Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Alice Case Beats Microsoft's Patent Troll Intellectual Ventures (Yet Again)

"The genesis of this idea was when I was at Microsoft." —Nathan Myhrvold, WSJ: Transcript: Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures



Summary: Intellectual Ventures suffers another major blow as Alice v. CLS Bank (Alice/€§101) smashes software patents in the United States

WE finally have some more good news regarding Microsoft's pet troll, Intellectual Ventures (IV), which has been funded by and works with Bill Gates.



Patent Buddy, which has been good at tracking the post-Alice aftermath, has found this followup to previous IV v. Capital One losses, "Second IV Patent Asserted Against Capital One Also Killed by Alice/101," he claims, linking to this ruling [PDF].

This is part of a broader trend because as Patent Buddy put it another day, "101 Patentability-USPTO Bypasses Substantive 103 Examination" (101 refers to Alice).

More software patents were being thrown down the drain by a judge last week. To quote Reuters: "A federal court in Delaware has invalidated a patent on multimedia messaging early in a lawsuit against some of the country's largest cellphone providers, another example of a controversial trend that critics say wipes out patents before they are fully understood."

"Anyone who is not intellectually dishonest because he or she does patent 'business' for a living would probably acknowledge by now that software patents are on their death throes.""US business method patent applications down 52.4% since Alice," moaned the patent lawyers in Twitter, pointing to their new analysis which states that: "Companies have pulled back drastically from filing business method patent applications in the US. Managing IP analysed figures for USPTO applications in patent class 705, the class covering "data processing" in which business method patents are placed.

"Patent applications in class 705 not only plummeted after the Alice decision on June 19 2014, but have kept tumbling.

"Some 8,620 class 705 patent applications were filed in the 12 months between July 1 2013 and June 30 2014. In the same period 12 months later, after Alice, the figure was 4,106 – a 52.4% drop."

Patent maximalists that glorify the world’s biggest patent troll (IV) are now offering their ‘analysis’ (actually, offering by proxy), claiming that "Software Patents Are Resilient in the Wake of Alice Corp. vs. CLS Bank".

Yeah, right. And the world is cooling down, too. According to News Corp. and other oil tycoons-connected 'news' networks. Anyone who is not intellectually dishonest because he or she does patent 'business' for a living would probably acknowledge by now that software patents are on their death throes. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

Brigading Against Women - Part XVI - When Your Own Colleagues Complain About You Maybe the Problem is You
"if 2 people tell you that you're drunk, you go to sleep"
Brigading Against Women - Part XV - Trying to Put Women in Prisons
We'll soon get to the 'meat' or the 'beef', showing how "Gas The Jews" Lozza helped Garrett a few days after we had sued him in September 2024
A Leap in GNU/Linux Usage, Japan's Share in Particular
One thing that merits attention right now is Japan. It looks like it's adopting GNU/Linux instead of GAFAM.
 
