Bonum Certa Men Certa

Using 'Hey Hi' (AI) and Mindless Buzzwords to Spread Confusion and Blur the Gap Between Computer-Generated Patents and Patents on Algorithms

It's... just... "MAGIC!"

Forgotten Magic



Summary: The patent 'industry' (people who sue for a living, or instead shake down people/firms with expensive lawsuits as deterrents) is intentionally lying to us all; nowadays it loves leveraging the media's 'darling' buzzword, 'Hey Hi' (AI), describing it as some sort of magic that merits lots of worthless patents

THE European Patent Office (EPO) has long sought to violate the EPC, e.g. by misinterpreting it, then grant loads of fake patents on abstract things. António Campinos is even more shameless about it than Benoît Battistelli. Campinos is one heck of a snake and since he never coded anything he can use his ignorance as an excuse for granting software patents in Europe. Nowadays they like to misuse words like "digitalisation" and "Hey Hi", which is what we call their clueless slant on machine learning and the like...



"Nowadays they like to misuse words like "digitalisation" and "Hey Hi", which is what we call their clueless slant on machine learning and the like..."I've done machine learning for a very long time (in 2003 I already wrote papers about it) and the term is actually a lot more meaningful than "Hey Hi", which is nonsensical fluff that goes back to the dawn of computing. It's the basic idea that computers can emulate some process humans otherwise do, e.g. playing chess (I wrote some computer programs that do this as far back as 2001 when I was a teenager). What's inexcusable is this bizarre resurgence in shallow media (bogus 'journalism') in recent years. A couple of years ago they started calling just about everything "Hey Hi", just as a decade or so earlier they began rebranding almost everything "cloud" and software became "apps"...

"The debate is, as usual, being hijacked by the patent (litigation) 'industry'..."This superficial transition from meaningful (relatively technical) terms to buzzwords and pure hype isn't an accident; it's a deliberate marketing strategy and a lot of it is geared towards surveillance as a business model. Patent lawyers too were fast to take advantage of these rebranding campaigns, calling it or hailing it all as some kind of "industrial revolution" (leading to fluff like "Industry 4.0" and "4IR"). This may seem funny, but there's a very nefarious and sinister angle to it all. So it isn't down to mere amusement...

The debate is, as usual, being hijacked by the patent (litigation) 'industry'...

As recently as yesterday we saw Anastasiia Kyrylenko at IP Kat as CIPA (Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys) megaphone, noting yesterday that:

On June 24th, the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys and Dr. Rhiannon Turner will be holding an online event to discuss the recent EPO EBA decision in G3/19...


Separately, another site advertised a "webinar" (basically "dude with a webcam") about "EPO Case Law on Priority" by:

Christopher Rennie-Smith, European Patent Consultant, former Chairman and legal member of a Technical Board of Appeal of the EPO; former member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO



Well, the Technical Board of Appeal of the EPO can no longer think for itself. The Office dictator pressures all the boards and his successor -- to whom he's an obedient heir -- already sent all board members to exile in Haar (at the very least as a collective warning). It's likely that later this year -- weeks or months from now -- these boards will issue a ruling and determination on the subject of software patents pertaining to simulation. We already know in which direction the Office dictator pushed them...

"Well, the Technical Board of Appeal of the EPO can no longer think for itself. The Office dictator pressures all the boards and his successor -- to whom he's an obedient heir -- already sent all board members to exile in Haar (at the very least as a collective warning)."Yesterday we reviewed the news only to find this nonsense pushed through Lexology under the headline "Algo IP: Intellectual Property in Algorithms, Computer Generated Works and Computer Implemented Inventions" (notice how they're using misnomers and conflating different things). The author is clearly not a coder and he jumps from one topic to another seamlessly; for instance, notice how he speaks of "computer implemented inventions" and then immediately leaps to joint inventions and computers as inventors (totally unrelated aspect). Have a look at the gobbledegook, with our comments below:

“It’s only AI when you don’t know what it does, then it’s just software and data” remains a useful heuristic to get to grips with AI algorithms. In legal terms, AI is a combination of software and data. An algorithm is a set of rules to solve a problem. The implementation in code of the algorithm is the software that gives instructions to the computer’s processor. What distinguishes an AI algorithm from traditional software is first, that the algorithm’s rules and software implementation are themselves dynamic and change as the machine learns; and second, the very large datasets (‘big data’) that the AI algorithm processes. The data is (i) the input training, testing and operational datasets; (ii) that input data as processed by the computer; (iii) the output data from those processing operations; and (iv) insights and data derived from the output data.

