Bonum Certa Men Certa

Large Corporations, Including Microsoft Allies, Call for Abolition of Software Patents

Physical patents are being depreciated

Toyota



Summary: The calls for ending all patents on software are getting louder and patents as a whole are de-emphasised as a business strategy

TECHRIGHTS has fought against software patents for over 8 years. Major progress has been made since we started doing this and thousands of articles published about it here alone. We depended on various voices and other (external) articles, but not always were these prominent. Things have changed. As we are going to show today (a series of 4 posts), the push against patents on software and sometimes patents as a whole is measurably effective.



"They are not Free software enthusiasts or some obscure startups or even opinionated anarchists; these are businesspeople."An article published this week by Hannah Breeze in the British branch of ChannelWeb says that "Pure Storage's mission to reform the US patent system has gathered speed today as fellow storage firm Avere Systems calls for software patents to be scrapped altogether."

"Last week, flash newcomer Pure Storage called on the US government to make sweeping changes to the system of granting patents in the US, claiming the 20-year term stifled innovation among startups.

"Pure called on the government to cut the patent term to just five years and to introduce a "use it or lose it" clause to target so-called patent trolls which buy up patents purely to profit from them through legal challenges.

"Today, Avere Systems' co-founder and chief technology officer Mike Kazar ramped up the pressure and said software patents in general should be axed."

This good article contains many direct quotes of the top people. They want software patents dead. They are not Free software enthusiasts or some obscure startups or even opinionated anarchists; these are businesspeople.

Over in India, where software patents are still a hot topic. Infosys Chief Vishal Sikka speaks out unequivocally against all software patents (not a 'soft' criticism). This is all over the news in India (leading newspapers too) as a top manager, a CEO of a Microsoft partner (one of the biggest partners if not the biggest), says so. Here is some coverage that we found about it:



This was also mentioned less directly in the following articles about a similar event:



There are other large companies that disown patents as a whole. Tesla neutralised a lot of patents recently and as noted last week, Toyota was following a similar route by releasing 5,680 co-called "Fuel Cell Patents" for inspiration and use without fear of litigation (nothing to do with "open source" as a lot of publications put it). Here is some coverage from the news [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. Given the parallels between Toyota and Microsoft, in addition to Infosys slamming software patents, one might wonder where the anti-FOSS camp is heading. Microsoft's anti-FOSS strategy that relied on patents largely failed. See where Novell and SUSE are today.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
 
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025