Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patents Roundup: Updates from Europe, Many More Patent Trolls, and Backlash

Summary: A bundle of news about software patents in Europe and the United States

THERE is a tonne of stuff to wade through today, so without further ado, we start with Europe, which is on the brink of nasty changes.

Flag europe



Europe



European patent law is at real risk of being altered without a democratic process. Free software activists keep a close eye on these issues because if the EPO sells out to Microsoft and the likes of it, then software patenting may become possible, formally. Here is another new report that serves as a warning that there is a push for "Community patent", which would likely forbid the freedom of software that is produced by the European community. Yes, it's a nasty, if deceiving, use of words to characterise it as the opposite of what it really is. [via Digital Majority]

Some member states, including Germany, have favoured establishing an international body to handle Community patent cases, while others preferred a Community system.

[...]

In recent months, discussions in the Council's preparatory bodies have concentrated on possible cooperation arrangements between patent offices in Europe based on enhanced partnerships, and on the economic benefits of a Community patent on the basis of an expert study highlighting its potential to foster innovation, in particular for SMEs and universities.


Axel H. Horns has this report about the Council of the European Union discussing the Community patent today.

On May 28 and 29, 2009, a EU Council meeting (2945th session of the Council of the European Union - Competitiveness Configuration (Internal Market, Industry and Research)) will take place in Brussels. It will be chaired by Mr Vladimír Tošovský, Minister of Industry and Trade, and Ms Miroslava Kopicová, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, of the Czech Republic currently representing EU Presidency. The afternoon session on May 28, 2009, will be devoted to the examination of the project for creating a Community Patent and a Unified Patent Litigation System (UPLS).


This must be another one of those events (or parties) of lawyers and diplomats where they set up a system that benefits them and their peers.

The pro-Microsoft Rory Cellan-Jones from the BBC (he meets with Microsoft sometimes and always favours them in his coverage) is also taking a role in such intellectual monopoly ceremonies. Rory finds out -- much to his surprise perhaps -- that not everyone is a huge fan of this closed system that gives jobs to lawyers, litigators, and those organising their self-glorifying, self-congratulatory parties.

Dave Birch of Consult Hyperion has strong views on all sorts of technology issues – instinctively, he is an open-source web libertarian, and he was not afraid to voice his opinions to the patent lawyers and artists’ rights organisations gathered in Prague, You get a bit of a flavour of that in this video.


From his journey comes the following video, which is now available in Ogg Theora format for those who haven't the patent licences to watch it otherwise.

Ogg Theora







Direct link



The summary of this video is: "In Prague for the Patinnova patents conference, a rebel has managed to sneak his way in. Dave Birch - who doesn't bel[ie]ve in patents explains himself to Rory Cellan-Jones"

Patent Harassment and Trolling



This system continues to be messy, especially in the United States where software patents have been legitimate for quite some time. In Europe, programmers already enjoy the benefits of copyright law, so here is a relevant new post:

Patent Lawsuit Over Shazam Highlights The Difference Between Invention And Implementation



[...]

That is the process of innovation. The idea was a useful starting point, but it was meaningless until the idea could be implemented in a way that the market wanted. And, yet, some guy who had the same idea, but didn't go through the trials and tribulations of actually making it work for the market, suddenly gets to demand tons of money for it? That's an economic and societal waste.


From the same Web site: "Lawyers Fined $72.6 Million For Screwing Up Patent Application, Not Letting Company Sue For Enough Cash"

Rob Hyndman points us to the news that a law firm has been hit with a $72.6 million judgment for legal malpractice, after a company who had hired the law firm to handle its patent applications claimed that the law firm screwed up the applications, making it that much harder for the company to shake down other companies for cash.


Here is another takes on the same story:

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and that appears to include malpractice awards in the Lone Star state.

Yesterday, a federal jury in San Antonio slapped Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld with a $72.6 million judgment for botching a patent application filed by a Texas-based company and an inventor.


And this is what's referred to as "innovation"? Does this advance science?

What about abuse of trademark law?

Of Patent Trolls and Trademark Champions: A Tale of Two Spangenbergs



[...]

