09.06.14
Gemini version available ♊︎Software Patents ‘Quality’ Debated in Courts, Microsoft’s Biggest Patent Troll Still a Chronic Liar
Summary: Intellectual Ventures, Microsoft’s and Bill Gates’ largest patent proxy, continues to spread lies about its motivations, claiming that patent assessment is among the goals when in fact only the courts and patent offices do this
Law 360, a site for lawyers, says that the EFF now uses the SCOTUS ruling against many software patents. The article, which is behind paywall (common practice among lawyers and legal sites), says: “The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Alice Corp. decision means that thousands of software patents that claim abstract ideas must be found invalid, including an online advertising patent owned by Ultramercial Inc., the Electronic Frontier Foundation has told the Federal Circuit.”
As we recently showed, sites that are pro-software patents admit defeat in the sense that they acknowledge software patents are indeed affected. The remaining question is, his many of them are affected? Some patents are already being rejected based on the recent ruling.
“Some patents are already being rejected based on the recent ruling.”
The significance of all this is very high. It is a game changer. Things are changing for the better. Despite that, The National Law Journal, a site for lawyers, goes with the headline “No, ‘Alice’ Wasn’t a ‘Death Knell’ for Software Patents” and another lawyers’ site (links in page 6) to “Getting your software patents approved”, which is basically the voice of patent lawyers who can’t accept the new reality. Here we have a very vocal software patents booster speaking with Mark Lemley. His article starts as follows:
My immediate reaction was that this would be extremely bad for software patents. Many others thought I was engaging in extreme exaggeration. Since then, however, the Patent Office has started issuing Alice rejections where no previous 101 patent eligibility rejection stood, they have been withdrawing notices of allowance after the issue fee has been paid in order to issue Alice rejections, and the Federal Circuit is strictly applying the nebulous “Alice standard” to find software patent claims patent ineligible.
It is now clear that the Supreme Court’s decision in Alice fundamentally changed the law and future of software patents, at least those already issued and applications already filed, which cannot be changed without adding new matter. Those applications were filed at a different time and under a substantially different regime.
So let it be established that even many software patents boosters don’t fight the fact that new quality-related constraints are now in place.
The Bill Gates-connected Intellectual Ventures recently made headlines again due to massive layoffs and due to its blatant lies. The troll rewrites history now, pretending that its goal was to create products or to assess quality of patents. Everyone who knows even a little bit about this troll would have no doubt that it was all along about extortion. Watch this latest PR offensive:
Intellectual Ventures, the world’s largest patent troll and a general tax on innovation, diverting over $6 billion away from actual innovators, has always been really stunningly good at getting the tech press to repeat questionable claims about its “real intentions” and how it’s helping to “drive innovation.” Every time the negative press catches up to IV’s really nefarious practices, it comes up with a way to try to spin the story around again, like that time it tried to claim its real goal was to help everyone sort through good and bad patents.
Trolls do not create anything and they do not assess patents. They are predatory opportunists who try to maximise profit based on a business model of the Mafia. What’s amazing is that there are enough gullible (or corruptible) journalists out there who continue to pump out lies for the trolls, pretending that these trolls are somehow “misunderstood” (or something along these lines).
All in all, it seems like both patent trolls and patents on software are going down. It’s generally good news that would encourage real innovation. █
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