Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patents Roundup: Abstract Ideas and Perceptual Monopolies

The insanity never stops. This time it's IBM.

IBM hopes to patent 'dealing with chaos'



[...]

IBM wants to patent a means of responding to hurricanes, earthquakes, tidal waves, solar flares, flooding, terrorism, war, pandemics, and other situations where you would hope companies aren't worried about patents.


See this post about patents that kill. Whether action will be taken against these dangers (the patents, not the disasters) remains to be seen, but Microsoft, Google and Corel are specifically named in this call for patents on abstract ideas to be voided. The following paragraph illustrates the seriousness of the situation.

The case in question concerns a patent submission for “managing the consumption risk costs of a commodity”, whatever that means. The patent office refused to consider such an abstract idea as patentable. However, many of the patents that are owned by such behemoths as Microsoft and Google could conceivably be argued, are based on abstract ideas.


You can find a good and lengthy new report at advogato.org, which goes a step further and proposes a rethink about intellectual monopolies as a whole.

# Dissolving WIPO - The World Intellectual Property Organisation needs to be shut down - or its job transformed into one which *protects* sovereign nations from the interference of intellectual "property" hoarding. I consider the concept of "Intellectual Property" to be "slavery". even the name says so! Intellectual. Property. Intelligence. Owned. Information. Enslaved. It's got to stop. We're not a bunch of savages. any more.

# Dissolution of Patents. See above. Also: see the documentary "The Corporation". Even the reasons why the Patent system was created is flawed: hoarding of information so that the inventor can benefit from it is so completely against the grain of an enlightened world that it hardly needs mentioning - but there will be people reading this who will genuinely believe - just like the Victorians did about their life-long human captives - that Slavery is perfectly acceptable because "everyone does it".

# Banning of Articles of Incorporation with "profit" as the main focus. This is absolutely essential. There are plenty of alternative Articles of Incorporation where profits are made, but not at the expense of world resources. Companies House has a boilerplate designed for social clubs.


We mentioned before why we might be seeing a slow transition into a 21st-century feudal system. Unless the economy collapses and radical steps are taken to ensure sanity prevails, the patent system might become worse and worse as time goes by. Rebellion against it would only be natural.

A hoarding culture taken to the extreme becomes incompatible with rapid development of the sciences. It's not about innovation; unless this innovation is the creation and amplification of an economic model which favours only a few and spins words like "secure" (the wealth), "protect" (the upper management) and "license" (unlock basic human rights).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Facebook's Debt Leaps to Over 51 Billion Dollars
A lot of this is a bubble, aside from the bubble the media irresponsibly dubs "AI"
3 Days Ago Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Most of This Month Will Deal With EPO Scandals
A timeline of sorts
 
The Long-Coveted Milestone of 3,200 Active Gemini Capsules
Despite being away some days last week, about 50,000 Gemini requests were served each day, on average
Five More Days Till Techrights Party
We'll have many more batches of Daily Links as we catch up with a 'backlog' of news
Links 02/11/2025: More Nuclear Escalations and "Anti-Cybercrime Laws Are Being Weaponized to Repress Journalism"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/11/2025: "The Pragmatic Programmer", Perl New Features and Foostats
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 01, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, November 01, 2025
Linux.com is Becoming Microsoft
They took a once-reputable site with a vast audience and turned it into a pile of trash
Microsoft Lunduke: People Pointing Out I'm a Bigot is a Badge of Honour
It's almost as if he openly admits being a troll and is proud of it
Oracle's Debt Continues Rising to All-Time Highs, The "Slop Bubble" is a Smokescreen for Larry Ellison
wishful-thinking bubble waiting to implode completely
News on the Web is Becoming Rare, Shallow, and Difficult to Find
To efficiently and rapidly find original and important news without underlying comprehension/understanding of the news (and its context) is a hard task
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Serial Slopper, WebProNews, and More
getting back into the habit
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part III: European Patent Office Officials Cannot Claim False Identification
Corroborating with other sources is always desirable if possible. We shall do so later in this series.
Still Catching Up, Daily Links a Top Priority
Readers who have additional information about the EPO can send it along to us
Links 01/11/2025: "Americans Are Defaulting on Car Loans at an Alarming Rate" While Many Left to Starve (SNAP)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/11/2025: FIFO and Gemini Age Survey
Links for the day
Why Does German Media Protect the EPO From Accountability for Cocaine?
Can we trust such media to properly inform the public?
Links 01/11/2025: Microsoft Azure Goes Offline Again
Links for the day
Links 01/11/2025: Microsoft Distributes Malware Again, Radio Free Asia Shut Down by Dictator
Links for the day
November is Here, Anniversary Party This Coming Friday
Expect this site to return to its normal publication pace either by tomorrow or Monday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 31, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 31, 2025
Gemini Links 01/11/2025: Synergetic Disinformation and Software Maintenance
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 30, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 30, 2025
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 29, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 29, 2025