But that version misses the byzantine backstory to this suit: Spangenberg and her husband Erich already sit atop a sizable fortune, won through intellectual property litigation.


Mike Masnick has this to say:

We've Had Patent Trolls And Copyright Trolls... So Why Not Trademark Trolls?



[...]

So, it was really only a matter of time before we got "trademark trolls," as well. To be honest, we've had a few stories about a guy named Leo Stoller, who has been dubbed a trademark troll after registering trademarks on all sorts of common words and then insisting no one could use those words without paying.


Counter-Productivity



The idea of killing software patents is far from controversial and where patents murder people (see recent examples in [1, 2]) it's desirable to apply changes, too. According to the following report about patenting of human genes, this whole thing may be doing more harm than good.

Dr. Shuster, who has a doctorate in molecular pathology conceded that patents on genes hinder medical practice.


Business method patents are already a dying breed and just watching some of them can be a disturbing experience because here we have ideas that are applicable with pen and paper. Using pen and paper alone can constitute an infringement, a violation of the law. Is rational thought being criminalised now? Should it?

In the bill, the term “tax planning method” is defined as “a plan, strategy, technique, or scheme that is designed to reduce, minimize, or defer, or has, when implemented, the effect of reducing, minimizing, or deferring, a taxpayer’s tax liability, but does not include the use of tax preparation software or other tools used solely to perform or model mathematical calculations or prepare tax or information returns.”


The highly-regarded Mises Institute has just published this essay which calls Intellectual Monopolies a "Unnecessary Evil."

In a rush to stimulate the economy, the Obama administration is touting various "visionary" plans to make the American economy more progressive, more innovative, and more forward-looking by subsidizing politically-motivated projects like "green" technology. These hands-on policies will be ineffective. Recent research suggests that a much more effective way to accomplish the same goals would be to eliminate intellectual monopoly and to reduce the regulatory burdens on innovators.

According to conventional wisdom in economics, temporary monopoly rights--patents--are necessary to give people incentives to come up with newer, better ideas. After all, if people who came up with new ideas could see those new ideas copied without cost by competitors, why bother spending the time and energy? Hence, we have patents.

[...]

Progress is also slowed by the regulation of food and drugs, which requires years of extensive and expensive testing before a drug can be approved for sale. This means that some lives are saved because people are restricted to hyper-safe drugs, but the lives saved come at the cost of lives that are lost because the appearance of these drugs on the market is delayed. Further, other drugs that would be useful but might carry greater risks never make it to the market to begin with.


From a purely economic point-of-view -- let alone ethical -- there is reason for radical reform. The original goals and means of the patent system are not longer hunoured as greed and self interest lost sight of the genesis of it all.

"They [EPO examiners] claim that the organisation is decentralising and focusing on granting as many patents as possible to gain financially from fees generated." —Expatica, European Patent Office staff on strike

Recent Techrights' Posts

Azure is Turning 17 This Year, Still Losing Money and Staff
Hallmark of pyramid schemes, deriving "value" out of things that do not really exist?
Richard Stallman on RISC-V and Free Hardware
Invidious is under attack by Google
IDG 'Reviews' of GNU/Linux Now Contain LLM Slop
It's typically ads or commercials... or sometimes spin disguised as news
In Gopher and Gemini Protocol People Abandon Services Based in the United States
There's no resistance whatsoever
Python and Microsoft: Pandas Should Have Known OpenDocument Format (ODF) and Microsoft Excel Are Different and Competing Things
now we're meant to think that in order to open ODF files we need some functions with "Excel" in their name
Not Only Windows, Surface, and "Hey Hi" PCs; Microsoft's Hardware Ventures Are a Dumpster Fire; HoloLens Mixed Reality Hardware Now Axed Altogether and Staff is Miserable
Microsoft is in a terrible state
Links 15/02/2025: University Price Hikes and Copyright Action Against Slop Companies
Links for the day
Slopwatch: All Those New 'Articles' Are Fake and Crafted by Chatbots (LLM Slop)
Google News is promoting these as "Linux" news; they're not even made by humans
 
