Bonum Certa Men Certa

Software Patents: Dying, Spreading, or Hardly Surviving?

TTIP, TPP (back door for software patents in Europe), UPC (ditto) and what it all means to software patents in the age of mass invalidations in the US

ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE'S BUSINESS IS PATENT TROLLING



Summary: The arguments over software patents in both sides of the Atlantic ocean, where there is a well-known (if not notorious) one- or two-way flow of laws, usually best suited for billionaires and their companies

SOFTWARE patents are an important topic. There are literally billions of dollars at stake, as the case of Apple against Android/Linux serves to show (usually it's only the lawyers who win irrespective of the outcome). Depending on the law regarding software patents, billions of dollars can be diverted away from developers and fall into the hands of large corporations and their patent lawyers, shareholders, etc. There is therefore a "class war" element to it. As more and more of society goes digital and more aspects or life get digitised, this matter becomes increasingly urgent. Can a non-exact expression of ideas in code (not the same in copyrights) be "owned"? Should it? Is it feasible and enforceable at all?



Europe Has a Battle Between Practicing and Non-Practicing (Lawyers)



"Depending on the law regarding software patents, billions of dollars can be diverted away from developers and fall into the hands of large corporations and their patent lawyers, shareholders, etc."A new article titled "First Black Woman Ever to Hold a Software Patent" was mentioned by both opponents and proponents of software patents [1, 2] (as expected, the former is a programmer, the latter is a patent lawyer). We very much doubt the claim in this headline is true as there are many black women who work as programmers in the US (at least hundreds if not several thousands) and many companies in the US apply for software patents nowadays. Putting that dubious/questionable claim aside (we doubt they have a complete USPTO database with ethnicity and gender of applicants/grantees in it), one can easily see who's involved in this battle. The patent lawyer in this case I'm lucky to have a reasonably amicable channel of communications/relations with. He habitually visits the EPO, where even visitors have been subjected to highly intrusive surveillance which almost certainly violates German law. His name is Bastian Best (photo at the top) and he is based in Germany, where the UPC affairs reek a great deal. Mr. Best recently told me about this blog post of his, in which he talks about software patents in Germany (not necessarily in Europe as a whole). To quote Best: "Patent protection in Germany can be obtained either nationally by filing a national German patent application with the German Patent and Trademark Office or by designating Germany in a European patent application and subsequently validating the granted European patent in Germany. This post is restricted to German patent applications that have been filed nationally. The provisions of the EPC and the case law of the EPO concerning software are discussed in other places of this blog."

Well, it is widely agreed by many that under the provisions of the EPC software patents are simply not allowed, but let's brush that aside for a moment. Best doesn't always know best. He is a little biased, like all patent lawyers. It's hard to betray one's source of salaries.

US Software Patents Receding Owing to Alice



As longtime readers probably know, a point we repeatedly make here is that the US keeps moving away (or further away) from software patents, so there's no reason for the EU or Germany (or any other country/commonwealth for that matter) to phase them in. After all, the US is where software patents came from in the first place, having been introduced several decades ago because of of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC).

"As more and more of society goes digital and more aspects or life get digitised, this matter becomes increasingly urgent."Looking at what happens in the US, it's not looking too good for software patents this week. "Federal Circuit Court of Appeals [CAFC] to Decide The Status of MacroPoint Patent Dispute with Fourkites" says this headline and a patent lawyer says: "This outfit (MacroPoint) thinks its freight tracking software #patents can survive #Alice v. CLS Bank challenge" (we have mentioned MacroPoint's patent attacks at least twice in the past [1, 2]).

Meanwhile, acknowledges a patent lawyer, "US Pat 7,096,003, S.Ct. Denied Cert; 101/Alice Kill Stands" (so Alice does it again). This is part of a longstanding trend in the US. A patent lawyer, writing at a pro-software patents advocacy site, is trying to dodge the Alice case (and the new rules it led to) in order to patent software anyway. It's somewhat pathetic to watch. They still refuse to grasp or accept a decision from their highest court.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
 
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Seem to Have Had Only One Litigation Client in 2025, He Was Previously Charged, Just Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (Whom They Now Represent)
Karma is superstition, regulators are not
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025