patents. "We think it's important for the American economy."

IBM is not helping the FOSS community or even Linux by doing what it does here. IBM was also a funder of the BSA until a few years back. Meanwhile in Seattle (Microsoft's back yard), Motorola/Google is needing to defend itself from Microsoft's software patents. Groklaw has details on that:

Matt Rizzolo at The Essential Patent Blog reports that there's a new order [PDF] from Judge James L. Robart in the Microsoft v. Motorola litigation in Seattle.

For Microsoft it's predictable to assault FOSS with patents, but why does IBM continue to do this massive disservice to the FOSS community? ⬆

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
After Half a Decade Vista 11 is Still a Giant Failure: Don't expect Microsoft to gain a foothold
Details on IBM Layoffs in the EU Last Week, Same Allegedly Coming to the US Shortly: "Around 50 people affected in Belgium."
Technology Trends Driven by DRM Giants, Planned Obsolescence, Not the Needs of the Buyers: The "pushers" think of customers as "users"; and they encourage passivity, Stockholm Syndrome
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
Judgment: French army vanquishes German FSFE on Hitler's birthday, Microsoft contract dispute (1716711): 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

Microsoft and IBM Still Lobby for Software Patents in the US

Recent Techrights' Posts