Bonum Certa Men Certa

A Post-Alice Reality (World Without Software Patents) Takes Its Toll on the Patent Microcosm in the United States

And it doesn't take the truth too well...

Shooting messengers



Summary: Discussion about the closure of patent law firms and the inability to defend software patents, which were granted in error for many years and are finally facing proper scrutiny

THE patent landscape surely came under long-overdue judgment and certainly it is changing. It's changing quite rapidly. It is not changing in favour of patent law firms, that's for sure; it's actually the other way around as these firm are trying to adapt to these recent changes and learn new tricks -- if any exist at all (here is Alexander P. Ott from McDermott Will & Emery trying new tricks to patent software in spite of the rules this week) -- in order to pretend that everything is the same as before and ultimately convince examiners/judges likewise. As we have shown in recent months, this rarely works anymore and they have very little control over what PTAB does (appeals by the patent holder/s are rare and usually ineffective). The figures and the facts are out there, but patent lawyers actively suppress them and even attack the messengers. For few instances of this, see the example above (Breyer) and recall more recent insults. It makes patent law firms look rather mean-spirited and vindicative. They're like a pack of hyenas now.



"The figures and the facts are out there, but patent lawyers actively suppress them and even attack the messengers."As one might expect, uncertainty over a large proportion of patents (existing and prospective/pending) reduces confidence among patentors. They might as well not bother attempting to patent (or renew patents on) abstract things like "something on a device" or "something over the Internet" (notorious but ubiquitous types of patents). There's plenty of prior art therein and usually no inventive step, just the 'dressing up' of an old idea. Judges can see that. Judge Jacob would have said "technical" = restatement of the same problem," Benjamin Henrion wrote, suggesting that they should formally "abolish swpats and the biggest negative points disappear. Otherwise face abolitionists. Will find Pilch's quote" (see Henrion's tweet to that effect; Pilch is the FFII's founder).

We sometimes hear about patent law firms struggling, but rarely do we hear about large ones (with nearly 100 staff) taking the beating. Let's face it; reduced demand for patents would inevitably shrink the market (or meta-industry which is patent bureaucracy). Deflation is to be expected now (or soon), as growing realisation of the status quo spreads further than just to lawyers, who still try to keep their clients in the dark (longing for pre-Alice days and selectively covering new developments so as to maintain an illusion).

"They might as well not bother attempting to patent (or renew patents on) abstract things like "something on a device" or "something over the Internet" (notorious but ubiquitous types of patents)."Another patent law firm has just imploded and there was plenty of press coverage about it early in the week, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. The patent bubble seems to be bursting with Alice and Mayo, so this patent law firm -- like others before it -- is virtually being taken over by another firm from Texas (the capital of trolls where there is still affinity for software patents). Here is the 'damage control' or the face-saving PR about this now-defunct patent law firm. They try to make the staff transfer look like good news. "Lipstick on a pig" comes to mind here.

One patent lawyers' site meanwhile bemoans the departure from an era of software patents (it's a rare exception for them to be upheld by courts or boards post-Alice).

The detailed breakdown of the post-Alice situation for software patents is preceded by the following text:



It has now been a two years since the Supreme Court rendered its now infamous Alice v. CLS Bank decision. It is safe to say that the Alice decision has had a profound impact on software patent enforcement, both at the Federal Circuit and in the Federal district courts.

Here is a summary of Federal Circuit Section 101 software eligibility decisions. As you will see, very few software patents have been upheld by the Federal Circuit in the last few years.

Breakdown of Federal Circuit 101 Cases, Post-Bilski, by Inventive Subject Matter



Here come the patent maximalists to berate PTAB, quoting something new from CAFC. "The Federal Circuit has remanded the Veritas v Veeam Software case back to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, finding its reason for denying a motion to amend “unreasonable”," Michael Loney writes in MIP. This is probably seen by them as an opportunity to overturn, but still, that would not count in the figures above.

CAFC's hostility towards software patents is especially noteworthy because it's the fault of this court that software patents exist in the US in the first place. Suffice to say, more people now recognise the correlation between software patents and trolling. It's also unsurprising that patent attorneys are unhappy about this new "Unpatent Manifesto", which attempts to take things even further. The person behind it explains his point with a hypothetical analogy, stating "it wouldn’t be possible for anyone to patent the next biological change in the human body, it shouldn’t be possible for anyone to patent the next invention that will represent a great evolution of our species."

"The "Unpatent Manifesto" might as well just be renamed the Patent Quality Manifesto."The author is especially concerned about patent trolls, which are a symptom of no (or far too little) patent quality at the USPTO. He wrote: "The patent system is also the home of the so called “patent trolls”, or non-practising entities. Their mission is to accumulate patents with the only purpose of extorting money to those pushing for innovation. They patent already invented things, and patent or buy obvious inventions so they can later threaten companies with a lawsuit."

