Perils for Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) and PREVAIL (Efforts by the Litigation 'Industry' to Bring Back Software Patents and Crush Challengers at PTAB)
No early Christmas present offered to profiteers of patent wars?
THE Microsofter who runs the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and punishes people (financial penalty) if they don't use Microsoft's proprietary formats is leaving very soon. It was announced that she'd quit abruptly or simply leave (a few weeks' notice).
Well, it can get even worse under Trump, so don't be too jubilant.
The other day we mentioned that "PERA Bill in US Senate Strives to Crush Caselaw, Making Patents on Mathematics and Algorithms 'Great Again'".
The President of FFII now tells us: "Small victory, vote has been postponed on both PERA and PREVAIL (PTAB crash) officially because several members were missing..."
For those who don't know, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is often used to crush software patents, even without a lawsuit being filed (inter partes review (IPR)).
The EFF and FSF seems to have caught up with it [1,2]. Was the rushed vote looking to capitalise on calm or a lack of awareness (hence much-needed backlash)? If so, now we have more time to campaign and for Americans to contact their representatives. There are many comments on that in Slashdot today. █
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EFF ☛ Tell Congress To Stop These Last-Minute Bills That Help Patent Trolls
While Alice hasn’t fully fixed the problems of the patent system, or patent trolling, it has led to the rejection of hundreds of terrible software patents, including patents on crowdfunding, tracking packages, photo contests, watching online ads, computer bingo, upselling, and many others.
PERA would not only revive these dangerous technology patents, but also expand patenting of human genes—a type of patent the Supreme Court essentially blocked in 2013.
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FSF ☛ PERA Act votes tomorrow - A major step back for software freedom
PERA aims to eliminate crucial judicial exceptions that have served as barriers to granting some types of software patents. These exceptions have been vital for protecting developers and the broader tech community from some of the worst software patents. But under this bill, those safeguards would be stripped away.
Instead, PERA introduces codified criteria that would enable broad software patents—allowing anyone to assert ownership over even more abstract software ideas. Among its many provisions, PERA would amend Section 101 of the US Code to provide that: [...]