Bonum Certa Men Certa

Many Thanks to Free Software, the Demise of Software Patents (in Europe and the US), and So Much More

Thank you



Summary: On a positive note we're heading into the end of November, one month before Boxing Day; we take stock of patent affairs that impact software developers

ACROSS the United States people celebrate a holiday that we do not have here in 'Englandia'. Except of course the shopping-related offshoots (cyber Mondays and black Fridays -- whatever they even have to do with holidays when we're still in national/nationwide lock-down).



"Enjoy the long weekend, don't shop ("consume") too much, and don't believe anything Team UPC says."This coming (long) weekend we'll be doing some site housekeeping, having 'earned' some rest after 29,000+ blog posts. We're motivated, not tired. Exhilarated, not demoralised.

What happened today in Germany was not a surprise; neither to me nor to Benjamin Henrion, among many others (we correctly predicted this outcome). Daily Links have some coverage from Team UPC, but we will write about the latest on the subject when the constitutional complaint comes (we're rather certain it'll arrive soon). Team UPC is, as usual, using Trump-style hype and premature victory laps in an effort to gaslight and demoralise otherwise rational people. António Campinos of the EPO did the same in the afternoon, but even his own workers don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth.

FFII is crowd-sourcing and crowd-funding a complaint and we also expect the famous Düsseldorf attorney/lawyer to say something. People expect a complaint from him, not just from FFII, and various other parties will likely step in (at some level or capacity). We expect to see some frustrating times for Team UPC ahead of us, e.g. get ready for the FCC... actually dealing with the actual substance this time around (a key Justice already publicly insinuated it would likely come next).

Benoît Battistelli is thankful to lobbyists (CEIPI has long wanted and attempted to profit from UPC courses, even if UPC does not exist) and those who think legislation can be magically retrofitted to bypass Brexit are in for a surprise. Also, those who think they can introduce a new court system to authorise software patents in Europe (without the highest court in the EU getting involved) are simply dreaming.

Thank youIt was almost 24 months ago (2 years) that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) attempted to crush/bypass 35 U.S.C. €§ 101. Not only will Biden replace the current USPTO leadership (it seems inevitable); in the meantime the Federal Circuit only doubled down on 35 U.S.C. €§ 101/Alice. Coons and his friends made no progress with a Congressional bypass and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) continues to handle inter partes reviews (IPRs), habitually crushing American software patents. So we're generally still in a good position. Not perfect, but not too bad, either.

Enjoy the long weekend, don't shop ("consume") too much, and don't believe anything Team UPC says. They've been lying to us all for well over a decade; it's not like this week their lies miraculously stopped.

Recent Techrights' Posts

European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Brotherhood of São Bento
The Palácio São Bento – or São Bento Palace – is the seat of the Portuguese National Assembly in Lisbon
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to Police for Trying to Throw Large Parcel Into Our Home
This morning the campaign of intimidation...
Slop Has no ROI, an Economy Built on False Assumptions of Slop is Doomed
we're all going to suffer from this Ponzi scheme
The Cyber Show Has "Exciting Guests Coming" and a Gemini Capsule
"Site development is ongoing but now settling into a more stable form"
 