The "Unpatent Manifesto" might as well just be renamed the Patent Quality Manifesto. In our view, patents themselves are not inherently the problem to tackle; the lack of quality control means that in the US, for example, there are now nearly 10 million patents (including expired ones). That's far too much as it shows that the system long ago got detached or deviated away from its original purpose. And it's impossible for any one person or firm to keep abreast of. There's a huge overhead.

Recent Techrights' Posts

UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part III: Mr. 'Secure Boot' (Shim) and His Fake 'Holiday' (Sending My Wife and I Threatening E-mails on 9/11)
despite being on holiday, according to him, he finds time to instruct lawyers to contact my wife
Ron Wyden: Microsoft Should be Held Accountable for Security Breaches (He Has Said This for Years Already, It Never Happens)
Negative media coverage isn't a fine and it does nothing to compensate Microsoft's billions of victims
Disable 'Secure Boot' (If It Lets You)
it doesn't put you in control
Longtime Red Hat Staff: Maybe Just Disable 'Secure Boot'
A refreshing take from Adam Williamson
A Dozen Observations About "UEFI 9/11" Deflections
What we are expected to see, tentatively
The World's Richest Ponzi Scheme (Faking Value Using Net Waste)
The higher they go the harder they fall
We Could Dual-Boot Back in the 1990s, Why Has This Become So Difficult?
And prone to breakage
Slopwatch: Google News is Still Promoting Many Fake Articles About "Linux", in Effect Rewarding Misinformation and Plagiarism
things continue to deteriorate
 