[...]

Use of algorithms may result in new inventions and the question arises whether computer implemented inventions are capable of patent protection. S.1(2)(c) Patents Act 1977 (‘PA’) excludes “a program for a computer” from patent protection to the extent that the patent application “relates to that thing as such”.[v] This has led to a line of cases in the UK since 2006 which has sought to establish and clarify a test for determining the contribution that the invention makes to the technical field of knowledge (potentially patentable) beyond the computer program “as such” (not patentable).[vi] If the invention is potentially patentable on this basis, s.7(3) PA provides that:

“[i]n this Act “inventor” in relation to an invention means the actual deviser of the invention and “joint inventor” shall be construed accordingly”

and s.7(2)(a) PA provides that a patent for invention may be granted “primarily to the inventor or joint inventors”. US law is more specific in defining (at 35 USC €§100(f) and (g)) “inventor” as “the individual or, if a joint invention, the individuals collectively who invented the subject matter of the invention”. The context of s.7(3) PA means that the “actual deviser of the invention” should be a “person” and there is no regime similar to that for copyright for computer-generated works.

Again, the takeaway from the patent law perspective is also that it is worth considering expressly covering in AI contracts the ownership, assignment and licensing aspects of AI-generated inventions and patent rights as well as copyright works.


Kemp IT Law's Richard Kemp does the typical thing by conflating computer-generated junk patents and patents on algorithms (that are illegal). First he alludes to "computer program “as such” (not patentable)."

He then says "the takeaway from the patent law perspective is also that it is worth considering expressly covering in AI contracts the ownership, assignment and licensing aspects of AI-generated inventions and patent rights as well as copyright works."

"Kemp IT Law's Richard Kemp does the typical thing by conflating computer-generated junk patents and patents on algorithms (that are illegal)."How did he jump from the question of patents on algorithms to whether or not the patents are generated by a computer (as opposed to covering work done on a computer)? We've seen similar conflation put forth by the EPO's clueless managers, some of whom have zero experience in technology and just training in the British Army. Who needs managers with a clue anyway... right? Understanding restricts "useful" misunderstandings... and it can harm so-called EPO 'production'...

An article (promotion, sales, marketing) entitled "Protecting AI inventions" was pushed through IAM and then pushed through Lexology. It's not an objective analysis and this was all along just a self-promotional piece from Effectual Knowledge Services Pvt Ltd which says the following:

From tools and services to products and consultancies, AI has created a number of revenue-generating opportunities. It has already simplified a number of tasks and now, with the help of neural networks, it is inventing new ways to solve problems. Further, certain privileges have been granted to corporate entities (eg, Facebook and Google) so that they can defend themselves in court. It therefore follows that AI should be able to own its patents. However, debate is ongoing and requires considering where the line between creation by human and machine should be drawn and how much (or little) human input or guidance is required.

Recently, there was a case where the EPO refused European patent applications EP18275163 and EP18275174, which designated DABUS – a machine described as “a type of connectionist artificial intelligence” – as an inventor. One application was for a new type of beverage container based on fractal geometry and the other was for a device for attracting enhanced attention signals, which could be helpful in search and rescue operations. Similarly, the USPTO and UKIPO have disqualified patent applications on the grounds that a non-human cannot hold inventorship as per these countries’ laws.


So it speaks of "neural networks" and stuff, then argues "AI should be able to own [sic] its patents," so here again we enter the laughable world where "Hey Hi" gets personified and framed as some sort of magic. This would typically be just funny, but in this case it is dangerous because patent maximalists who profit from more and more and more patents exploit misconceptions and lies to turn the whole patent system into a laughing stock. This, in turn, can make the whole thing collapse. It makes the system obsolete.

"The real enemies of the patent system are those lunatics who latch onto buzzwords, speaking about things they clearly do not understand, all in the name of creating more lawsuits over more bogus patents."The patent system wasn't conceived as a framework for giving monopolies on mere thoughts or nature or maths and it wasn't made to reward some abstract concept of an algorithm (mis-framed as "Hey Hi").

