"We just didn't envision something like COVID-19 coming along, in effect ending all hope and suspending any remaining 'progress' that the lobbyists were claiming."Due to our focus on the EPO we haven't been covering American patent affairs lately (barely at all this year, except in Daily Links), but this is likely a positive thing. What we post is typically reactionary, i.e. a response to displeasing things such as falsehoods and injustices. From what we can gather, based on recent court outcomes, software patents aren't coming back to the US any time soon. Remember how last summer there was an effort to make patents even weaker with a bill called "STRONGER"? Where is that now? After 3 consecutive summers, this time around nothing is even being tabled to that effect. It's dead. It's finished. Just as we predicted all along.
Does this surprise us? Not at all. We just didn't envision something like COVID-19 coming along, in effect ending all hope and suspending any remaining 'progress' that the lobbyists were claiming. Big law firms reportedly cut salaries and lay people off. This means fewer lawsuits and it is likely also caused by fewer lawsuits being filed. As one site put it: "Major law firms have been attempting to manage their expenses by using the cost-cutting measures of salary cuts and benefits reductions, and some have even gone so far as to conduct furloughs and layoffs." ⬆