Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patents Roundup: Software Patents in India, the US, Microsoft's Dubious Software Patents, and Mark Cuban

When competition is becoming lawyers' business, generally unhinged from science and technology

Faculty of law



Summary: A roundup of news of interest with a special focus on software patents, which severely affect one's ability to liberally develop software and are potentially being expanded to countries outside the United States, where the Supreme Court may have already, in effect, put an end to them anyway

RETUNING to our main focus again, this post brings together all the news we were able to find about software patents towards the end of the week. It's sub-divided into four parts.



Software Patents in India



As readers probably know by now, as we wrote half a dozen articles about this subject alone, India's political system, which has a lot of power in the world, is surrendering to the lobbies of multinationals and offers them patents on software, effectively stomping on India's massive population, software developers in particular. Here is a new "[t]ime-line of Software Patent Law in India" which explains the latest development as follows:

August 21, 2015: Guidelines for Examination of Computer Related Inventions released by IPO. Provide that: – Mere use of mathematical formula in a claim to clearly specify the scope of protection being sought would not render the claim a mathematical method. Eg. Method of encoding, decoding, encryption – While business methods are non-patentable, if the claimed matter specifies an apparatus or technical process for carrying out invention even in part, the claims to be examined as whole – So long as a computer programme is not claimed in itself, but in a manner so as to establish industrial applicability and fulfils all other criteria of patentability, the patent should not be denied.


These loopholes are even worse than what we have in Europe (similar to New Zealand's loopholes). If Narendra Modi and his colleagues fail to stop this, India will suffer from inflated pricing and many software houses (local) will shut down. Nothing has actually changed in India which justifies this latest change to guidelines. It probably boils down to lobbying and corruption. We know which companies want software patents in India; they're not Indian companies but companies that exploit Indian labour for cost-savings, ensuring that India stays dependent on foreign-made systems with imperialistic back doors.

Software Patents in the US



SCOTUS, the US Supreme Court, has emerged as somewhat of a hero in the fight against software patents. We are grateful for Alice as it's a huge game-changer. Patent lawyers are plotting to patent software nonetheless, even after the Supreme Court banned many of them. How typical. Expect a major war of words between people who actually produce software and patent lawyers whose role is parasitic at best (as well as their very rich clients and patent aggressors, i.e. companies like Microsoft).

Microsoft's Dubious Software Patents



PatentVue, a patents glorification site which even celebrates Microsoft's patent troll Intellectual Ventures, has just published the article "Microsoft Has a Diverse Software Focused Patent Portfolio".

"If Ballmer was the extortion racket CEO (like the Mafia), then Nadella is the blackmail CEO. Nothing has changed."Microsoft needs such patents so that it can attack, extort, and blackmail Android/Linux. Microsoft has been pressuring in favour software patents in Europe (often via lobbyists and proxies, e.g. Association for Competitive Technology, which keeps changing its name in order to dodge negative publicity). This year alone Microsoft attacked Samsung, Kyocera, Dell, and ASUS using software patents, forcing them -- by means of patent blackmail -- to put Microsoft spyware inside Android. If Ballmer was the extortion racket CEO (like the Mafia), then Nadella is the blackmail CEO. Nothing has changed.

Quoting the patent maximalists from PatentVue: "Earlier this month, Microsoft and Google announced a settlement to end nearly 20 patent-related lawsuits in the U.S. and Germany. The deal brought to close years of patent litigation surrounding various technologies, including gaming systems, mobile devices, and multimedia streaming.

"Envision IP analyzed Microsoft’s US patent portfolio to understand where the company has focused its patenting efforts, as well as to determine emerging technologies which Microsoft may be developing. At a high level, we identified 31,209 in-force, unexpired US patents owned by Microsoft and its subsidiaries. According to the company’s annual 10-K filed in July, Microsoft owns “over 57,000 US and international patents”. Also, according to Microsoft’s Patent Tracker Tool, the company owned 29,235 patents as of December 11, 2014."

"It's Microsoft's utterly shameful patent assault on a Dutch company (and by extension on Linux) using discredited patents which probably never ought to have been granted in the first place."Rather than produce software Microsoft has been busy bullying the EPO into granting it patents as soon as possible (many of these are on software), even without proper prior art search, checks for inventive step/s, suitability based on European patent scope and so on (there is a fast track now, so an even sloppier examination process is clearly inevitable). Speaking to patent maximalists with a Microsoft Windows Web site several years ago, Microsoft's Marshall Phelps said that Microsoft would have 50,000 patents within two years. The EPO, as he explained it, "can’t distinguish between hardware and software so the patents get issued anyway" (more so if Microsoft pressures the examiners to do their job at a rush).

For those inside the EPO who don't understand Microsoft's insidious (uniquely so!) role in the EPO, including the pressure for a V.I.P. lane, we can humbly suggest a quick read though the TomTom case. It's Microsoft's utterly shameful patent assault on a Dutch company (and by extension on Linux) using discredited patents which probably never ought to have been granted in the first place.

Shooting the Mark Cuban (Messenger)



Mark Cuban, an influential person in the US, has expressed his opposition to software patents on many occasions and even put money where his mouth was (investment in Vringo notwithstanding).

"This isn't what the patent system was supposed to be about."Patent lawyers and nasty (at times exceptionally rude) proponents of software patents resort to an ad hominem attacks on Mark Cuban, still (ongoing smear campaign). Here is the latest such attack. Patent examiners (technical people) and software developers alike ought to know that their enemies are often patent lawyers and lobbyists, not just their main clients (cash cows), i.e. companies like Microsoft. These people have made a mockery of the patent systems with all sorts of loopholes and corporate/V.I.P. queues. This isn't what the patent system was supposed to be about. At the beginning it was advocated to the public as the mechanism by which a lone inventor can protect himself or herself from a corporate raid on ideas. Now it's all reversed. It's protectionism for the world's billionaires. Fix it or abolish it.

“People that use Red Hat, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation to compensate us.”

--Steve Ballmer, Microsoft



Recent Techrights' Posts

"Many Applications Labelled as "Cybersecurity" and Given a Veneer of Legitimacy Are Really "Weaponised" and Abusive Code"
New from Dr. Andy Farnell
Security Advisory: Debian falls for social engineering hacks
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
Plagiarism by Bots: Guardian Digital, Inc (linuxsecurity.com) Still Creates Fake Articles About "Linux"
100% fake
[Teaser] [Meme] New Ways to Impoverish Patent Examiners (Entrusted to Block Unjust Monopolies or Monopoly Applications)
Coming tomorrow!
Apple Tax funds: railways, defective concrete blocks in Ireland's North and West
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Daniel Pocock, Nomination for Ireland, Dublin Bay South, General Election 2024
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 08/11/2024: TikTok Bans and Clownflare Issues/Perils
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/11/2024: RPS, O.D.I.N., and RSS in Yahoo News
Links for the day
Donald Trump as Censor in Chief Can Now Leverage Censorship Companies and Fake Protection Disguised as 'Security'
Centralised CAs were trouble all along
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part VI
By Dr. Andy Farnell
A Death of a News Industry
A theme we explored thrice today
Deciphering Centralised CAs and Why Their Demise Should be a Goal
Encryption in transmission is good; but who controls the key exchange and certification/authentication/validation?
Links 08/11/2024: Strikes, Recessions, and Slowdowns
Links for the day
[Teaster] [Meme] New Ways of Wrecking (NWoW)
The EPO
Gateway for News and Blogs
In the long run, this site and its sister site (less overlap between them now) should hopefully become a popular destination for people who look for information, not chaff
Going Even Faster
We hope the site will be faster soon
Psychopaths Who Reaffirm Our Work's Value
Psychopaths and sociopaths lack empathy, so they're willing to go very far and stoop as low as they deem necessary
[Meme] How Low Can You Go at the European Patent Office?
Not just in terms of patent quality
More Cuts/End to Benefits for EPO Workers (Europe's Working Conditions Incompatible With the European Patent Convention)
"The Office is now reviving it but plans to introduce new cuts on benefits"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 07, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 07, 2024
Gemini Links 08/11/2024: US Election, RetroChallenge 2024, and More
Links for the day
[Meme] Questioning Proprietary Software? Not OK...
A disaster long in the making
Links 07/11/2024: HTTP/3, Health Research, and Punditry
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/11/2024: On Writing Publicly and Record Player Table
Links for the day
Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) Hosted SOSS as Microsoft Propaganda Platform With Microsoft Front Group OSI
They essentially promote what they're attacking under false pretences [...] OSI is deeply corrupt. It's more toxic than arsenic.
Anti-Linux FUD, Now in LLM Form, Thanks to Brittany Day
They attack Linux with chatbots
[Meme] When You Discredit People Who Discredit Secret Code
proprietary systems with hundreds of millions of transistors (and hundreds of millions of lines of code)
The High Cost of Making Scepticism of Proprietary Voting Machines a "Trump" and "Conspiracy Theory" Territory
Time to get back to paper? Or read an old paper?
Links 07/11/2024: Online Manipulation in Social Control Media, Election Deniers, and More
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/11/2024: emacs-guix and File Hoarding
Links for the day
[Meme] Election Day at the European Patent Office
Less than 60 minutes left to cast your vote
Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) Election Ending Today
In one hour
[Meme] When the Patent Office Does Illegal Things and Staff Speaks Out
many leaks received today
Today We Got an Early Birthday Gift
Exciting times
[Meme] Going Too Far to the Left Can Breed Militant Ideology
Some people can never be appeased because they prefer not to be appeased
Apple's Debt Has Skyrocketed While Gimmicks Like Vision Pro Failed
In Apple's case, the debt is almost double the "Cash on Hand", which isn't even cash
FSF Expressed No Preference Regarding Presidential Candidates (Its Founder Did)
Because he is a principled person, he does not prioritise loyalty to customers or employers (money)
A President Trump is Excellent News to Microsoft
His racist policies gave lots of contracts to Microsoft
Who Next on the Linux Foundation's 'Kill List'?
Remember that only about 2% of the "Linux" Foundation's budget goes to Linux
Links 07/11/2024: Facebook Scams, Journalists on Strike
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 06, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 06, 2024
Microsoft-Connected Publishers Want Us to Think That Linux is Some Sort of a Virus and a "Backdoor"
"The problem is with windows and the attack vector is via Windows"
We've Made it to 18! Here's to Another 18!
Going on for another 18 years means until some time at the end of 2042
Links 07/11/2024: Political Angst and Laptop Issues
Links for the day
Even LKML Subjected to Slop/SPAM by Guardian Digital, Inc (linuxsecurity.com)
They're really awful
Links 06/11/2024: BPF in RFC 9669, More Facebook Fines for Privacy Abuses
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/11/2024: Political Shock and Hermaic Encouragement
Links for the day
Planet Debian Allows Politics (But It Depends on Your Opinions and Debian's Big Sponsors)
Planet Debian is OK with politics... as long as all your political opinions are the "correct" ones and you add cute animals
What Makes RMS Such an Attractive Target ('Discreditisation' Campaigns)
Don't be so easily fooled
The Biggest OEMs or Vendors of GNU/Linux Stopped Competing With Microsoft (Which Pays Them to Promote Windows, Too)
Where are the competition authorities (or regulators for that matter)?
Let's Encrypt Falls to a New Low of Only 0.6% of Gemini Capsules Known to Lupa
In Gemini Protocol, certificates for encryption are required, but centralised Certificate Authorities (CAs) aren't needed
Computer-Generator Crap Flooding the Web, the Latest Example About "Linux"
Here's today's example
Links 06/11/2024: Election Disinformation and Legal Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/11/2024: Stargazing and Death on Hallowe'en
Links for the day
Would You Trust a Liar?
Why lie about the authorship?
Mass Layoffs at Mozilla Announced During US Elections
Maybe nobody will notice?
[Meme] Announcing "Results" Before Everyone Even "Played"
There is a "tech" angle to otherwise political news
US Polls Close in One Minute (Social Control Media Does Not Care, Will Not Wait)
US election results will be known in about 2 days
Concentration and Centralisation Versus Aggregation or Syndication
KDE has a history of burying old sites
Social Control Media, Even Hours Before Polls Have Closed
Has social control media controlled by CPC (TikTok) and the Trumpmobile guy (Musk's "X") done enough to convince people not to even vote (based on presumptive "results", presented a long time before all polls have closed)?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 05, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 05, 2024
Wayland Pains in Community-Led Distros of GNU/Linux
Few people and companies use Wayland; there's hardly any technical or practical reason to choose it
IBM Still Conflating Microsoft With 'Security'
As a meme
Sanctions Cause Fragmentation in Software
some Chinese Linux developers are already subjected to restrictions similar to Russians'
Web Failing With Slop, Even in 'Linux' Sites (LLM Spam)
Add SEO prompting to the mix and the Web becomes a pool of slop, not knowledge
[Meme] State of the World Wide Web and Online Journalism
Technically a failure (DRM) and cannot even get basic things right
Trump's signature policy, building a wall, copied from Irish-Australian student politician
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linus Torvalds' self-deprecating LKML CoC mail linked to Hitler's first writing: Gemlich letter
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] Turning 18 in One Day
just one more day