02.14.17

IBM Has Become an Enemy of GNU/Linux and a Loud Proponent of Software Patents

Posted in Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, IBM, Microsoft, OIN, Patents at 2:30 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Companies that are using GNU/Linux in their datacentres have become the target of software patent lawsuits from a fake ‘friend’ of GNU/Linux

IBM Patents and Twitter

Summary: IBM’s poisonous policy on patents, which has long been incompatible with Free/Libre software, has gotten even worse and the company now takes the lead in lobbying for patenting of software

The “Open Invention Network,” Florian Müller told me a few hours ago in Twitter, “has co-founded a *pro-patent* advocacy thing,” called “The Center for Intellectual Property Understanding”. The press release reveals the involvement of the man who turned both IBM and Microsoft into massive patent bullies (Marshall Phelps, who is also quoted at the bottom):

“The IP knowledge gap is growing,” said Marshall Phelps, former head of IP at Microsoft and IBM and CIPU’s Vice Chairman. “Many people, including the general public and many in government, haven’t a clue what patents and other IP rights achieve. The incentive for taking IP seriously is at an all-time low. The Center for Intellectual Property Understanding will engage groups like schools, parents and the media about the benefits of respecting new ideas and the impact of failing to.”

It is worth noting that the Open Invention Network (OIN) was founded in part by IBM and was first headed by an IBM employee. The above serves to reinforce our growingly sceptical view of both OIN and IBM, which now engages in a lobbying campaign for software patents in the United States. Adding insult to injury, IBM is once again aligning itself with Watchtroll, which has been attacking people like Michelle Lee (USPTO Director) in an effort to engineer her dismissal [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] and make way for a crooked person like Rader. Manny Schecter, IBM’s patent chief, actually contributed to Watchtroll — didn’t just link to it — and the headline was “Congress Needs to Act So Alice Doesn’t Live Here (in the Patent System) Anymore”.

“IBM’s willingness to do it so openly is a slap on the face of anyone who ever supported or praised IBM as some sort of guardian of GNU/Linux.”It doesn’t get any clearer than this. IBM is an enemy of software developers everywhere, and not just Free/Libre software developers. This was published yesterday, February 13^th. Once upon a time IBM tried phoning me to control the narrative of my stories (I told them off immediately). They love shaping the media behind closed doors, but Schecter continues to make it abundantly clear that IBM is now just a business ally of Apple, not “Linux” (or GNU/Linux). IBM is actually rapidly becoming an enemy of GNU/Linux and everything that has helped IBM grow over the past 2 decades.

Others are also promoting software patents this week, for example Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP (as expected from patent profiteers). IBM’s willingness to do it so openly is a slap on the face of anyone who ever supported or praised IBM as some sort of guardian of GNU/Linux. IBM is now suing massively all sorts of companies with massive GNU/Linux deployment, using software patents. █

“[The EPO] can’t distinguish between hardware and software so the patents get issued anyway.”

–Marshall Phelps, IBM and then Microsoft

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

Links 30/11/2020: GhostBSD 20.11.28, Nitrux 1.3.5, Linux 5.10 RC6, GNOME Circle, Microsoft Collapses Again in Web Server Share

Links for the day
Alternatives to the World Wide Web, to HTML, to HTTP/S, and to the Internet

Looking around the Web (yes, the Web) for alternatives to the Web (and the stack underneath the Web), we're finding that IPFS is mature and robust enough for our needs
Management of the EPO Dragged to the International Labour Organisation Over Its Assault on the Right to Strike

Opinion on strikes challenged by the Central Staff Committee of Europe's second-largest organisation; if strike rights are almost abolished there, what hope is there for the rest of Europe?
[Meme] Management of the EPO Cannot Let the Staff Breathe or Smell Freedom

Working for the EPO means giving up on one’s human rights; that’s the sort of conclusion many workers have reached
“ViCo” is Nothing New (Not Even the Acronym), Done on 9/11 Last Year, Been Possible as Long as the EPO Has Existed

Contrary to what many people are led to believe, the EPO isn't embracing innovation, it's just embracing COVID-19 and leveraging lock-downs (de facto house arrest to some) to impose an illegal practice on EPO staff and EPO stakeholders
Release: Early Letters and Documents About Financial Hoax Disguised as EPO 'Study'

It was over a year ago that staff representation at the EPO expressed concerns about what would later enrage workers — seeing that based on unscientific fabrications the EPO would take away what had been promised to them
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 29, 2020

IRC logs for Sunday, November 29, 2020
Managing IP: Puff Pieces Galore for the EPO's Dictatorship (Complete With Buzzwords and PR Stunts)

By giving a platform to notorious patent trolls and ‘engaging’ with the EPO‘s dictator (whom only 3% of EPO staff trusts) Managing IP is sort of giving away its real agenda, which isn’t journalism but conducting or assisting misinformation campaigns
Links 29/11/2020: Genode OS Framework 20.11, Linux 5.11 Kernel Changes, and Latest in KDE Itinerary

Links for the day
Sincere Thoughts About Outreachy

Outreachy's role in the Free software community and inclusion in the FSF's High Priority Projects, as seen from the eyes of a female coder from a minority group; she used to work for the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and she expresses concerns about what Outreachy has become
Free Software Under Tyranny of Codes of Conduct as the Western Equivalent of Blasphemy Law (Corporations as the New Religion/Sponsors as Deities)

