Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Lawyers' Fantasy Land Where Software Patents Are Suddenly Resurrected Even When They're Not

Ignoring the facts and insulting Supreme Court Justices instead

Bilski Blog chart
Credit: Bilski Blog chart



Summary: A quick glance at where the debate over software patents in the United States stands and how profiteers (such as patent lawyers) not only mislead the public but also bully the messengers

THE situation in the United States gives much hope for those looking to abolish software patents. The USPTO begrudgingly adopts Alice and makes it harder to attain software patents, irrespective of what the court (or PTAB) says about them. But make no mistake, the proponents of software patents fight hard to change this, using lobbying (misleading the decision makers), propaganda (misleading the public), and false marketing (bamboozling clients with false hopes).



Curiously enough, recently we learned that software patents and their injustice gave birth to the original Pirate Party (in Sweden). To quote Benjamin Henrion, "Pirate Party founder Falkvinge mentions software patents fight in 2005/2006 as one of the reason for starting" (that was around the time of the famous directive on software patents in Europe, after Falkvinge had worked for Microsoft and Microsoft had lobbied hard for software patents in Europe -- a subject that Florian Müller wrote an entire book about).

"But make no mistake, the proponents of software patents fight hard to change this, using lobbying (misleading the decision makers), propaganda (misleading the public), and false marketing (bamboozling clients with false hopes)."To this date, proponents of software patents, notably large corporations and their patent lawyers, work hard to promote and cement a broken system. "A New Hope For Software Patents?" is the title of this new analysis, reusing even words after more than a month with many dozens of so-called 'analyses' (marketing for one's services around software patents). Gordon & Rees LLP has just published "Is the Enfish Case “A New Hope” For Software Patents?"

Notice the question mark. They know the answer, but they create uncertainty in the hope of attracting customers. Isn't it time to say "enough with this propaganda," as not much has changed since the decision except the flood of pro-software patents 'analyses' from patent lawyers? We wrote many detailed articles to highlight this wave of misinformation.

"To this date, proponents of software patents, notably large corporations and their patent lawyers, work hard to promote and cement a broken system.""Enfish for Alice: a software win", says another so-called 'analysis' [via Bastian Best], as if patent trolls winning is “a software win”...

"Good news for software patents," says the author. "The negative impact of the 2014 SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the US) “Alice” decision (invalidating some business method and financial software patents) has been somewhat mitigated by the recent “Enfish” court decision."

No, not really. Barely. Nothing at all or not much has changed more than a month afterwards. In fact, how many other cases have been ruled in favour of software patents since? Anyone can count those on one hand if not zero hands. According to some number-crunching work from Bilski Blog (very informative blog by the way) and those who comment on it, "The Supreme Court Did Not Consider Alice v CLS Bank to Be a Software Patent Killer But the Dist. Cts and PTAB Do" (not CAFC).

"It's increasingly amusing to see how patent lawyers squirm over Alice, simply not accepting that software patents should never have been possible in the first place."That's rather misleading an interpretation regarding the above as SCOTUS (the Supreme Court) did not express an opinion on software patents explicitly, so overall it's a rather misguided/misleading claim to make. What the cited analysis shows is that the vast majority of patent cases involving software are unfavourable to software patents, much to the panic and horror of people like Patent WatchTroll (Gene), who is now trying to reach new lows, probably in grave frustration. Watch his latest effort to shame the Justices into approving software patents. "It is truly ironic," he said, "even downright funny, how the Supreme Court can so clearly see that the Federal Circuit is not being true to the simple, easy to understand, straightforward terms of a statute but at the same time lack the capacity to similarly see that they are themselves doing the very same thing. If intellectual honesty means anything the Supreme Court would hold themselves to the same standard and stop applying judicial exceptions to patent eligibility that enjoy no textual support in the statute. I’m not going to hold my breath."

Gene, being the software patents cheerleader he has always been (for his own profit), is mocking the intelligence of people who don't agree with him (Gene already blocked me in Twitter, having lost the argument, perhaps fearing further debating), even when they're Justices at the Supreme Court! It's increasingly amusing to see how patent lawyers squirm over Alice, simply not accepting that software patents should never have been possible in the first place. Our next post will show some more pearls of 'wisdom' from Gene...

Recent Techrights' Posts

Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
How Not to Build Software
code forges that need a Web browser perhaps fill some 'niche' demand
GAFAM and "MATA"
The use of dark humour there hopefully helps illuminate what a lot of "modern" technology became like and how it interacts with human civilisation (to what ends and whose gain)
Flying in 2025
worse than ever before
The UEFI 9/11 - Part III - Chaos is Scheduled to Happen Second Thursday of September (No Matter What the Microsofters Tell You)
The clock is ticking
Downplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
 
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago
The Slopfarm WebProNews Has Turned Google News Into a Laughing Stock Full of Plagiarism by Slop
If Google News dies of neglect, that's one thing. It's starting to seem like active neglect by Google is a form of participation.
Do What is Moral, as What's Legal Isn't Always Moral
Do what's objectively moral, no matter the costs and the risks
Slopwatch: Google News Assisting Plagiarism and Anti-Linux FUD, Serial Slopper Rips Off Linux-Centric Journalists
This makes the Web a much worse place and lessens the incentive to do journalism
Links 30/08/2025: NVIDIA Fakes Results to Hide a Bubble Already in Implosion Phase, Data Breaches Galore, Important Win for Workers' Union in Canada
Links for the day
In Kazakhstan, Yandex Estimated to be 20 Times Bigger Than Microsoft
Bing is measured as down this month
Shutterstock Not Enough? The Register MS Uses Slop Images in Articles (Seemingly More and More Over Time)
Cost-saving trajectory amid office shutdown?
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Games, PostmarketOS, and Slop
Links for the day
Links 30/08/2025: Imgur Uproar and Many Ukraine Updates (Mediazona Reports Over 200,000 Russians Died for Putin)
Links for the day
Birds Are Not "Pests and Vermin", Privacy is Not a Crime, and GNU/Linux is Not 'Hacking Platform'
I could not help but think of Free software analogies
The Sites Should Be Very Fast Again
That issue is now resolved
Activists, Including Technical Activists, Need Not Pursue Affirmation
Techrights doesn't play or participate in a "popularity contest"
Government Sites Should Run Free Software
Not proprietary bloatware with buzzwords
LLM Slopfarms Take No Breaks
When people run sites by bots they don't need to worry about "breaks"
GNOME Having a Meltdown Again
Thanks and farewell to Steven Deobald
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Low Tech and Hunchbin 1.0.6
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 29, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 29, 2025
Financiers and Sponsors of the Slop Hype (Pyramid Scheme Waiting to End, Bubble That Will Inevitably Implode)
It's also burning the planet
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Google Helps Ponzi Schemes and Slopfarms in Google News
Slopfarms are a real pain
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Retiring at 62 and URL Filtering HTTP(S) Proxy on Qubes OS
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day