IBM's Quantum Bubble Already Deflating
Shares down over $55 in a few days
SLAPP Censorship - Part 101 Out of 200: Women Come to Realise They Don't Wish to Participate in Attacking Vulnerable Women
It relates to another topic that we shall be covering in the coming weeks
Links 08/06/2026: Proprietary Loaded With Security Holes, Armenia Defies Russia
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/06/2026: NetHack 5.0.0 and Slop as Cannibalism
Links for the day
Links 08/06/2026: "Rising Emissions, Depleting Water" Due to the Pyramid Scheme of Slop; "Canada Needs to Rebuild Public Telecoms"
Links for the day
GAFAM Bots Are Not "Good Bots"
There's nothing "Good" about Google
Links 08/06/2026: Criticism of Microsoft Trying to Criminalise Pointing Out Bug Doors, TikTok Now "Climate-Denying Social Media App"
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Measured at 10% in Liechtenstein This Month
it seems like statCounter wrongly classified some GNU/Linux clients as Mac clients and is now issuing a correction
Communicating With Freedom - Part III - Quibble Envisioned as a New and Easily Accessible Communications Platform Based on LibreJS
the FSF really needs to become more active if not proactive in promoting those sorts of things
Clownflare Says Majority of Web Traffic is Now Bots, But the Net is Another Story
Bots are to Clownflare what lawsuits are to lawyers
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 07, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, June 07, 2026
The Strikes at the European Patent Office Planned to Carry on for the Entire Year, Maybe Future Years as Well
There's a cautionary tale somewhere
Number of Patent Grants Has Plunged 23% Amid Strikes at the European Patent Office, Today There Are More Strikes (Strike Participation at Over 3,000, More Than Doubled Since Winter)
There is a growing crisis at the European Patent Office
E.E.E. Still Ongoing, the War on Copyleft/GPL Enables That
It also imperils security.
Gemini Links 07/06/2026: Lynx in the 'Modern' Web and 'Overcooked' (Plagiarised by LLM) Code
Links for the day
Links 07/06/2026: Java Needs Seawall, Egypt Blasted for Arbitrary Detention of Activists
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 100 Out of 200: Interlude and Outline of the First Half, 3+ Months That Got Us Death Threats Connected to Brett Wilson LLP (and Cyber Attacks That Are Difficult to Attribute)
This week we plan to have a good time
Banning Things Versus Teaching People the Reason/s to Shun/Boycott Those Things
Prohibition has its limits
Links 07/06/2026: NASA's Mars Maven Declared Dead, Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Bemoans Russia's Crackdown
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 06, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, June 06, 2026
Gemini Links 07/06/2026: How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and "Six Days of Play"
Links for the day
Links 06/06/2026: 'Epstein Problem' in Board of Directors of Microsoft, Surveillance Giant Google Under Legal Threats for Online Misuses
Links for the day
Software Freedom Takes a Lot More Than Coding
some of the roles in the Free software community that don't receive (m)any grateful words
Ubuntu is Losing to Other GNU/Linux Distros
"Linux Mint"
Old Articles Explaining That Patents - Especially Software Patents - Are Bad for Innovation
We've omitted more than 50% of the articles we had gathered as candidates for inclusion
European Patent Office (EPO) Crisis: Huge EPO Strikes, Profound Corruption, and Cocaine Use by Managers Tolerated
These strikes won't be ending any time soon
Why GNU and FSF Will Choose AV1 Over AV2 (It's More Widely Supported)
for the foreseeable future they'll stick with AV1
Mass Layoffs (RAs) and PIPs (Excuses to Sack) at IBM: Insiders Tell No Relation to Actual Performance
If many thousands are impacted by this, then certainly it is newsworthy
Links 06/06/2026: LinkedIn Infested With Spies, Ethernet WiFi Router On Pi Pico 2W
Links for the day
25 Years With PalmOS
That my Palm PDA still works in 2026 (not in mint condition but close to that) says a lot about the "build quality" of gadgets 20+ years ago
Why We Dumped Online Shopping (Groceries)
subsidies kept the "online" stuff artificially cheap
Microsoft Fell to All-Time Low in Monaco Last Month
So says statCounter anyway
Lawsuits That Don't Work
Not as expected anyway
SLAPP Censorship - Part 99 Out of 200: Graveley and Garrett Seem to Have Crashed Brett Wilson LLP (Worse Than Taking Russian Oligarchs as SLAPP Clients)
a state of disarray
Microsoft Has Spent Months Preparing Lists of People to Cull in Massive Wave of Layoffs (Allegedly Start of July)
There is some consensus that we're weeks away from mega-layoffs at Microsoft
Gemini Links 06/06/2026: "Competing" With LLMs and "Automation of Any Kind"
Links for the day
Links 06/06/2026: 'Linux' Foundation Openwashing Slop on Microsoft's Payroll, Ukraine Wants Permanent Ceasefire With Russia
Links for the day
50% of the 'Gains' Made by "Quantum" Hype Already Evaporated
"It was all hype about quantum nonsense. Heading back to reality now. Expect sub-$220 after earnings release next month."
Heap of Trash Online, Not Just the Fault of LLM Slop But Enabled by Slop
Google News has just promoted a pair of prolific slopfarms
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 05, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, June 05, 2026