Summary: Even days apart/within confirmation of IBM's takeover of Red Hat IBM makes it clear that it's very strongly in favour of software patents, not only in the US but also in Europe

IT HAS been bad enough that US courts got targeted by IBM, which actively lobbies to water down 35 U.S.C. €§ 101 and the impact of Alice (SCOTUS). We wrote many articles about it. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) uses the word "customer" to refer to companies like IBM -- the same thing the Battistelli-appointed António Campinos does.

They totally distort what patent offices are and what they exist for.

"IBM is using OIN to stonewall opponents of software patents and pretend that Free software developers can and should coexist with them."As we last noted earlier this week, at the European Patent Office (EPO) patent quality is nowadays just "speed of granting". It's just a patent-granting machine. Examination is being narrowed. Calling the speed of granting "quality" is like judging the quality of fine dining in some restaurants by how quickly the food gets served (by that yardstick, junk food or deep-fried "fast food" is of the best "quality").

Ever since Campinos came to the EPO they've been calling algorithms "AI" every day; it's how they promote software patents in Europe.

We have meanwhile noticed that UPC and software patents boosters speak to IBM. They're constructing their typical kind of propaganda -- lobbying with puff pieces that neglect opposition (not even hiding the agenda and it's clear who's sponsoring it). Once again, under the guise of 'harmonisation' (the word UPC fanatics like to throw around) and using words like "clarity" (the same thing they say in relation to the US), Patrick Wingrove of Managing Intellectual Property pushes this piece. Watch how IBM promotes abstract patents under the guise of "AI"; Even in Europe, in violation of the EPC...

Lawyers from IBM and other artificial intelligence-focused businesses have welcomed the EPO’s new guidelines, but say kinks in the examination approach to the technology in Europe and elsewhere need to be ironed out and then harmonised

[...]

Shaw at IBM says her company would welcome clarification of AI patenting laws to eliminate ambiguity, such as those associated with patentable subject matter and inventorship.

"It's always helpful in any guidance issued by patent offices to include a range of pointers and examples, such as the useful output from the EPO and JPO," she says. "That is especially true in some areas where case law within AI has not yet built up.

IBM needs to quit doing this. Red Hat is being sold to an enemy of Free software if it carries on pushing in this direction. Someone wrote yesterday (linking to our coverage about Finjan): "In the security space, it did them [IBM] well in the sense of selling patents to outright troll Finjan, which in turn used them to lift $12M out of FireEye's pockets."

IBM is using OIN to stonewall opponents of software patents and pretend that Free software developers can and should coexist with them. We suppose that this is the future of Red Hat as well. ⬆