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 41
People who want humans and communities to maintain their software chains (and by extension their digital life) will back GNU
Links 03/10/2026: "Banned Books Week 2026" and "American Journalist Imprisoned as a Spy in Russia"
Links for the day
In Case Anybody Still Believes Microsoft Lunduke Cares About GNU/Linux...
GNU/Linux users aren't bots
Gemini Links 03/10/2026: Speculative Realism, Paper2SlopBot, Joplin, and Offline Experiment
Links for the day
Union Syndicale Fédérale (USF) Tries to Compel the European Patent Office (EPO) to Actually Function Properly
We'll be covering the EPO a lot more soon
Links 03/10/2026: Slop-Generated War Songs and "Privatisation Has Failed"
Links for the day
Proprietary Software Giant Microsoft is Quietly Laying Off Lots of Employees, Insider Explains How It's Done
about Microsoft exits
United States: More Than One in Ten Using GNU/Linux on Laptop/Desktop
Clownflare Radar seems to show a similar trend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 02, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, October 02, 2026
Gemini Links 02/10/2026: Hitchhiking, Dream, Journey of Thoughts, and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
IBM in Such a Bad Shape That Silent Layoffs Have Come to India
Make it hard for IBM to hide what's happening
The Mass Layoffs at Red Hat (Secret Layoffs) Not Limited to This Week or to October 1st
Red Hat can shed off 10% of its staff without anyone in the media uttering a word
The Latest "PARTNER CONTENT" at The Register MS is by Chief Marketing Officer at VergeIO
Maybe The Register MS can just run ads, not articles, and hope nobody will notice
Links 02/10/2026: Turkey's Censorship of Journalists Grows, "Hong Kong Journalist Arrested After Covering Gathering Linked to 2019 Protests"
Links for the day
IBM's Red Hat is a Slave of Microsoft, It Does Not Compete With Microsoft
As released and shown earlier today in "Red Hat Partner Connect"/redhat.com
Red Hat: Stop Saying Master, It's Racist. Today's Red Hat: "Master Your Skills" and Adopt Slop Plagiarism
IBM is shredding Red Hat to pieces while it keeps humiliating the collective intelligence of communities
Reform UK, Nigel Farage's party/company, admits missing winding-up petition
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Costa-Benefit Analysis: Has the Asset Become a Liability?
All other things being equal, one could expect the Portuguese political establishment to support Campinos in his reappointment bid. But what if all other things are no longer equal because the former "asset" has in the meantime become a "liability"?
Brigading Against Women - Part XIV - Mastery of Distraction
The finger-pointing actions themselves prove the saying that even an accusation is likely a confession
Links 02/10/2026: "McDonald's Caught Cheating Consumers for Profit" and "It's Not Illegal If You Buy New Laws"
Links for the day
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part XVII - A Vote for Campinos This Month (Reappointment) Would be an Endorsement of Cocaine
The harder they try to silence critics, the worse it'll get
The Cyber Show on "Career Scientists" (Resellers of Establishment Brands Like GAFAM)
"The "career scientist" - with PhD and research office by their mid-twenties - follows well oiled tracks and institutional signposts, steering away from controversial or "difficult" subjects."
Reporting Court Matters While Preserving Dignity of Staff
There's a high and growing probability we'll take our appeal to the Court of Appeal next year
Broligarchs Speech-Policing, Faux 'Community' or 'Hub' in 'User-Driven' Clothing
Until a broligarch decides to "flag" inconvenient stories
Gemini Links 02/10/2026: Haiku, Microsoft EEE ('Linux' as a Container in Windows), and ROOPHLOCH 2026 Roundup
Links for the day
Microsoft Promised Them Bonuses, Instead They May Get Laid Off
Laid off or paid off?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 01, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, October 01, 2026
Lots of People Left Red Hat This Week, No Announcement Made of Layoffs
Companies just find ways and excuses not to announce their layoffs
Gemini Links 01/10/2026: Gemini-to-Web Proxies Considered Harmful, ROOPHLOCH 2026 at Griffith Park Observatory
Links for the day
"SPONSORED FEATURE" of HPE and NVIDIA at The Register MS Has Just Mentioned "AI" 68 Times in One Page!
Meanwhile, grown-ups ignore the hype and get work done without slop
Microsoft's XBox Layoffs Not Finished, Won't be Finished, It's Called "Forever Layoffs"
Microsoft will shut down (XBox) after shrinking it, there's no need to sell anything (a straw man)
IBM's Red Hat Lost Lots of People Today, Chief People Officer (CPO) Dethroned
Headcount falls shortly in secret.
Microsoft is "Pushing Up Daisies" Amid Mass Layoffs (Secret Ones)
"Longtime Microsoft research leader Peter Lee and former LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky to depart"
Links 01/10/2026: "Lawyer Cites ChatGPT-Invented Fake Witnesses in Murder Appeal" and The 'Linux' Foundation Technical Advisory Board (TAB) Has Vacuum
Links for the day
Brigading Against Women - Part XIII - The Offer We Didn't Ask For (and Under Threats to a Lady at the Webhost, a Form of Extortion From America)
Two and a half months ago Garrett made an offer to my wife
Creditors beware: VMS Enterprises Ltd vs Brexit Party (Reform UK Party Ltd)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Turning 20 Next Month
Our image is under attack, our finances are constantly under attack and so on
Links 01/10/2026: "Meat Proxies" and "Japan’s Far Right Is Courting Young Voters"
Links for the day
Red Hat Being Phased Out of Existence (Like Many Other Companies That IBM Bought)
The "Red Hat" brand (and badge) is being dissolved some more today [...] IBM is imploding 'creatively'.
IBM Layoffs Cover-up
thelayoff.com is censoring threads
"Restricted Boot" Garrett's State is Now Implementing Kill Switches (Just What We've Warned About All Along)
The underlying concept is hardly new
Brett Wilson LLP Has Had No Annual Report in 16 Months
A cynic might hint that they try to hide something
Reform UK last minute accounts filing
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 01/10/2026: "Babel With Better Hardware", Software Input That's Slop, and DWeb Cascadia 2026
Links for the day
Today is D-Day at Red Hat and People Leave in Droves
They said there would be "bluewashing", we're mostly seeing people announcing they're leaving
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 30, 2026