08.28.21
Gemini version available ♊︎About Half of the Supposed ‘Growth’ in Patents is Abstract Stuff or ‘Software-Related’ (Patents That Courts Would Quite Likely Reject)
Summary: Despite a disturbing mass-granting trend, wherein quality and legitimacy of patents may matter no more (it’s all about quantity, not quality), the courts are pushing back, both in Europe and in north America; so unless they can miraculously put the courts at the hands of patent maximalists — basically what Team UPC is hoping to achieve to no avail — there’s a massive avalanche ahead (millions of tentatively invalid or fake patents)
LATELY we’ve been writing a great deal about corruption that enabled the lowering of patent quality, human rights, and standards of the sciences (we’re meant to think granted patents and innovations are surrogates). Donald Trump’s regime contributed its fair share to this fiasco (Hungarian/Hungary-born litigation USPTO ‘mole’), but we have our own 'Trumps' right here in Europe (with cross-pollination). They don’t even need to win an election and rally a bunch of violent mobs. We’ve written more than enough about EPO dictators Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos shamelessly promoting patents on software using a plethora of laughable and usually meaningless buzzwords and hype waves. Across the Atlantic they lobbied for the same, seeing that since 2014 (Alice at SCOTUS and 35 U.S.C. § 101) software patents have been mowed down by the thousands in the Federal Circuit and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), mostly via inter partes reviews (IPRs), i.e. post-grant.
“Lately we’re been writing a great deal about corruption that enabled the lowering of patent quality, human rights, and standards of the sciences (we’re meant to think granted patents and innovations are surrogates).”Earlier this week Eileen McDermott (editor of Watchtroll) wrote about these fake patents and dubious verdicts. She wrote* : “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) today reversed a jury verdict for Juno Therapeutics and Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research (Juno), wiping out a $1.2 billion judgment for the entities. The CAFC found that the jury’s verdict with respect to written description was not supported by substantial evidence.”
“CAFC, which still isn’t too eager to allow any of these patents, is without its chief judge Prost (not in charge anymore).”A day or so apart Raymond Millien (also over at Watchtroll) said: “In First Half of 2021, 63% of U.S. Patents, 48.9% at EPO and 40.1% in China Were Software-Related” (so basically questionable if not outright fake patents, even where the law forbids them).
CAFC, which still isn’t too eager to allow any of these patents, is without its chief judge Prost [1, 2, 3] (not in charge anymore). But it’s still insistent. Steve Brachmann (Watchtroll) wrote: “Federal Circuit Affirms [Section] 101 Invalidation of Secure Transaction System Patents in Victory for Apple and Visa…”
“We must confess that we try really hard to find more sources for ‘news’ or noise about patents, but many of the blogs we used to follow have shut down or simply became inactive, especially blogs vocally in favour of software patents.”Here in Europe I constantly find stories about European Patents perishing in courts; well, software patents are also fake patents across the Atlantic — in American courts too…
That’s certainly a relief and good news to software developers.
We must confess that we try really hard to find more sources for ‘news’ or noise about patents, but many of the blogs we used to follow have shut down or simply became inactive, especially blogs vocally in favour of software patents. Their influence is waning, but they will never admit it. That’s just how they operate, projecting confidence to clients while egging them on to pursue more lousy patent and file more lawsuits (even actions that likely go astray at the end, i.e. enriching nobody but the law firms).
To be most frank, having written literally thousands of posts about these issues already, we’d rather focus on new material and revelations. “EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part VI” is due to be published tonight. There has been a lot of interest in this series. We’re also grateful to readers who shifted over to gemini:// and take advantage of better (and lighter) protocols. █
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* All links are omitted in this case because Watchtroll is the only site we refuse to even link to because of its highly aggressive tone and blood-lust-type stance, especially when its founder was still in charge there, constantly attacking judges — left and right — for merely doing the right thing. He has since then softened his tone somewhat.
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