Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Law Firms and Their Publishers Latch Onto Rare CAFC Cases Where Software Patents Somehow Survive

But these are only about 10% of all cases (can be counted with the fingers of one hand this year), i.e. still the small if not minuscule minority

Stat



Summary: A roundup of District Court and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) news regarding software patents

HAVING just covered the good news, namely the decline/descent of software patents, now come the less convenient news, or the news that can throw a wrench at the party if one blindly believes the spin that accompanies the news. The ascent of Alice since 2.5 years ago profoundly changed everything in the domain of software patenting. It's not hard to see why and it's difficult to argue against it... unless one is a paid lobbyist like David Kappos, former USPTO Director.

First we have the case of Evolved Wireless, LLC v Apple Inc., a District Court (not Texas for a change) where the patents were ruled not ineligible. Here's the gist of it:

The court denied defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings on the ground that plaintiff’s wireless communications patents encompassed unpatentable subject matter because the claims were not directed toward abstract mathematical algorithms


If this decision is appealed and reaches CAFC, expect the patents to die. Just look at CAFC's recent track record. It's as hostile as can be toward software patents and a key judge, the one responsible for software patents' emergence, changed his mind and slammed software patents in a key decision involving the world's largest patent troll, Intellectual Ventures. We already published several articles about this historic decision.

Meanwhile, says this patent attorney, "US Pat 7,412,510, Software Patent Survived Alice at the CAFC" and another proponent of software patents says "inexplicably CAFC did NOT kill this claim under 101: "computer code ... to enhance" an accounting record http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions-orders/15-1180.Opinion.10-28-2016.1.PDF … HOPE YET??"

What they hope for is that CAFC will change its course and stop "killing" (their term for invalidation) software patents, but they're cherry-picking cases most of the time. It lets them shower potential or existing clients with dangerous optimism.

Michael Loney, writing from New York, says that "Federal Circuit finds software claims patent eligible for fourth time this year," but four in a year is not much. To quote Mr. Loney:

“There is no such single, succinct, usable definition or test” for defining an abstract idea, the Federal Circuit said while allowing a software patent to survive a Section 101 analysis for the fourth time since May


Here is another article about this:

One major take away from this case is that this panel of the CAFC clearly believes software is patent eligible subject matter. At least some of the representative claims discussed (e.g., claim 1 of the ‘065 patent, page 20) is a computer readable medium claim reciting computer code for performing a series of operations. This is very welcome after comments in recent cases from certain judges suggesting that software should be per se unpatentable.


This decision can probably be appealed to the Supreme Court, at risk of overriding Alice. Here is corporate media, namely Barbara Grzincic at Reuters, covering this latest development as well:

A long-running patent fight between network-software rivals Amdocs (Israel) Ltd and Openet Telecom Inc will go at least another round, after a U.S. appeals court overturned a ruling that had invalidated four of Amdocs' patents.


Other coverage came from lawyers' sites [1, 2, 3] and pro-software patents lobbying sites [1, 2] where there are no disclosures about vested interests. Some of these articles contain misleading claims, such as "Federal Circuit seems to be loosening the reins on 101 software subject matter disqualifications," even though CAFC is actually ruling against software patents in a large number of cases, especially high profile cases (like the aforementioned Intellectual Ventures case). No matter what the patent microcosm tries to say (usually spin), CAFC is basically trashing a lot of software patents and the recent decision from Judge Mayer was a death knell to many of them. Lawyers' sites are understandably desperate for spin because spin sells (it attracts their target audience). The same happens in Europe; European "IP" news sites try to maintain an amicable relationship with the EPO, so they only say good things or nothing at all.

"Has IAM ever given a platform to opponents of software patents and to pessimists? It's a rarity because that's not what readers (paying subscribers) want to see."Speaking of one such European "IP" 'news' site, once again it gives Bart Eppenauer (from Microsoft) a megaphone, and as usual in defense of software patents. He is trying to say that all is well for software patents, which is utter nonsense. Here is what IAM wrote under the headline "Key CAFC decisions confirm software is patentable in post-Alice world, says Microsoft’s former patent chief".

Has IAM ever given a platform to opponents of software patents and to pessimists? It's a rarity because that's not what readers (paying subscribers) want to see.

Well, this sure is getting shallow and tiresome. Why don't they just recruit Eppenauer and give him his own column at IAM? What he talks about isn't news; it's not even a new decision, just more entertainment of old staff with attribution to an overhyped person whom they like to grease up a lot (almost every month).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
 
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text)
The Web is really getting bad; it's also overwhelmed by fake material or plagiarised material, wherein the plagiarism gets disguised/hidden by LLM sausage factories
Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan
Links for the day
Linux is Already Dominant (Android), Let's Make GNU/Linux Dominant in Desktops/Laptops as Well
"Dr. Stallman recently warned everybody about Microsoft."
The Loyalty to Microsoft and the Salaries From Microsoft (Funding SLAPPs Against Techrights and Tux Machines)
Garrett always knows better. He knows everything best.
Windows Falls in Italy as GNU/Linux Jumps to 5%
Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google
Windows down to almost nothing in Africa's largest population
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond
"More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster"
Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June
Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 02, 2025
Last Article From Australia's Sam Varghese Was a Year Ago and It Covered the Release of Julian Assange, Who Will Apparently Come Back as 'Politician'
It'll soon be exactly 12 months
Hungary Seems Hungry for Linux
Windows down by a lot
Like in Europe, Bad News for Microsoft in US and Canada
If it loses those "regions", then what's left?
About 8 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in 2025 (in Less Than 5 Months), Now Vista 11 "Market Share" Decreases
Really bad news for shareholders of Microsoft
statCounter Sees Bing "Share" Falling Over 0.5% in One Month, Now Lower Than Before the ChatGPT/Bing Chat Hype
Bing has been part of the mass layoffs for quite some time
After Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia Android (Linux) Will Dominate Asia Completely
Windows probably peaked in "XP" or "2000"
Microsoft's Demise is a Global Phenomenon
mass layoffs justified using mindless buzzwords
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux in EU and the UK, All-Time Lows for Microsoft
Combining ChromeOS and GNU/Linux, it adds up to and almost reaches 6%
India: Windows Falls to 50% in Desktops/Laptops and 8% Overall
laptops/desktops fell to 16% of the whole
statCounter: GNU/Linux Up to 4.7% "Market Share" This Month
30,000 Microsoft jobs may be eliminated by year's end
Microsoft is in Trouble and Microsofters Know It
"I've been happy on Win 3.11 for years."
[Video] New Introduction to Richard Stallman's Contributions Including GNU Emacs, GNU/Linux, and Software Freedom
from the channel previously bullied for supporting RMS
Links 02/06/2025: South Korea to Vote, Russia Blitzed From Within
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Political Leftovers, DRM, and Patents
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Microsoft Spins Layoffs as "Slop", Frontier Settles Lawsuit
Links for the day
When You Publicly Boast About Wanting to Violently Attack People (Even Colleagues) Finding a Job Will Prove Difficult
there's a lesson to be learned here
The Web We Lost, the Information Lost Due to Microsoft's Attacks on Companies Like Yahoo! (Before the LLM Slop Frenzy)
When it comes to news sites, what can we say?
Covering Corruption in Poland, Including a War on Science (Due to Bad Politicians)
What we're about to show is that skilled and experienced scientists in Poland are besieged by bureaucrats
Gemini Links 02/06/2025: "Star Wars Day" and "Security Day"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 01, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 01, 2025