Bonum Certa Men Certa

Amid New Losses to Software Patents and to Patent Trolls, US Supreme Court Prepares to Deal Them Another Lethal Blow

The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is a patent rationalist, not maximalist

TC Heartland
Even the patent (meta-)industry anticipates the demise of trolls' modus operandi and attempts to sell "services" around that



Summary: With the TC Heartland decision (SCOTUS level) looming, patent trolls are already losing all their marbles -- including software patents -- and motions are being made to shift venue of litigation (outside of the Eastern District of Texas)

A HIGH-PROFILE CASE that was mentioned here before, on Friday to be exact, enabled us to see the world's largest patent troll losing a major test, which represented yet another big blow to software patents in the United States. CAFC has once again blown away several of them.



Days later we saw this report from Joe Mullin, who is very familiar with this patent troll. He wrote:

Intellectual Ventures boasts of having more than 30,000 patents—but you'd have to look for a long time to find one that can hold up under real scrutiny.

After staying quiescent for years, IV opened up a barrage of lawsuits to enforce its patents in 2010. But the companies that decided to stand up to IV rather than buckle under have been faring well, as judges have found the patents that IV has chosen to enforce in court less than impressive. It's a telling sign about the giant patent-holder's collection. Given the opportunity to pull just about any patent out of its huge collection, one would assume the company would choose the best of the lot. But much of it appears to be exactly the kind of easy handouts from the dot-com boom era that have been called out by critics of "patent trolls."

Earlier this week, Intellectual Ventures lost two more major patent cases at the nation's top patent court. It lost a case against Erie Indemnity Company and several other insurers, which had stood accused of infringing US Patent Nos. 6,510,434, 6,519,581, and 6,546,002. The same judges also tossed patents asserted against banking company Capital One. All were found invalid under the Supreme Court's Alice Corp. precedent, which barred many patents that describe basic business processes and add computer jargon.



Compare that to Wall Street media's coverage. How can one write about Intellectual Ventures without mentioning that it's a gigantic patent troll which makes nothing? Here is an important reminder of what this troll is: "Founded in 2000 by former Microsoft Corp. Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myrhvold, Intellectual Ventures has raised over $6 billion to purchase patents and owns around 70,000 intellectual property assets, according to its website. The company has 40,000 intellectual property assets in programs to grow revenue through licensing and related litigation."

"Not too shockingly, patents on software and even the most notorious patent trolls enjoy the support of some patent law firms; they have their 'fan' base out there."It's not a company, it's a troll (or a "firm" at best). It does nothing but harass real companies. Many of its patents are worthless but are used in bulk in order to lower defendants to their knees (raising the cost associated with defence and making settlement the cheaper option).

Not too shockingly, patents on software and even the most notorious patent trolls enjoy the support of some patent law firms; they have their 'fan' base out there. It's all about money to them; even when it's working directly against innovation.

Asserting that a patent is not valid (as above) is not an "attack" but a defense (by the defendant). Attackers are not the "survivors". But notice the language of liars -- those to whom invalidated patents (after they got used offensively) are "killed" and otherwise "survived".

To quote this new example: "Location Detector Patent Claims Survive an Alice/101 Attack by Uber: https://dlbjbjzgnk95t.cloudfront.net/0899000/899068/https-ecf-cand-uscourts-gov-doc1-035115212012.pdf"

"We are worried not just about software patents but also patent trolls, which typically but not always rely on software patents."The same person (an attorney who promotes software patents), linking to this post about Alice gaining momentum, basically chose selective emphasis. "In Thales Visionix Inc. v. United States," it says, "the Federal Circuit reversed a decision of the Court of Federal Claims that found claims drawn to an inertial tracking system patent-ineligible under Section 101."

This may sound like big news. It's about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It also cites the Supreme Court’s Diamond v Diehr (classic case) and it's not the same case cited above. It was decided 3 days ago, on March 8th, and it was a lawsuit against a government and Elbit Systems, typically a military contractor. This decision is 11 pages long and it's not purely about software, hence the court found it unsuitable for invalidation by Section 101. Does that mean that software patents "survived"? Not in this case, as the case isn't inherently about software but about physics and sensors.

Moving on to a CBM review (business methods), Secure Axcess, LLC v PNC Bank N.A. got covered the other day and so was this case in Delaware, where the "federal jury found in 2014 that Sprint Communications Co. LP infringed three patents owned by Comcast IP Holdings I LLC. Sprint argued on appeal that the decision was based on incorrect claim constructions, but the Federal Circuit disagreed."

"The trolls' courts in EDTX might suffer an epic SCOTUS blow some time later this year."These cases do not constitute much of a "software" element, but nonetheless we take note of them, for several other reasons. We are worried not just about software patents but also patent trolls, which typically but not always rely on software patents. Professor Paul Janicke expects all those patent troll cases from Texas (the Eastern District’s docket, EDTX) to be scattered around to other districts across the country, based on this new article which he contributed to Patently-O. To quote: "When the Supreme Court reverses the Federal Circuit’s venue ruling in the TC Heartland case, a reversal widely expected, it will return patent venue to the time prior to 1988, when the residence of a corporation for patent venue purpose was limited to (i) a district within the state of incorporation, or (ii) a district where the corporation has a regular and established place of business and has allegedly committed an act of infringement. Presently pending in the Eastern District of Texas are 1,000+ patent cases."

The trolls' courts in EDTX might suffer an epic SCOTUS blow some time later this year. Such an outcome is widely expected, knowing the dispositions of the existing Justices. Even if belatedly, it's a much-needed ruling as there is this new article about present attempts to shift lawsuits out of the notorious docket. To quote: "A Federal Circuit decision faulting an Eastern District of Texas judge for refusing to transfer a patent case to California may provide guidance for defendants seeking to escape the patent hotspot, but attorneys say it will remain tough to win transfers out of the district."

"Well, share buybacks are almost always a negative sign and it will hardly be so shocking if RPX altogether implodes and gets liquidated some time after TC Heartland (if not before that)."That will likely change after TC Heartland -- a case that was covered here over the previous weekend. Trolls are already suffering a great deal and are increasingly collapsing, much to the patent microcosm's chagrin. Even RPX, which marketed itself as a shield against trolls (it's not really what it's advertising itself as), seems to have lost its purpose. RPX just keeps collapsing, based on sympathisers of trolls. To quote, "criticising its growth attempts, calling for Amster’s departure and querying what it alleged was excessive staff compensation. The two sides announced something of a truce last May with RPX agreeing to a $50 million share buyback programme and to the appointment of a Mangrove representative to the board. It’s not clear at what price Mangrove might be willing to consider an offer, although there’s no doubt that last year’s dispute continues to cast a shadow over RPX’s direction."

Well, share buybacks are almost always a negative sign and it will hardly be so shocking if RPX altogether implodes and gets liquidated some time after TC Heartland (if not before that).

Recent Techrights' Posts

New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
 
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers, Google News Gifting Slopfarms, and Fake News/Plagiarism About "Linux"
Google itself is a slop pusher these days
Qualcomm, the New Owner of Arduino, Blasted for Its Software Patents Tax on 'Smartphones'
A lot of Qualcomm's patents are on software. We wrote about this in prior years.
XBox Layoffs Rumours, Downtime, and Criticism From XBox Co-Founder
"everyone is ditching the xbox."
Links 10/10/2025: Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith, Many Articles on the Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: October Gothic and Reading Middle Earth Role Playing; C and Ada
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 09, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 09, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually