Bonum Certa Men Certa

Director Lee's USPTO Managed to Drain the Swamp Filled by David Kappos and His Colleagues, But Trump Will Likely Dismiss Her Soon

Progress can be halted and regression soon follow for oligarchy's sake

David Kappos as lobbyist
Source: David Kappos interview with Intellectual Property Magazine (2010), modified by us



Summary: Just as the USPTO begins to get its act together and limit patent scope based on reasonably liberal SCOTUS Justices there are many reports suggesting that the Director of the USPTO will be driven out, courtesy of the Trump presidency that will also perturb SCTOUS

THE USPTO has a longstanding patent quality problem, albeit with Alice and few other top-level decisions (Mayo for instance) things are improving somewhat.



The other day we found Jaguar Land Rover pursuing patents on facial recognition, which basically means software patents. I have peer-reviewed papers for international journals about this subject; no doubt this is about software patents -- possibly a thing that UK-IPO would reject outright. Here is what Britain's worst paper wrote about it:

Motorists could soon unlock the doors of their car simply by walking up to it and taking a selfie.

Jaguar Land Rover is developing technology that uses facial recognition and gait analysis to detect when owners of its vehicles approach, to open the doors for them.

Details have been revealed in a recently published patent application by Jaguar Land Rover, but it is unclear when the technology might become available.


Nothing innovative here and also it's about software. Shouldn't the post-Alice guidelines* at the USPTO disqualify this? How about this other new patent application? It's one which TechDirt introduced the other day with the headline "Sony Wants To Patent A System For Scoring Journalists' 'Veracity'," noting that it's too obvious for a patent. To quote directly: "Like anyone wouldn't have come up with such a system if there wasn't patent protections?"

"Nothing innovative here and also it's about software."Let's face it, David Kappos has made more of a farce out of this system, having worked for IBM, a big proponent of software patents. Is the leadership of the USPTO 'on loan' (to large corporations)? Kappos now works as a software patents lobbyist and IBM is one of his clients. It disgraces the whole patent office on ethical grounds and nobody seems to mind.

Looking at some scholarly figures from Patently-O (published this past week, probably for some paper of his), it seems evident that Kappos did a lot of damage to patent quality. As Patently-O put it: "You’ll note the discontinuous nature of the average-PTA chart. The break-point in early 2010 shows the impact of the Federal Circuit’s Wyeth decision holding that the PTO had been under-calculating the adjustment."

That's also the Kappos impact. Here is another new graph. This graph, in our assessment, may simply mean that patent law firms broaden their applications' "template" (notably with citations) in order to patent some more junk and make it seem credible, well-researched. To quote: "The number of references cited per patent continues to rise, albeit more slowly in recent years. For patents issued in 2016, the average patent includes more than 50 cited references. In my view – this is great, although it would certainly help if the examiner was given some clue as to why the reference is deemed relevant or what portion of the reference is relevant. (If an examiner has a question, they can ask the applicant). A not-surprising facet of the growth in references-cited is that almost all of the growth is in applicant-cited. Compared with 10 years ago, applicants cite 26 more references per patent (on average) while examiners cite only 1.5 more per patent. As you might also note from the difference between median and average – the citation distribution is highly skewed. Example: If we take the top-5% of patents from 2016 (those with the most references cited) – they include 35% of all of the cited references. My experience with this skew is that patent applicants considered more valuable by their owners are more likely to submit more prior art references."

"Let's face it, David Kappos has made more of a farce out of this system, having worked for IBM, a big proponent of software patents."There is another new graph at Patently-O and the way we interpret it is quite simple: Quality of patents at the USPTO (or complexity of patents) is declining. Patent examiners don't seem to mind. The more, the merrier.

One last post from Patently-O alludes to Donald Trump and notes that the majority of patents in the US are not even from the US. The part about ITC (where the I should stand for US, not "international") says: "In an email, Prof. Mark Lemley suggests that we should look for “a rise in the importance of the ITC as we focus on blocking imports.” The ITC’s primary goal is to protect U.S. industries against unfair international trade. Lemley writes: “One interesting question is whether Trump will move the ITC’s jurisdiction back to its roots by insisting on a real domestic industry requirement.” Additional ITC movement could push-back against U.S. patents that are owned by foreign nations or unduly subsidized by a foreign nation."

"He'll turn the USPTO into a Great Swamp Again."We criticised the ITC many times. It's just an apparatus of US protectionism, so the I in the acronym is not suitable, like the W in WTO. Another article about Trump's impact, this time from MIP, says: "A panel on the US election at the IP Dealmakers Forum speculated that the Trump administration may take a long time to appoint a USPTO director and the Republican leadership that worked on patent bills in the previous Congress will again push for reform" (we already noted that USPTO Director Lee may be on her way out).

We expect Trump to make the US patent system even worse, as corporate interests tend to be prioritised over people, based on his recent appointments. He'll turn the USPTO into a Great Swamp Again. As for SCOTUS, expect more Conservative Justices there (not just a Scalia replacement), complete with preference for large corporations like Trump's. __________ * According to this new placement in IAM, the "USPTO seeks public comment regarding subject-matter eligibility" (covered here before). To quote: "On October 17 2016 the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that two roundtables will be held in the coming months to discuss patentable subject matter eligibility under 35 USC €§ 101. The roundtables have been set up to facilitate public comment and discussion regarding the USPTO’s current guidance on subject-matter eligibility as well as case law arising from interpretation of the requirements under 35 USC €§ 101."

Recent Techrights' Posts

EPO Examiners Point Out to the Heads of Delegations in the Administrative Council of the EPO That the "AI Policy" of the Office is Illegal
"the Central Staff Committee (CSC) asks the Administrative Council to exert its supervisory role and instruct EPO management to enter into genuine dialogue with the staff representation on the AI Policy, to revise the “Leverage AI” target of 90% AI-automated classification in the SP2028 and to put in place the measures supported by staff in the resolution."
French Cities Dumping Microsoft Because They Recognise Software Freedom, Open Standards, GNU/Linux Autonomy
We hope that more French cities - maybe Paris - will follow Lyon.
LWN is a Voice of GAFAM (Through Linux Foundation, Their Front Group or Occupying Force Inside Linux)
remember who the chief editor works for and who sponsors many of the articles
The 'Case' of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft is a Lot of Copypasta (Maybe Also LLM Slop) From the Matthew Garrett 'Case'
5RB deserves to know and the matter shall be properly reported in due course (when the time is right)
EPO Squeezing the Staff - Part II - Office Breaks Rules, Ignores Courts, Defies Justice
False promises everywhere
IBM - Like Microsoft - is a Dying Company and Perishing Brand ("AI" is a Lie and Decoy)
"Arvind is cutting costs (layoffs, PIPs, forced RTO, etc...) like crazy. IBM offices are closing all over the place in the US."
"Code of Conduct" Invoked When Fedora and Red Hat Users (Since the 1990s) Don't Want to Use Wayland
That is IBM "DEI"
Microsoft Layoffs Next Week: About 10% to be Laid Off in Microsoft Gaming (2 Days Before Independence Day), About 20%+ of XBox Staff
Microsoft is rapidly collapsing
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 26, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 26, 2025
The Netherlands: GNU/Linux Measured at All-Time High
Are any Dutch cities going to announce dumping Microsoft?
Gemini Links 27/06/2025: "Interstitial Existence" and Autocorrect
Links for the day
Keeping Things Accessible
Gemini Protocol seems to be growing
Technical People Need Technical Lawyers
Technical Litigants in Person (LIPs) have many real and concrete advantages
10,000+ Articles in About 20 Months (and How We Got Here)
More bloat does not beget efficiency and "bells and whistles" tend to have a hidden cost
Links 26/06/2025: Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC) Failing Scandinavia, K-Pop Agencies Abuse People
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/06/2025: AuraGem Twitch Proxy is Back and UI Sluggishness
Links for the day
Links 26/06/2025: Noise Pollution Considered High in Europe, Mass Layoffs Next Week in Microsoft Confirmed, Very Large in Scale and Scope
Links for the day
No, I Don't Want Your Latest XYZ, ThankYouVeryMuch...
Wayland is finally ready?
China Keeps Breaking Into Microsoft Systems, So for True Sovereignty, Nations Wary of China Need to Dump Microsoft
Looking at data from Taiwan (not China) and Maharlika (not Philippines, the king is dead and Spain is out), there are encouraging signs
