Microsoft and IBM Still Lobby for Software Patents in the US

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2014-01-06 16:55:31 UTC
Modified: 2014-01-06 16:55:31 UTC

[This article was written in February 2013 and was accidentally never published]

Bulbs

Summary: IBM -- not just Microsoft -- part of the problem known as software patenting

THIS morning we chastised IBM for its OIN strategy; but IBM plays a role in actively promoting software patents, and not just in the US (IBM promoted software patents in Europe and New Zealand for example). The other day we found this report:

Software patents, facing new scrutiny in the U.S., drive innovation and protect huge investments by developers, representatives of software companies said during a Capitol Hill briefing.

Here is a key part which says: "The U.S. patent system isn't perfect, but lawmakers and judges shouldn't solve current controversies by eliminating software patents altogether, executives with Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Covia Labs and Procter & Gamble said during a briefing Thursday before congressional staffers in Washington, D.C."

The Hill has published "Microsoft, IBM executives defend software patents", which means that they go against Obama's apparent will.

Executives for IBM and Microsoft defended the value of software patents on Thursday, saying they are key to protecting their companies' competitive edge and innovation.

"We think software patents or patents that are implemented in software are important and valuable, and necessary to protect the investments that we make in research and development and to preserve our competitive advantage," Neil Abrams, vice president and assistant general counsel at IBM, told The Hill following a Thursday briefing hosted by BSA |The Software Alliance and National Association of Manufacturers on Capitol Hill about patents. "We think it's important for the American economy."

IBM is not helping the FOSS community or even Linux by doing what it does here. IBM was also a funder of the BSA until a few years back. Meanwhile in Seattle (Microsoft's back yard), Motorola/Google is needing to defend itself from Microsoft's software patents. Groklaw has details on that:

Matt Rizzolo at The Essential Patent Blog reports that there's a new order [PDF] from Judge James L. Robart in the Microsoft v. Motorola litigation in Seattle.

For Microsoft it's predictable to assault FOSS with patents, but why does IBM continue to do this massive disservice to the FOSS community? ⬆

The Register MS: Turnover Fell by Over a Million Pounds (About 20%) in One Year, Administrative Expenses Rose by Almost Half a Million Pounds, The Register MS Operates at a Loss: This is not a (commercially) healthy publisher
Freedom Is Not Free of Charge, Freedom Can be Very Expensive: Being someone's "slave" is the "default" when no resistance exists
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXX - Swatting by Proxy: Using imbeciles who lie to cops and then dox cops (and already have arrest record and court documents wherein they admit being stoned in front of the cops)
Intel Craters at Taxpayers' Expense (Bailouts for Failing Companies Simple Don't Work): GOP, which did this, has lost many seats
Mass Layoffs at IBM, Also Outsourcing to India: What IBM does to itself it is doing to other entities as well
IBM Compels Workers - Even at Red Hat - to Become "Retired-ish": Who needs RAs (layoffs, which have been rebranded as "buyouts" like pink slips are generous "gifts") when workers can have their butts kicked every day and WARN Act reporting thresholds are never approached?
Links 06/11/2026: "XBox Is Closer Than Ever to Being Sold Off" and "BuzzFeed Stock in Free Fall": Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/11/2026: Dao and Dreams: Links for the day
20 Years of Techrights: Celebrating 2 decades of abuses of power being watched (and looking back at key changes)
Linux (and Linus Torvalds) Sleepwalking Into a Binance-Level Catastrophe With Slop 'Code': Someone should ask Linus Torvalds or his boss (Linux Foundation) if they deem slop, which nobody audits, trustworthy enough to add to every computer out there running the Linux kernel
Vitaly Orlov Weaponises Deep Pockets to Leverage High Court of Justice in London for Censorship and Punishment of Critics: reproduced in full for more exposure and to make censorship harder
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXI - What I Told British Police About Lozza the Same Month Garrett Was Preparing His First Nastygram From 'Hired Guns' Brett Wilson LLP: Lozza and Garrett
Outsourcing at IBM: Cheapening of the workforce is hardly a new problem
Links 06/11/2026: Slop "Companies Race to Lock Down Oil Clients" and Salon Shuts Down: Links for the day
Our Third Decade: Our anniversary is tonight at midnight
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 05, 2026: IRC logs for Thursday, November 05, 2026
During Strikes and Industrial Actions Lots of EPO Staff Organised Yesterday and Will Do the Same Next Week: There really needs to be a genuine election, not a reappointment
Gemini Links 06/11/2026: Hadestown and "Where Has the Electronics Shop Gone?": Links for the day
Links 05/11/2026: Rule of Law Vanishing in Turkey, Joshua Wong Still Martyred by Chinese Regime: Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/11/2026: Classical Music, Politics, and Seeed Studio: Links for the day
Like Almost Every Slopfarm, UbuntuBuzz Seems to Have Thrown in the Towel: Linuxsecurity and Linuxiac (to some extent Linuxjournal) are still going, but for how much longer?
EPO 'Midterm' Elections Should Oust the Dictator: Tentatively a failure to secure another (unprecedented) reappointment before Christmas
Secret IBM Layoffs and Increase in PIPs (Silent Layoffs): The media is failing to do its job
Links 05/11/2026: "Voice is Underutilized" and How Data Centres Lost the Midterm Elections: Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXIX - Crime Numbers Regarding GGG (Americans) and Why Those Still Matter: Time does not undo the actions
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXVIII - Telling the Police About the Defamatory Blog Where Posts Targeted My Wife and I (From Across the Atlantic Ocean): Two years ago we spoke to cops a lot
The Register MS is Losing Money Again, Based on The Register MS: Selling out didn't pay off for very long
There Are No "Layoffs" Anymore, Layoffs Got Rebranded: We're entering bizarre times when layoffs are said to be "down" (according to the regime that suffered a 'bloodbath' in the election) because companies quit using the term "layoffs"
Gemini Links 05/11/2026: Rivers of London, Soul Cakes, STMicroelectronics, and Slop: Links for the day
The Register MS Has Just Published Fake Article With "AI" 84 Times in the Page Because It Was Paid to Do This!: Astounding number of mentions of "AI" (84 in total)
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 04, 2026: IRC logs for Wednesday, November 04, 2026
Links 04/11/2026: Slop Helps Break Laws and Scam Altman Pretends Chatbots Are Persons: Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/11/2026: Abacus and Spare IT Equipment: Links for the day
Viet Nam and Thailand at High Adoption Levels of GNU/Linux, Other Nations Nearby Are No Exception: Helen Chiang and her colleagues say it's a "clown show" at Microsoft
Richard Stallman on What It's Like to be Threatened by Strangers With Software Patents: We hope that some EPO insiders will take time to listen to this talk
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXVII - Tasteless, Tactless Time for "Virtue-Signalling" (When Your Actions Are Much Like the GOP's): Violence by cops isn't a "leftist" thing
Stealth Layoffs at IBM (PIPs and Bailouts): string of reports or unverified hearsay
United Arab Emirates: GNU/Linux at Over 8%: According to statCounter
As XBox Goes Out of Business Helen Chiang Adds Insult to Injury: XBox sales are worst in 25 years
Steven Vaughan-Nichols is Slop: Just look at this
The Register MS is "Hosting a Dinner" for Sponsors: Remember that The Register MS keeps publishing spam about "AI"
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXVI - A Potent Microsoft Threat to Administration of Justice Globally (Not Just Fair Elections): Breaking into machines to cover up one's own crimes
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXV - When One Does Not Understand Security (Nor Ever Pursues Security): One might therefore conclude that Garrett is a proponent of American back doors
Links 04/11/2026: "Democratic Establishment" Wins Big and "Pentagon Sued Over Hegseth’s New “Future of Warfare” Committee Led by Musk": Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXIV - Women as Hostages, Even Spouses: First he put his own spouse behind bars by accusing the spouse of what he himself seems guilty of
A Geminispace Tally: That's not the Web, it is an alternative to it
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXIII - Shooting the Messenger is a Presidential Tactic: why our ministers are looking for ways to fix the law.
Andy's Latest Writings About Proton CEO Andy Yen, "JavaScript Required", and Slavery in Technology: Andy (of The Cyber Show) has some new material
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXII - Malfunctions Reported in Windows Voting Machines (as Usual): "There are always problems," Ryan told us
Gemini Links 04/11/2026: GoAccess, Adopting Gopher, and Twisty Passages: Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 03, 2026: IRC logs for Tuesday, November 03, 2026
"The Judge Accepted That Mrs Schestowitz Had Been the Subject of a Vicious Campaign of Online Harassment": That's consistent with how they men treat women

Microsoft and IBM Still Lobby for Software Patents in the US

Recent Techrights' Posts