Alex Oliva, the Potential 'Successor' of RMS, Has a New Web Site
More freedom for Alex Oliva
Gemini Links 15/02/2025: On Autistic People, AuraGem Over HTTPS
Links for the day
The Cyber Show (C|S) Speaks of the "Rise of the Nerd Reich."
This 'Valentine Episode' is quite good
Strong Momentum for the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as Winter Approaches Its End in Boston or in the Northern Hemisphere
FSF's founder, Richard Stallman, gives another talk in Italy in 9 days from now
The 'Drunken Plagiarists' Are Harming Journalism About GNU/Linux
They lessen the incentive to do real journalism abut GNU/Linux
Female Nazis and racist Swiss women
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 15/02/2025: Erasing of American Science and Tesla SLAPPing Critics
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/02/2025: Spectacles and "Before Sunset", Moving Domains Out of the US
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Only $17,482 Million Left, "Cash on Hand" Sank 40 Billion Dollars in 2 Years
Microsoft runs low on money in the bank
YouTube Layoffs Mean That YouTube is Still Losing a Lot of Money (Net Income or Profit Almost Definitely Negative)
In more recent years Google defunded many vloggers
Certificate Authority (CA) Let's Encrypt Now Down to TEN (0.3% of the Whole) in Geminispace
The number of capsules that use Let's Encrypt is, according to Lupa, about to fall to single-digit figures
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 14, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 14, 2025
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Mysterious Friend and "Eight by Eight"
Links for the day
They Will Never Leave Linus Torvalds Alone, Rust is Just Another Way to Cause Instability and Infighting in Linux
We already identified the Rust "community" as troublemakers more than 5 years ago and we wrote about the evidence
Apple: Social Justice or Social Nationalism?
Remember to buy Apple, folks
Links 14/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Sophos, Chatbots Failing Very Badly, "DOGE as a National Cyberattack"
Links for the day
Moving Away From Certificate Authorities (CAs) Like Let's Encrypt Means Taking Away From the US Government the Power to 'Censor' Sites by Revoking Certificates
Gemini capsule is cheap to run and easy (easier than a Web site) to maintain. More people disillusioned and frustrated with social control media flock to it.
BetaNews' Managing Editor Wayne William Took Charge of GNU/Linux Articles and His Articles Are Real (He Actually Wrote Them)
We are frankly relieved to see that Wayne William recognised the problem and did something about it
Links 14/02/2025: Publicity Rights Violated (ByteDance), Bribes to Trump Passed via Social Control Media 'Settlements' Again
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Constitution, Cosmic DE, and More
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles Published by Bots, Dominating Google News
So a lot of the Web is Microsoft chatbot-generated anti-Linux FUD
Links 14/02/2025: Measles Outbreak in Texas, Zelensky Warns Russia Will Attack a NATO Country
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 13, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 13, 2025
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: gwit and Restart
Links for the day
Links 13/02/2025: Algorithm Bots and 'Teleport' Breakthrough
Links for the day
EPO Staff Representatives Confront the President Who Says 'F--king' in Front of Female Workers Over Measurable Discrimination Against Female Colleagues
Central Staff Committee versus Lukashenko's sponsor
IBM Layoffs in 'RTO' Clothing Reported by Thomas Claburn
This "hey hi" (AI) nonsense is just a go-to excuse that IBM and GAFAM (and many others) use
Still Waiting for the EU to Abolish the Illegal and Unconstitutional Court Linked to EPO Corruption and Lobbyism by the Patent Litigation Industry
Sadly, all the blogs that used to talk about those issues have been infiltrated and then completely hijacked by the very perpetrators of the illegality
Social Engineering of the Free Software Movement is a Corporate Takeover With Code of Conduct (CoC) to Drive Out or Expel Dissent
Richard Stallman (RMS) covered "cancel culture"
Links 13/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Google (Disguised as "Buyouts"), Telecoms Price Hikes as Collusion/Price-Fixing
Links for the day
[Video] Richard Stallman Questions and Answers Session in Google's YouTube or Invidious
From last night
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: Broken Watches and Naming Types
Links for the day
Corrupt Bill Gates Worming His Way Into Richard Stallman Videos in Google's YouTube
Reputation laundering riding other people's names?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 12, 2025