The free speech crisis in Free software communities has enabled expulsion of opinionated people whose opinions truly matter; in their place we now have companies that bomb people, sometimes even kidnapping children and sterilising women because nothing says “Ethics” like naked fascism and corporate domination everywhere
Release: 4 More Documents and Letters About the Financial Siege at Europe's Second-Largest Institution

Documents disputing the accuracy of the "hoax" from António Campinos and the Mercers
One Year Ago: The Last EPO Demonstration Before COVID-19

About a year ago staff of the EPO apparently had its last protest (in front of the Isar building) before staff got ‘herded’ into homes, where workers became more isolated and even illegally spied on
[Meme] Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) is an Attack on Europe and the European Businesses That Don't Do Litigation

Litigation lawyers and patent zealots want to set Europe ablaze with legislation that they themselves crafted; thankfully, however, they face constitutional obstacles, no matter how many politicians they bamboozle and buy
Reasons EPO Staff Decided to Go on Strike This Year (Before or Until Coronavirus Prevented It)

An year-old letter from the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) to the President of the EPO; 7 reasons for going on strike are enumerated
EPO Can Save Money by “Dropping Events Like the Inventor of the Year, Reducing the Number of Managers, Throwing Less Money at Consultants or Bringing the Boards of Appeal Back into Office Buildings.”

Constructive suggestions from EPO staff, made just over a year ago and assembled into a letter to their EPO colleagues
The Real Fate of the UPC 'Stunt' in Germany Will be Known Next Month (or Next Year) and There Are Substantial Constitutional Barriers in the Way

Contrary to what Team UPC wants people to think, UPC(A) isn’t a “done deal” in Germany; they never actually addressed the substance of complaints and with help from Benoît Battistelli‘s friends in the Commission they’re just attempting a blatant coup
Microsoft Removes Free Software From GitHub Again, This Time for Motion Picture Association (MPA)

GitHub is proving to be more of a censorship site than a code-sharing site; with the GitHub takeover Microsoft became a 'censorship police' or force of occupation against its ideological competition; just weeks after the YouTube-DL debacle and further take-downs seeking to 'protect' broken DRM schemes (by banning code) we can see that Microsoft isn't defending developers at all; it's just protecting the interests of MPA, RIAA and other Biden circles from the interests of the general population, which sometimes circumvents perfectly circumventable 'DRM' schemes
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 28, 2020

IRC logs for Saturday, November 28, 2020
Help Make Techrights (and Other Technology-Centric Sites) More Robust to Censorship by Setting Up More IPFS Nodes

We’re trying to improve the site’s availability (ensuring it can never be offline) and make it more censorship-resistant; people who adopt IPFS can make that happen while tackling the “bloated Web” and “centralised Internet” issues — all at the same time
Microsoft Loves Linux and Android Apps Running on Windows Instead of GNU/Linux and Android Devices

Microsoft loves Linux, they say; but as Microsoft's former VP James Allchin put it: "If you're going to kill someone there isn't much reason to get all worked up about it and angry -- you just pull the trigger [...] We need to smile at Novell while we pull the trigger."
Links 28/11/2020: RenderDoc 1.11, GNOME 40 Scrolling Horizontally

Links for the day
Nine Documents About the Financial Siege Against EPO Staff (Past, Present, and Future)

Today we release dozens of pages of letters and documents (internal to Europe's second-largest institution); they all focus on the betrayal and skulduggery, crushing staff in spite of what was originally promised (and what workers actually signed up for)
EPO Senior Management (Cabal) “Essentially Deaf to the Proposals From Staff Representatives.”

Representatives of EPO staff feel like the management of the EPO is "deaf" and uncaring; there's hardly any meaningful progress (or none whatsoever) when it comes to truly honest dialogue with real participation
EPO Management, Led by António Campinos, Attempted to Stifle or Prevent Staff From Being Surveyed

Battistelli's cabal, which covers up a lot of fraud and corruption, is attempting to prevent the staff from expressing an opinion (for insiders and perhaps outsiders to assess) because things are really bad and autocratic measures are seen as necessary to keep the lid on issues/abuses
The European Patent Office's Central Staff Committee: Office Cannot Recruit Fit-for-Purpose Patent Examiners Anymore

One third of EPO recruits are 'locals' (Germans), 0.2% are Swiss, 1% Scandinavian; the EPO as an employer became unattractive and it's unable to attract the staff it needs (as was projected and planned when the EPC was agreed upon)
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 27, 2020

IRC logs for Friday, November 27, 2020
Links 27/11/2020: Jolla is 7, Diffoscope 162, MNT Reform Production

Links for the day
The Time Coronavirus Helped EPO Management Prevent Staff From Protesting and Going on Strike (March 26th)

"In view of the spreading of the New Corona Virus, the planned General Assemblies have to be cancelled," the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) wrote in the wake of the crisis across Europe back in March (weeks ahead of a planned strike)
Guarding Your Privacy With E2EE: Primer

"As with all security, there is assumed risk no matter how careful you are. There are no security guarantees but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try."