Linux Journal Wants Ads on Its LLM Slop or Ads as 'Articles'
it's basically another BetaNews
How to Kill a Monopoly
in 10 simple steps
Mozambique: GNU/Linux Rose From 0.5% Last Year to 3% This Year
what (or how) statCounter is measuring
Next Month Marks 11 Years Since Our In-Depth EPO Coverage
The same is happening to Microsoft right now
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Campaigns Against Vista 11, Adds 4 New Associate Members Per Day
If more people understood the underlying principles, more of them would flock to Free software overnight
Canonical Seems to Have Culled Some Sources of LLM Slop From Planet Ubuntu
It's like "junk food", it's not information
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 25, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 25, 2025
On "Weak Claims"
For the record, they sent me unjustified threats, repeatedly tried injunctions (censorship)
EPO Squeezing the Staff - Part I - Burnout and Family Health
more exceptional circumstances
This Month's Mail (MX) Server Survey Shows Microsoft at 0.20% "Market Share"
We need to remind people that desktops and laptops decline (in proportion to other client devices) and at the "back end" GNU/Linux is already dominant and has long been dominant
Links 26/06/2025: Filespooler Guide and Learning to Code
Links for the day
Why Techrights Cannot be Vilified (and Instead It Gets SLAPPed Repeatedly by Microsoft People)
Attack dogs are all "bark"; because they have no actual "bite"
Austrian GNU/Linux Usage Up to About 5% as More of Europe Abandons Microsoft
Since inauguration day the Austrian people have adopted more and more of GNU/Linux
Why the "Wayland People" and "Rust People" Will Lose Hearts and Minds (Same Reasons)
Wayland pushers are fast becoming like "Rust People"
5,600 Pages/Articles Per Year
So far this year we've kept all the promises
BetaNews Beginning to Show What Its True Goals Are
The 'new' BetaNews won't be about journalism. It's trying to sell things.
Microsoft Has Lost "The War"
We'll soon see the 9th or 10th wave of Microsoft layoffs in 2025 alone
Slopwatch: A Wreck and a Dreck, "Flooding the Zone With Dreck" or Flooding the Web With Junk
"Slopwatch" continues today because we have many new examples
Links 25/06/2025: Thwarting More Software Patents, Overlap Grows Between EPO Corruption and Illegal Kangaroo Patent Courts in EU
Links for the day
Links 25/06/2025: Elon Musk’s Lawyers Caught Lying, WhatsApp Faces More Bans
Links for the day
Wayland Pushers Lose the Argument, Use LLM Slop and Chatbots to Make Up Arguments for IBM
Another new low and low blow
Brian Fagioli Created Another Slopfarm Targeting "Linux" After BetaNews Became a Slopfarm of Phantom Accounts and Pseudonyms
Mr. Fagioli even had slop about a dead Torvalds (hypothetical) as clickbait
Wayland is Perfect, Nobody Can Escape Its Perfection! (Or Not)
Do not form on opinion on Wayland based on politics
What is "MATA"?
Think of it as GAFAM or "Meta"
Moral Duty for "Linux Sites" to Speak Out Against LLM Slop
My wife has long complained about "Linux bloggers" keeping quiet and thus passive about a growing problem: slop
In Recent Hours Google News Promoted at Least 3 Slopfarms That Relayed Linux Foundation Propaganda Made by Bots or LLM "Bullshit Generators" (as Dr. Stallman Dubbed Them)
Google is circling down the drain and Google News too is hopeless
Linux Journal is a Slopfarm, It's Experimenting With LLM 'Authors'
Is Slashdot next?
WebProNews is a Slopfarm
Please avoid linking to WebProNews
Microsoft LinkedIn is Dying and Many More Layoffs Are on the Way
LinkedIn is just a failed acquisition of Microsoft. It causes losses and debt.
Gemini Links 25/06/2025: Combinatorial Music and Self Hosting
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Coming Back to Europe This Autumn to Give More Talks
His last talk in Europe attracted about 400-450 people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Social Control Media, Technology & Catholicism: Synod on Synodality review and feedback
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
How Many More Women Will Managers at Microsoft Strangle and Tell to Kill Themselves (or Try to Kill)?
The world needs to know what happened
The New BetaNews: 7 New 'Articles', All of Them LLM Slop
BetaNews is basically defunct. Nobody writes there anymore.
Another "Told You So!": XBox Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Many Recent Reports Were Chaff and Spin), Many Other Divisions Affected
With mass layoffs at Microsoft the world would be much better