The real enemies of the patent system are those lunatics who latch onto buzzwords, speaking about things they clearly do not understand, all in the name of creating more lawsuits over more bogus patents.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Disinformation and Marketing Spam From and For OIN (GAFAM's and IBM's Weapon Against Free Software Activists and Reformists Against Software Patents)
All in all, this anniversary is just a PR stunt with revisionism
Google Spreading Misinformation and Lies
Google is in the propaganda business
New Video Report About Microsoft Cancelling Multi-Billion Dollar Projects
direct link to the video
Microsoft is Already Laying Off Lots of Contractors
cost-cutting at Microsoft takes a new "edge"
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 29, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Links 30/04/2025: "Brian Lumley’s Necroscope Series" and "Death In The Afternoon"
Links for the day
Links 29/04/2025: Microsoft Infosys Layoffs, 'Popcorn Lung' With Vapers, Hong Kong Banning Possession of e-cigarettes in Public
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/04/2025: Hey-Hi (AI) Isn't Your Friend/Lover, Mastodon is a Mess, and Mandelbrot Programming
Links for the day
Just Sending More and More Threats Does Not Change the Fact We Got Abused for Many Years and Women Got Strangled
Wanting a "gag order" - or sometimes injunctions - by sending many threats
Links 29/04/2025: Water Scarcity, LLM Slop Backfiring Again in Legal Documents
Links for the day
statCounter: GNU/Linux Adoption Surging in Switzerland, Windows at All-time Low
What happened?
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: Free Speech and Perfectionism in Design
Links for the day
What Fake News Looks Like (IBM)
IBM told a lie. The media then just blindly repeated this lie.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, April 28, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, April 28, 2025
China is Already Culling GAFAM (Not Just Microsoft Windows)
OS monoculture or "OS hegemony" may be coming to an end
The "Telephone Operating System in the Vatican" is 95 Years Old, Vatican Moved to GNU/Linux
Maybe Microsoft is down to zero already
If Tesla Shares (and Alleged Value) Fell 55% (From $489 to $222) in a Few Months Maybe It's Not Worth Anything At All (It's Just Gambling)
Tesla swasticars have turned from a "status symbol" into a "public embarrassment" and cause for casual humiliation
Coming Soon: Microsoft Fake Results, Mass Layoffs, and Silence About All the People Microsoft Pressured to "Quit" (So That They Don't Get Counted as Layoffs)
there will be more mass layoffs
Chromebooks' Adoption in Sweden No Longer Depends on Schools
School breaks are when classrooms are shut
No, IBM is Not Investing $150 Billion in the US and It Doesn't Even Have That Kind of Money
Here we go again... media as a vehicle of lobbying and misinformation
Leak: The EPO's General Consultative Committee (GCC) Does Not Consult Staff on Crucial Matters and Bypasses the Administrative Council (AC) to Do Illegal Things
violations against the EPO's very staff
New Leaks Coming Soon, We Maintain 100% Record of Successful Resistance to Censorship
We won't be told what we can and cannot say (especially when it's true)
Central African Republic (CAR): Vista 11 is Only ~0.2% Market Share
99.8% to go!
BSD and GNU/Linux Replaced Microsoft in Secure Servers, All Microsoft Has Left is LLM Slop for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD)
the FUD machine never rests
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: A Simple Task Tracking and Auto-Prioritization Tool and Other Programs
Links for the day
Links 28/04/2025: Canada's Election, Pakistan-India Conflict
Links for the day
Speed of GNU/Linux
The media seldom speaks of the dangers of "proprietary software"
Glue Inside Your Pizza (or Why People Will Get Fed Up With Slop)
People are given "answers" from non-intelligence word dumpsters
Proprietary Windows Versus "Linux" News (Trying to Keep People on Windows, Never Exploring GNU/Linux)
Good editors know better how to recognise threats and not give them lip service
Ensuring That Every Computer User Anywhere in the World Can Take Control of All His or Her Computers
We must fight the people who attack general-purpose computing, in particular those who push this agenda very aggressively inside Linux
Links 28/04/2025: Cyberattacks Happening, Chatbots Disappointing, and "Free Speech Under Fire"
Links for the day
Phone Adoption Very Low in Vatican, Windows Usage Fell Nonetheless
Even in places where people still use desktops/laptops most of the time (and have access to these) Windows is gradually losing ground
GNU/Linux 9% in Cuba, Vista 11 Waning, Android Dominant
Microsoft has pretty much lost Cuba
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: Autism and Structural Navigation
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, April 27, 2025