Microsoft Admits the Workers Have Lost Trust (Endless Layoffs, 12-13 Rounds of Layoffs This Year), So Now It's Trotting out Its Peter Bright-Like Media Prop Jordan Novet
What they don't want people to pay attention to right now
Links 11/09/2025: Windows TCO and Russian Drones Invading Poland (EU/NATO)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/09/2025: xkcd, misfin, and Alhena 5.3.2
Links for the day
Repetition of Last Summer (Microsoft Breaking Dual-Boot Systems)
UEFI 9/11 is about to kick in
UEFI 'Secure Boot' Boiling Frogs (Cannot Turn Off 'Secure Boot')
"MSI laptop is locked on Secure Boot and doesn't allow me to turn it off"
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part IV: The 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' and His 'Hideout' Holiday (Retreat From Reality)
Let's keep an eye on what matters
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part II: "The SecureBoot Thing Got Out of Hand."
The next few weeks might be... interesting
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part I: "I Believe This Affects Thousands of Devices... Because Multiple Devices I Checked, Whether Client or Server [...] Affected."
Most people aren't even aware that this is happening or about to happen
The UEFI 9/11 - Part X - An Outline of the Series About Microsoft Sabotaging GNU/Linux (With Ramifications to Unfold Online in Coming Weeks as People Reboot)
Today is UEFI 9/11 (9/11/2025)
Culture of silence: Ubisoft harassment convictions, Mozilla, Sylvestre Ledru & Debian make no comment
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 11/09/2025: "Hey Hi" Ponzi Schemes at Oracle (Unpaid Contracts) and Cindy Cohn is Leaving the EFF
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/09/2025: Playdate Console, Dichotomy between the Real and the Digital
Links for the day
The Microsoft AstroTurfing and Microsoft-Led Blame-Shifting Tactics Are Ahead of Us
Of course it has nothing to do with security, it's about control, i.e. them controlling everything
Celebrating Assassination is Bad Because It Legitimises Assassination of the People You Like, Too
Condoning or even celebrating political assassinations is bad optics (and taste)
Being Conditioned to Accept Unreliable Computer Systems That Fail With Black Screen of Death (BSoD)
Welcome to 2025
New Series: The Coup Against GNU/Linux Has Begun
today, this year in particular, we shall also focus on Secure Boot, which is sold based on a lie and tortures many computer user
New Paper on "BYOVD, but in firmware. Signed UEFI shells, vulnerable modules offer new paths for Secure Boot bypasses."
One might say digital "security theatre"
Links 11/09/2025: Oracle Layoffs, Drunk Pilots in Japan Airlines, US-Korea Tensions Grow
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 10, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Xubuntu Site Compromised
Let's hope it is not a security breach
Links 10/09/2025: Retaliation at Facebook and Microsoft Reveals Almost 100 Security Holes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/09/2025: Annihilation of Self, The Future Eaters, and Leaving Academia
Links for the day
They Say That People Are Afraid of or Worried About "Hey Hi", But the Worriers Should be the Fools Who Invested in It
At the end of the day nobody should worry more than those who invested their money in this bubble
Harassment evidence: franceinfo's Clara Lainé report on Ubisoft prosecution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 10/09/2025: Microsoft Layoffs in "RTO" Clothing and Windows TCO, GitHub TCO
Links for the day
Blaming Everything on China
TikTok works for China. GAFAM works for fascists.
People Get Tired of "Hey Hi" (AI), Unlike the Subservient Money-Obsessed Media That Gets Paid to Pretend This Bubble Still Matters
"crash will be way bigger than dot.com burst in 90s. and that was Internet, actually transformative technology, not this expensive AI toy with direct dependency on the energy input which is not scalable"
Brett Wilson LLP Accepts That the Serial Strangler From Microsoft Filed a Case That Also Implicates My Wife (Everything is Connected)
They used to pretend that there were two separate cases
10 Reasons to Disable (or Enable) UEFI Secure Boot
Tomorrow the "trusted corporation" Microsoft will see a certificate expire
Gemini Links 10/09/2025: Hospital and Large Feeds
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 09, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 09, 2025
The Bluewashing of Red Hat is Being Completed, Many Staff Understand They'll be Made Redundant
Jim AllowHurst (Whitehurst) is meanwhile promoting Microsoft's agenda from within other companies
Throwing Away "Old" Computers (Mozilla and Other Climate Deniers)
Mozilla is not leftist
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Exceeding 10% in Bulgaria This Month
What can Microsoft still do to stop GNU/Linux?
Dark Patterns
Microsoft saying "security" is like a Convicted Felon in the White House saying "law and order".
It's Almost Fall (Autumn)
To "Facebook prison" you are bound
Bruce Schneier About "Secure Boot"
Bruce Schneier isn't a fan of "Secure Boot"
Links 09/09/2025: Microsoft Mass Layoffs Again and "RTO" (Timed Like It Serves as a Distraction From the Mass Layoffs)
Links for the day
RMS Told Microsoft to Stop 'Secure Boot' (He Even Went There to Say That), But They Didn't Listen
Dr. Stallman (RMS) assumed that speaking to sociopaths would work
What Richard Stallman Told Me About 'Secure' Boot in 2012
"if the user doesn't control the keys, then it's a kind of shackle"
Those Who Helped Microsoft Weaponise "Secure Boot" Against GNU/Linux and BSDs Are Fleeing
Microsofters doing what they do best: they evade accountability
Simple is Better, Simplicity is Power
That is "the advantage of having commodity GNU/Linux systems," an associate notes
Much Ado About Nonsense
Microsoft Lunduke is still all dramatisation and sensationalism
Current Events in France
It needs to dump Microsoft and other GAFAM (US) giants, move to Free software
Further Media Cut-downs
media reporting about the media being cut
Links 09/09/2025: US-Korea Tensions and Meta Whistleblowers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2025: Moon Eclipse and ROOPHLOCH Reports
Links for the day
Links 09/09/2025: “Torrents of Hate” and Political Crisis in France
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2025: "Dedigitizing" and Forgejo on FreeBSD
Links for the day
Google News (Not Just Google Search) Lets Itself by Gamed by One Slopfarm - to the Point Almost Half of "Linux" News is Bot-Produced Plagiarism (LLM Slop With Slop Images)
That says a lot about what Google thinks of quality, even in Google News
Bill Gates-Funded Media Inadvertently Refutes the Microsoft Lie That in 2025 Microsoft Had Just Two Waves of Layoffs
There were about 12 rounds of layoffs so far in 2025
Official SUSE Blog Still Uses LLM Slop (Bots) to Make Fake Articles (Marketing)
The company is all about sound bites
Companies Realise That Slop Doesn't Work as Advertised, Accordingly Dump It
"Hype dims as a country-wide survey of US corporations shows a sudden drop-off in AI use among firms with more than 250 employees."
Microsoft-Funded Lawsuits Against Critics of UEFI 'Secure Boot'
Remember that no company (or law firm) ever survives collaborations with Microsoft
From theregister.co.uk to theregister.com (US) to The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives) and theregister.ai
The best way to break this racket (or cycle of hype and harm) is to break the chains of funding
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Culture of Censorship Necessitates More Speech
The OSI bans dissent or people who merely point out that the OSI is abusive
How to Reach Us Discreetly (Other Than Encrypted E-mail)
We're still managing to maintain a 100% source protection record. We soon turn 19.
LLMs Are Vastly Worse Than a Waste of Energy and the Externalities Are Huge
Worse than just higher power bills for everybody
LLMs Versus Search (Not Replacing Search But Engaging in DDoS Attacks Against Web Sites That Permit Searching)
The state of the Web isn't just bad; it's utterly terrible
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 08, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 08, 2025
It's Only the Second Week of September and Already Two Waves of Layoffs at Microsoft, Slopfarms and Microsoft-Funded Sites Spin It as "AI Investments" Rather Than Commercial Failure
A very large third one expected next week
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IX - Shunning Old Computers (in 2023 the Certificate Was Updated/Overridden, Underlying Aim May Be Herding/Forcing People to Get TPM and Other 'Novel' Restrictions)
the "upgrade treadmill"