Bonum Certa Men Certa

'US Inventor' is an Extremist Group Created by Watchtroll (Not Inventors) to Troll the USPTO for Patent Maximalism

The true colours of the founder of that ridiculous (and minuscule) account, Mr. Morinville [1, 2]

Paul Morinville sickened



Summary: The face behind so-called 'US Inventor' (an anti-PTAB group) which enlists, apparently, a handful of people and does not actually represent American inventors

THERE is no lack of radicalism in patent circles, even if they try to disguise this as professionalism or even inventorship. With words like "ownership" and "property" (even "piracy") they seek to mislead the public, but it doesn't always work.

Dennis Crouch, a prominent part of the problem, has been bashing PTAB for quite some time. Days ago he even defended patent trolls from the EFF and earlier this week he wrote about USPTO statistics; it's anything but benign, but improvements have been made in recent years.

Worse things have come from Watchtroll, a site of patent extremists and very rarely some moderates. A couple of days ago, for example, Neel Chatterjee said that a "Patent ‘gold rush’ [is] to blame for patent sharks, patent trolls," noting quite correctly the correlation to software patents. "The roots of the modern patent troll boom," he said, "can be traced to a similar expansion in the definition of patentable subject matter sparked by the Federal Circuit’s 1998 State St. Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Fin. Grp., Inc. decision eliminating the so-called “business method exception” for software that produced a “useful, concrete, and tangible result.” In the 10 years following the Federal Circuit’s 1998 decision, the number of granted software patents expanded from approximately 30,000 per year to over 100,000 per year."

Much of Watchtroll, however, has been a cesspool of patent propaganda. Some of the most aggressive actors out there, including the site's founder, keep bashing PTAB and pushing hard for software patents almost every day/week. Some of their most extreme pieces come from Morinville, who sounds like a rabid Trump supporter (recall his constant online bullying of Michelle Lee) and has been begging for attention recently because he organised a ridiculous 'event' which turned out to be a massive failure. Funnily enough, it seems like he organised it in Facebook, in order to protest Facebook. The head of 'IP' [sic] at Google, incidentally, has just quit to join Facebook.

We expected the event to receive no media attention, as it received barely any attention online (or presence). We mentioned it briefly the other day, but only very briefly. When a radical group of patent extremists from Watchtroll (and cohorts) get together about a dozen people we don't deem it noteworthy and definitely not newsworthy. We were wrong, however, as a couple of sites got trolled (or tricked) into writing articles about it.

Basicallly, ones who are hypocritical to the extreme (for reasons noted here last week) must have pressed on the media. WIPR really fell for it and played along (via). Here is the relevant part:

Paul Morinville, founder of US Inventor, said: “The PTAB, a rogue administrative tribunal, is neutering or invalidating over 92% of challenged patents.”

He added that it takes millions of dollars to fight at the PTAB, so “very few inventors and start-ups can protect their patent rights”.

Morinville concluded that the board is a “disaster and must be eliminated”.


Yeah, patent quality is such “disaster and must be eliminated,” right, Paul?

So a so-called 'inventor' finally realised his patent is worthless (and was likely bogus all alone), then decided to burn it. Big deal. Like a child.

We were even more surprised to see this covered in bigger media last night (the headline again focused on the fiery publicity stunt that's akin to radical book-burning). The article also said:

President Donald Trump hasn’t nominated a replacement for former PTO Director Michelle K. Lee, who resigned in June.

Lee was popular among technology companies. However, patent owner and inventor groups criticized her for not reining in a PTAB they consider overly aggressive in invalidating patents.

Joseph Matal, a former congressional aide who played a leading role in drafting the AIA, was appointed June 7 as PTO acting director.


It doesn't look like an unauthorised protest by a few people who burn paper will have any impact on Matal and his colleagues. If anything, it serves to show what sorts of people are behind the anti-PTAB rhetoric. As we put it earlier this year, "Michelle Lee, USPTO Director, Should Recognise That the Patent Microcosm is Her Enemy Which Hates Her"...

Recent Techrights' Posts

After Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia Android (Linux) Will Dominate Asia Completely
Windows probably peaked in "XP" or "2000"
India: Windows Falls to 50% in Desktops/Laptops and 8% Overall
laptops/desktops fell to 16% of the whole
statCounter: GNU/Linux Up to 4.7% "Market Share" This Month
30,000 Microsoft jobs may be eliminated by year's end
Microsoft is in Trouble and Microsofters Know It
"I've been happy on Win 3.11 for years."
Links 02/06/2025: Political Leftovers, DRM, and Patents
Links for the day
 
About 8 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in 2025 (in Less Than 5 Months), Now Vista 11 "Market Share" Decreases
Really bad news for shareholders of Microsoft
statCounter Sees Bing "Share" Falling Over 0.5% in One Month, Now Lower Than Before the ChatGPT/Bing Chat Hype
Bing has been part of the mass layoffs for quite some time
Microsoft's Demise is a Global Phenomenon
mass layoffs justified using mindless buzzwords
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux in EU and the UK, All-Time Lows for Microsoft
Combining ChromeOS and GNU/Linux, it adds up to and almost reaches 6%
[Video] New Introduction to Richard Stallman's Contributions Including GNU Emacs, GNU/Linux, and Software Freedom
from the channel previously bullied for supporting RMS
Links 02/06/2025: South Korea to Vote, Russia Blitzed From Within
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Microsoft Spins Layoffs as "Slop", Frontier Settles Lawsuit
Links for the day
When You Publicly Boast About Wanting to Violently Attack People (Even Colleagues) Finding a Job Will Prove Difficult
there's a lesson to be learned here
The Web We Lost, the Information Lost Due to Microsoft's Attacks on Companies Like Yahoo! (Before the LLM Slop Frenzy)
When it comes to news sites, what can we say?
Covering Corruption in Poland, Including a War on Science (Due to Bad Politicians)
What we're about to show is that skilled and experienced scientists in Poland are besieged by bureaucrats
Gemini Links 02/06/2025: "Star Wars Day" and "Security Day"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 01, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 01, 2025
The Openwashing Shills Initiative (OSI) - Part II: Lying to the IRS is a Big Issue
The OSI of today pretends to be something that it is not
Bloodlust and Love of Blades (Fascination With Murder) Nothing New Among Microsofters
Violence is not a joke and no group is magically entitled to make such "jokes"
Links 01/06/2025: Bird Flu, Food Price Inflation, and Growing US-China Hostilities
Links for the day
Links 01/06/2025: "Vibe Coding" Turns Out to be a Fraud and Amazon Merits Boycott, Argue Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/06/2025: "Stardust" and Ideal PC Setup
Links for the day
Links 01/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, "It's FOSS" Still Promoting Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/06/2025: Simplification and Networks Everywhere
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 31, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 31, 2025
Google Bribes EFF. EFF Promotes LLM Slop as 'Fair Use'. To GAFAM It's a Low-Cost Lobby Hedge.
So the bribes pay off ("slush fund") and the word spreads
Slopwatch: Fake Text and Images, Financial Bubbles, and Scams in "Intelligent" Clothing
Sometimes what they mean by "AI" is just cheap labour somewhere else, as we discussed in IRC a few hours ago
Why Microsoft is Collapsing (Similar to What's Happening at IBM), As Insiders See It
IBM seems like one heck of a mess
Reliable Computing Means Free (Libre) Computing
Sites that want to promote security ought to deal with the biggest issues
Links 31/05/2025: US Court Orders Sides With RFE/RL, War Updates From Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/05/2025: ARM Server and power_supply Subsystem
Links for the day
Links 31/05/2025: Slop Stigmatised as Disinformation, Catalyst/Driver of "Death of Communication"
Links for the day
Common Sense 101: Do Not Write Blog Posts Saying You Want to Murder Colleagues (or Yourself)
Only crazy people would think stabbings are a joke
Microsoft Bankruptcy
"Microsoft unit in Russia to file for bankruptcy, database shows"
Techrights Does Not Compete With LLM Slop, It Exposes the Bastards, Plagiarists and Scammers Who Do That
People like Scam Altman, still facing a lawsuit from his own sister for sexual abuse against her
Links 31/05/2025: Microsoft-Connected Builder.ai is a Fraud and US is Purging Students Based on Race/Nationality
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/05/2025: Limmat, Doomscrollers, and Arguments Parsing
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 30, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 30, 2025