Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft-backed Patent Troll, Intellectual Ventures, Takes More Toll and Lobbies the Government

Nathan Myhrvold



Summary: Intellectual Ventures, the patent-hoarding and patent-trolling operation which was set up by Bill Gates and his friend Nathan Myhrvold, is still causing a lot of trouble

THE world's largest parent troll, Intellectual Ventures, has just created/'manufactured' another patent deal rather than create/manufacture a product. The Seattle press (source favourable to Microsoft) quotes: '"Dashwire deal is kind of a unique one," said Joe Chernesky, VP and general manager of global licensing sales at Intellectual Ventures. "They’re a smaller company and a component of the deal is access to our portfolio. A separate component to that deal is that they’ve acquired some patents from us to help them build out their patent portfolio and more aggressively defend themselves from companies with certain patents against them."'



"To Microsoft, "bad" patents are those which cause trouble to Microsoft and "good" ones basically remove Microsoft's competition from the market or make that competition a Microsoft cash cow."Actually, to say that they’re "a smaller company" is deceiving because these are not companies (no more than the mafia is), these are just legal firms that comprise extortion, litigation, and generally market distortion. Microsoft would like people to think that its backing of Intellectual Ventures is a case of "respecting IP" or something along those lines, but as the i4i case helps demonstrate, that's just total nonsense. Microsoft knowingly ignores patents that stand in its way until it gets pulled into the courtroom, in which case it wants those patents removed. To Microsoft, "bad" patents are those which cause trouble to Microsoft and "good" ones basically remove Microsoft's competition from the market or make that competition a Microsoft cash cow.

As we showed earlier this month, Intellectual Ventures and Microsoft both lobby to make the patent system worse (regarding this bill which they derail or distort by funding lobbyists). They help create a pyramid scheme or a bubble which they know will burst sooner or later, leaving those at the bottom broke and allowing those at the top to sweep up all those who are way down at the bottom. Here is a new article titled "Welcome to the age of sub-prime patents – or mutually assured litigation":

US Outlook: Remember the chaos that ensued when mortgages stopped being a contract between you and your bank, and instead became financial chips bought and sold by gamblers on the world's markets?

Funny things started happening. People who shouldn't have gotten loans got them, the housing market became twisted out of shape, and a host of financial intermediaries, from corrupt mortgage brokers to reckless Wall Street bankers, managed to get filthy rich without adding a penny of value to the real economy.

Now consider the US patent system. An explosion in the number of patents being filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, up from 312,000 a decade ago to 509,000 last year – an increase of almost two-thirds – is, sad to say, only partly a result of the increasing innovation of American business.


It's not about innovation, it's about protectionism; Intellectual Ventures protects its bottom line and also protects the bank accounts of Microsoft and Bill Gates (for reasons we explained before). The whole operation is a racket which needs to be dismantled. Instead, this insane doctrine expands overseas, due in part to lobbying from Microsoft which now puts in New Zealand the trap and the same trick as in Europe. As Jan Wildeboer has just put it:

New plan for NZ: Software Patents NO, but when embedded OK. http://ur1.ca/3ttq3 #notgood #swpat


He links to this new article about patents in New Zealand:

New Zealand and Australian inventors and patent attorneys are being invited to respond to a proposal for a single body to regulate patent attorneys in both countries.

Calling for comments on a discussion paper, New Zealand Commerce Minister Simon Power and Australian Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr say it is important that government regulations take into account the needs of the patent attorneys and innovators who use them.

In New Zealand, software patents are to be phased out, under amendments to the Patents Act, but devices that contain embedded software will be able to be patented.


This is not good enough and we explained Microsoft's role it at the end of 2010. They still manage to spread the patent bubble to other continents. It's obvious who benefits.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Speed of GNU/Linux
The media seldom speaks of the dangers of "proprietary software"
Proprietary Windows Versus "Linux" News (Trying to Keep People on Windows, Never Exploring GNU/Linux)
Good editors know better how to recognise threats and not give them lip service
Ensuring That Every Computer User Anywhere in the World Can Take Control of All His or Her Computers
We must fight the people who attack general-purpose computing, in particular those who push this agenda very aggressively inside Linux
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: Autism and Structural Navigation
Links for the day
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: The Purge, the Cover-up, and the Witch-hunts
OSI has gone "full Microsoft"
 
Links 28/04/2025: Canada's Election, Pakistan-India Conflict
Links for the day
Glue Inside Your Pizza (or Why People Will Get Fed Up With Slop)
People are given "answers" from non-intelligence word dumpsters
Links 28/04/2025: Cyberattacks Happening, Chatbots Disappointing, and "Free Speech Under Fire"
Links for the day
Phone Adoption Very Low in Vatican, Windows Usage Fell Nonetheless
Even in places where people still use desktops/laptops most of the time (and have access to these) Windows is gradually losing ground
GNU/Linux 9% in Cuba, Vista 11 Waning, Android Dominant
Microsoft has pretty much lost Cuba
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, April 27, 2025
In 24 Countries Observed by statCounter Vista 11 is Still Less Than a Quarter of Windows Users Despite All Other Versions Being 'Expired'
They ought to move to GNU/Linux
Links 27/04/2025: Pope Goodbyes, "Politics of Fear", Slop Redux and More Google Shutdowns (Google Debt Had Grown This Year)
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Serenity Dialectics, Hockey Jersey Ethics, and More
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Death of Nest Thermostats, Death of Metaverse
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Projects Workflow and Discovering Technology
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 26, 2025
Microsoft Isn't on the Map in USSR
To them, it's either Google or Yandex
In Central America Windows Became a Small Force
These are countries where Windows used to have well over 95% of the "market"
What's Very Vexing to GAFAM, EPO and Others Is That It's Incredibly Hard to Censor Us (and Nobody Ever Successfully Did That Before)
resist, do not capitulate
Site May be Even Faster Now
It basically takes less than a tenth of a second to serve the page
Receiving SLAPPs and Collecting Them Like Trophies (the SLAPPs Always Fail)
People who file lawsuits bring even more attention to themselves (or to embarrassing statements about them)
Year of GNU/Linux on the Laptop?
It's not happening only in Lenovo
What People Must Understand About the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
some facts about the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
Many of the Scandals Are Interconnected (Overlapping People and Corporations)
We're only getting started
More Copyright Lawsuits Against LLM Slop Providers and Suppliers of LLM Slopfarms Would Benefit Society
It's not just bad for the Web and for society; it's also legally dangerous
Links 26/04/2025: General Assassinated in the Town of Balashikha, US Promoting Seafloor Mining
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025