Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Maximalists Keep Coming Up With New Terms and Buzzwords to Bypass the Practical Ban on Software Patents

Buzzword
Reference: Buzzword



Summary: The fightback against Section 101 and the US Supreme Court (notably Alice) seems to concentrate on old and new buzzwords, such as "Software as a Medical Device" ("SaMD") or "Fourth Industrial Revolution" ("4IR"), which the EPO recently paid European media to spread and promote

THE demise of software patents is very much real in the United States (the USPTO grants these only if semantic tricks are being used and courts don't easily fall for such semantics). The EPO is another matter, which we deal with separately as it's rather frustrating.

Several days ago Microsoft's old 'shill' Rob Enderle was back to implicitly promoting software patents, piggybacking BlackBerry v Facebook (we covered it earlier this month). "Facebook can afford to license," he wrote, "but is part of a wave of companies that didn't believe in software patents and licensing and seemingly gives its products away for free."

"Several days ago Microsoft's old 'shill' Rob Enderle was back to implicitly promoting software patents, piggybacking BlackBerry v Facebook..."Facebook does believe in software patents and has already pursued many of its own, but don't expect to get facts from Enderle. The only positive thing that Facebook does in the domain of patents is its support of PTAB (through front groups that it's funding).

Either way, as we said above, the main route to software patenting in the US (more so nowadays) is semantic tricks, notably buzzwords like "IoT" and "cloud". The same is true in Europe ("4IR" is the buzzword of choice this year). Days ago, Canadian Lawyer suggested patenting software under the guise of another resurgent hype wave, "artificial intelligence". None of this is new, it's more like a fashion and it's led primarily by marketing-type brainstorms.

How about this upcoming 'webinar' on patenting software under the guise of "medical" and "device"? Judge Corcoran from the EPO had dealt with something like this (he rejected a patent of an EPO partner) before Battistelli put him on "house ban". Even if not a retaliatory move, it does make one wonder...

Watch them coming up with another new buzzword: SaMD.

"...the main route to software patenting in the US (more so nowadays) is semantic tricks, notably buzzwords like "IoT" and "cloud"."To quote: "counsel for companies in the medical device industry on protecting software as a medical device (SaMD), and also discuss the new FDA rules regulating SaMD and how to leverage IP law to protect SaMD."

These sorts of think tanks ('webinars') are sickening, yet Patent Docs, a site of patent maximalists, promoted half a dozens of these yesterday. Here's one from the Boston Patent Law Association and the Federal Circuit Bar Association with "The Impact of Recent Section 101 Patent Eligibility Cases on U.S. Innovation" (sounds like Alice lobbying right there!).

The Federal Circuit Bar Association also gives 'access' to Federal Circuit Judge Kara Stoll (if you're rich enough to be able to afford these massive fees) and there's this "Course on Federal Circuit Practice & Procedure". "The course will provide a comprehensive study of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC)," says the outline. We intend to deal separately with CAFC in our next post, especially in relation to Alice.

"Watch them coming up with another new buzzword: SaMD."Last but not least, Patent Docs promoted another lobbying event ('webinar') of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), which is lobbying hard to thwart Alice and water down Section 101.

All in all, we remain rather concerned to see this well-funded lobby for software patents. Especially in a country where it's notoriously easy to simply buy policy. This lobby is already extremely harmful. It often suggests merely disguising such software patents, so courts will deem them invalid as "abstract" rather than invalid as "algorithm" or invalid as "software".

“With the success we have achieved in early implementations along with the patents we've secured for our innovation," said this press release from 6 days ago, "now is the time to build our sales channels and lead the way in 3D vision guidance software.”

"All in all, we remain rather concerned to see this well-funded lobby for software patents."So they're patenting software. In my research area in fact. We often complain about how computer vision patents get granted in the US, sometimes because they're laden/decorated with buzzwords like "artificial intelligence", "machine learning" and so on (these are all mathematics/algorithms).

How about this other new press release which says "Aquiire features patented, real-time B2B e-commerce shopping" (again, that's software!).

Are examiners paying close enough attention to what they're granting and thus making/rendering a de facto monopoly? It takes a lot of money to challenge wrongly-granted patents and Section 101 is all over these. PTAB would be all of these (if it was petitioned to recheck). Here we have PTAB hater Gross bragging about exceptional cases where IBM 'survives' Section 101 and citing the IAM interview with Iancu he goes again into his ALL CAPS rant mode: "SO WE CAN EXPECT MORE ONGOING 101 NONSENSE FROM PT" (Iancu does not intend to change this any time soon).

"Are examiners paying close enough attention to what they're granting and thus making/rendering a de facto monopoly?"The funniest from him (this past week) is this claim that "PTAB continues indiscriminate use of "abstract idea" to destroy US based innovations..."

He must have meant "destroy software patents," which were themselves destroying US based innovations in many domains other than software. Watchtroll has meanwhile published "Dueling Visions of the Patent System, Dueling Visions for America", which again conflates patent maximalism with the "American Dream" and all that malarkey. We frankly try not to give them much attention anymore, except for entertainment purposes (they're a very angry bunch that bullies judges and officials, including the outgoing USPTO Director). We'll say more about judges and courts in our next post.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day