Bonum Certa Men Certa

IBM, IPO, AIPLA, ABA and Other Lobbying/Front Groups of the Patent Microcosm Are Trying to Change US Law for Software Patents

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



Summary: The ruthless attempts to run over companies that create software and don't have ~50,000 patents (including software patents) definitely carry on, and this serves to show just how crooked the process of legislation has become, complete with lobbyists, think tanks, and subversive agents of monopoly

EARLIER this year we took note of IBM establishing a sort of "task force" (their word) with IPO, in which IBM took leadership with clearly malicious intent like resurgence of software patents. It was hardly even made secret, they just didn't advertise this to geeks who are 'supposed' to think that IBM is a 'friend'. It's an enemy now. For what it's worth, participating in it were the other 'usual suspects'.



"Rewriting [Section] 101 in an echo chamber called IPO," Benjamin Henrion noted yesterday (after we had spotted this too), there was activity in which "no developer involved, only large companies again..."

"It was hardly even made secret, they just didn't advertise this to geeks who are 'supposed' to think that IBM is a 'friend'."Watch who's in there: IBM's Manny Schecter, David Kappos (worked for IBM and still paid by IBM, with a USPTO period in between and no 'cool-off' time), and even Bob Stoll!

MIP wrote about it: "The cover story assesses the chances of a change to the test for patentable subject matter under Section 101 in the US. Calls for changing 101 are increasing. In January, for example, a proposed amendment from the Intellectual Property Owners Association provided one concrete way to do it. We spoke to patent practitioners including IBM’s Manny Schecter, Cravath’s c and Drinker Biddle’s Bob Stoll to assess what impact 101 is having now and what should change."

"All they care about is money and if they get to shape the law, guess whose money they will pocket or at whose expense they will enrich themselves..."So here they are. A bunch of self-serving, greedy, manipulative lobbyists trying to rewrite the law for personal gain. Where is the outrage? In another post, this one behind a paywall, it says that "The ABA has proposed an amendment to Section 101, which follows an IPO subject matter eligibility proposal in January. The president of AIPLA has told Managing IP his association’s board will likely approve a 101 proposal within the next six weeks"

Well, we must never ever let the American Bar Association (ABA) or AIPLA override or rewrite US patent law. It's like letting oil companies and their lobbyists write up environmental regulations! All they care about is money and if they get to shape the law, guess whose money they will pocket or at whose expense they will enrich themselves...

Recent Techrights' Posts

GNU/Linux is 486 in Ireland
4.86% that is
"Secure Boot" is a Security Problem, Not a Solution
These people don't try to improve security but to undermine security
Don't Talk to Bullies
This serious matter is still being examined by British authorities
 
Microsoft's Windows in Gabon: Still Moving Down
What is this Unknown? Who knows...
Links 18/08/2025: LLM Reputation Damaged, Australia Catches Google Foul Play
Links for the day
Geeks Like GNU/Linux
The technical community seems to be consolidating and rallying around GNU/Linux
End of Reliable Media
it makes the world a worse place, it renders the Web a misinformation machine
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 17, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 17, 2025
GitHub Won't Last Much Longer
Many things at Microsoft are going to go the way of the Skype (or "dodo"). GitHub will be among those.
We've Never Used Large Language Model (LLM)
we just never used an LLM
Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Retro and Endless Escape from the WWW
Links for the day
Working Whilst Away From Home
Decades ago being away meant all sorts of problems associated with workflows and connectivity
The Next Version of Windows Will Always be the Best (for Microsoft)
It's worse and slower over time
"End of the Smartphone Era" According to Jeffrey Epstein's Key Enabler
They call it "sour grapes"
Links 17/08/2025: Strike Downs Air Canada, Postmortems of Putin's Red Carpet Summit
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: Slow Tools and Enshittification of YouTube
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: "The Performance of Power" and "My Undesirable Friends"
Links for the day
Growing Our Reach
Our goal was never "hits"
The Russian Vision of Technology
Russia's surveillance is very extensive
Sooner or Later Almost Everyone Will Know "AI" is Just a Go-To, Misused, Misapplied, and Grossly Overused Term of Liars and Con Jobs Who Ride a Ponzi Scheme
At the expense of people gullible enough to "invest" in this or take salaries/bonuses in the form of "stock" (tied to a Ponzi scheme)
The Register MS Has Begun Using Slop Images
It's not clear when it started; but it's definitely getting worse [...] Worst of all are 'articles' about slop that are themselves slop
Reddit Funded by Microsoft
Reddit is merely a filter and we knows who controls that filter (using money)
When It Comes to Technology, Mozilla and Firefox Are Illiberal
Last month in Planet Debian we saw one more person explaining to everyone how to "turn off" DRM in Firefox and hide the pop-up/s
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 16, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 16, 2025
The Open Source Initiative Has Many Scandals, We'll Try to Summarise Them All
Open Source Initiative (OSI) hates facts
Open Source Initiative (OSI), Wikipedia, Molly De Blanc, and Censorship/Reputation Laundering
OSI is like SPLC. The old name remains, the mission changed
Gemini Links 17/08/2025: Misunderstanding "Geminiverse" and Let's Encrypt
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: Breaches, Layoffs, and Scams
Links for the day
The Case for Software Freedom in Europe Becomes Stronger as GAFAM and the US Become Allies of Those Who Invade Europe
"One would think that both sides of the pond would be very interested in this valuable commons and work to not just protect it but cultivate it further, rather than work to saw the legs from under it by advancing software patents instead."
Slopwatch: Google News, LinuxSecurity, LinuxBSDos.com, and Garbage From Brian Fagioli
nowadays when people search the Web or when one researches some topic (looking not just for news in Google News) one is increasingly likely to land on a fake 'article' spewed out by some Microsoft LLM
Gemini Links 16/08/2025: Back After Hiatus and News Aggregators in Geminispace
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: mRNA Being Abandoned, Putin Plant Flags in Alaska, Faces No Sanctions
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: Science Besieged, Confidentiality Standards Breached
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: Loners and Vacation, Climate Issues
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: Chatbots Bad for Kids, Software Patents Apple Battle
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 15, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 15, 2025
Slopwatch: WebProNews and Google News Promoting Fake Articles About "Linux"
Google News is being flooded by these slopfarms, so when Linux news is being sought online (via Google News) many people will read bots that spew out FUD
Original European Patent Convention (EPC, 1973), Routinely Violated by the European Patent Office, Now in Geminispace
hundreds of thousands of European Patents must be immediately revoked
Gemini Links 16/08/2025: Politics and Alhena 5.2.8
Links for the day