Bonum Certa Men Certa

Software Patents Proponent Martin Goetz Groomed by a Microsoft Booster, Unrest Over Software Patents Evident in Europe

Martin Goetz



Summary: More arguments over the issue which is software patenting and who's behind it

A longtime booster of Microsoft gives a platform to software patents proponents, in this case the first person to acquire a software patents, or at least the most vocal such person (what constitutes a software patent is subjective):

Guest post written by Martin Goetz


The author, Martin Goetz, opposes lawyer Eric Goldman, whose position we wrote about before. "Unfortunately," Goetz says in an ad hominem fashion, "Goldman is not only wrong on most of his statements which he presents as “facts,” he is viewing this controversy from his vantage point only as an IP lawyer and teacher. Had he worked in the software industry, he might have had a much different viewpoint. I say this after having spent over 35 years directly in the software industry and another 20 years as a software consultant and investor in software start-ups."

Gérald Sédrati-Dinet, an opponent of the unitary patent in the EU, weighs in by saying:

@SCUHTLI I also disagree, @ericgoldman miss the point for #swpats, this is what is important: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20130310164408906 …


He links to the very good Groklaw article.

The placement from the Microsoft booster has been providing ammunition for patent boosters such as IAM Magazine (patent lawyers), to whom responses went like this (from the same person):

@ksnhlaw @IAM_magazine actually @ericgoldman 's critics were already bad and not shared by opponent to #swpats


Yes, Goldman is a lawyer and we do not agree with his proposed solution.

Meanwhile, points out another person, Europe gets flooded by US patents, including software patents (more on that in the next post). To quote this one tweet:

And the Unitary Patent will favor EU SMEs… really? RT @AchimMuellers: US No. 1 Country in Patent Filings with EPO http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-patent-office-epo-2012-annual-results-us-are-no-1-country-in-patent-filings-with-european-patent-office-2013-03-06#.UTdQ1zB0jnY.twitter …


We need more people to get involved and stop software patenting in Europe. The unitary patents was merely the first step and it helps import patents from the US.

Daniel Ravicher, interestingly enough, is still doing fantastic work by suing for fraud over Herbalife:

My first thought upon reading a new shareholder derivative complaint accusing directors and officers of JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America of facilitating a pyramid scheme by extending a total of $1.2 billion in credit to the controversial nutrition company Herbalife was that it was an interesting new development in the weird hedge-fund showdown between Herbalife short-seller William Ackman of Pershing Square and Herbalife investor Carl Icahn. My second thought, when I noticed that the pro se plaintiff was a lawyer named Daniel Ravicher, was, "Wait. That can't be Dan Ravicher of the Public Patent Foundation."

But it is. The well-known IP public interest lawyer, who's co-counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union in the Myriad gene patent case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, is moonlighting as a private lawyer in the Herbalife derivative suit and in a companion fraud complaint against Icahn, also filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. In a phone interview Ravicher told me that he's stepping out of the realm of intellectual property because he's convinced Herbalife is taking advantage of unwary, unsophisticated consumers. His girlfriend, he said, knows someone who became an Herbalife distributor and nearly became one herself. "This struck a chord with me personally," he said. "Herbalife is hurting people."


It is sad to lose one like him to a different (but important) cause. This leaves fewer people to fight for patent reform in the US (the USPTO is a disease) and prevention of software patents in Europe. There is a lobbying war going on and if developers don't participate in this debate, the lawyers and the monopolists which pay them will win.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nonfree Software in My Bank, by Richard Stallman
Updated 8 hours ago
Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
 
This Monday WebProNews Absolutely Flooded the Web With Fake (LLM Slop) 'Articles' About "Linux", Google News Promoted Them as Legitimate
All of the following are fake articles attributed to pseudonyms or authors that don't exist; the images are also slop. Why does Google promote these?
Linuxiac is Not a Slopfarm, But at Least Some of Its Articles Are Machine-Generated Fakes
what we said about it was correct
Expect More Microsoft Layoffs
"Are more job cuts coming?"
Microsoft Behaving Like It's Running Out of Money to Pay Salaries
Does that seem like the behaviour expected from a company which claims it is "worth" trillions?
LWN Downtime Due to Linode, Not LLM Bots
"I’ve received an email letting me know that there is a potential for data loss."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 28, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 28, 2025
Links 28/07/2025: Science, Health, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Healthy Self-Image With Autism and a "New Life"
Links for the day
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles