Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is Under Attack From the Patent Microcosm, Which Wants It Not to Exist Anymore

Proponents of software patents are, as expected, wishing nothing but harm to patent reform

PTAB



Summary: Attempts to revert back to a system full of lawsuits, trolls and blackmail are publicly seen in the form of "STRONGER Patents Act" -- a supposed 'improvement' that strives to roll back PTAB

THERE are many patent myths abound. They are being spread by those who profit from patents, not from products. In fact, they rarely make anything at all (except destructive lawsuits). Among the myths is the concept that an economy with a lot of patents (even too many) will thrive. But it's based on a lie. Number of patents, for instance, is not indicative of progress or invention but investment (money and effort) in patent applications. In some countries patents are simply granted on just about anything; see what happens in China at the moment. See this new article celebrating "high number of patents" as if it's a meaningful yardstick (it usually just says something about where large companies are based).



"Put in simple terms, there are court cases that now make trivial the invalidation of abstract patents such as software patents; but enforcing the rules against such patents, especially old patents, can be difficult without PTAB."We have approximately two dozen articles on the way about patents, but we lack the time to publish them all. Some of these (to be published some time in summer) will expose the lobbying effort for a patent system that serves the patent 'industry' (law firms, patent trolls, and patent bullies) at the expense of science and technology. We are very eager to write about it, having researched the subject for months, but we publish based on priority (timing, urgency, relevance to current events). Today we wish to focus on PTAB, which is basically under attack again. PTAB has been responsible for eliminating more software patents than any other branch (even all courts combined), so it needs to be defended. According to this new post, "Analog Devices filed for the inter partes review against Knowles’ U.S. Patent No. 8,018,049 covering a Silicon Condenser Microphone Package. The PTAB agreed with the challenge and found a substantial number of the claims unpatentable."

In another domain, the domain of pharmaceutical patents, someone is profiting by crushing so-called 'Big Pharma' (which use their patents for drug inflation or artificial price hikes). As PTAB expert Michael Loney put it the other day: "This month saw the PTAB issue the final decision on a Kyle Bass inter partes review."

Kyle Bass won. We wrote about his petitions many times before.

This is the kind of thing we want. Here is another new example:

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has issued a rare granted motion to amend in Valeo North America v Schaeffler Tech, suggesting the Board is willing to consider well-crafted substitute claims

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has granted two substitute claims in Valeo North America v Schaeffler Tech.



Meanwhile, Dennis Crouch continues trying to slow PTAB down and discredit its decisions. Here is his latest attempt to draw attention that inflames or harms the relationship between CAFC and PTAB (in spite of them agreeing ~80% of the time).

We recognise that many of our readers are new to this and rely on expansion of acronyms etc. Put in simple terms, there are court cases that now make trivial the invalidation of abstract patents such as software patents; but enforcing the rules against such patents, especially old patents, can be difficult without PTAB. The patent microcosm -- i.e. firms that profit from litigation and shakedowns -- is trying to corrupt politicians right now. It tries to bamboozle them into killing PTAB after it eliminated many bogus patents and as one new headline put it, "STRONGER Patents Act would “gut” the PTAB" (if it got passed, but not even the patent microcosm expects it to pass).

"The direct attack on Alice itself is still in the making and there are companies like IBM and Microsoft pushing hard for it."We wrote about this subject before. It overlaps several other efforts to weaken if not eliminate reform. As TechDirt put it the other day, "Could You Design A Worse Patent Reform Bill Than The STRONGER Patent Act By Senator Coons? Don't Think So" (wait, there's more on the way... as we shall show soon).

The direct attack on Alice itself is still in the making and there are companies like IBM and Microsoft pushing hard for it. Don't take AIA, PTAB, or even Alice for granted. Not even taking Michelle Lee for granted was a safe bet because personal attacks from the patent microcosm seem to have pushed (if not forced) her out. After IAM tried to push a corrupt man into her position Watchtroll is having a go also (suggesting replacements [1, 2]), multiple times in fact after it repeatedly attacked Michelle Lee with baseless 'scandals' (over a dozen times). IAM still cites Watchtroll as an authority and whines about SCOTUS doing the right thing on patents (like Alice). Here is the relevant paragraph:

That was definitely one of the takeaways from the ‘US pendulum’ session in which the panelists debated a slew of recent court decisions and the overall state of patent rights in the US. IP Watchdog’s Gene Quinn was clear on the impact that Lexmark might have. “It could be the biggest decision of our lifetime, there are a lot of people panicked by the case,” Quinn said. “It will dramatically decrease the revenue for companies doing business overseas, I don’t see any way around it.”


Maybe he can just attack some more judges in his blog, defame Directors of patent offices, and resort to whatever dirty tricks (with IBM's help) to perturb the system. They already buy themselves some 'academics', moles and lobbyists like David Kappos to help with this, as we shall probably show in greater detail later this month.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Rewriting Things in Rust
How far would you go?
What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
LLM slop disguised as news
 
Links 05/07/2025: Dalai Lama Succession as 90th Birthday Approaches, 40 deg C in China
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Hungary and US Defecting to Russia, "Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: 4th of July 2025 and "Zig Roadmap 2026"
Links for the day
How to Combat the Exploitation and Abuse by Microsoft GitHub
Not to mention corruption and crimes against women
Bryan Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People
"[Lunduke] is actually sending his audience to attack people."
Even The Right Wing is Rejecting Bryan Lunduke
no wonder he became so irrelevant and marginal
Microsoft's MSN Helps Microsoft Spread Lies About the Layoffs' Scale (Well Over 25,000 People Laid Off This Year)
There seem to be monopolies on lies and on truth
The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
X.Org Server is alive and well
In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
Monopolies and Scalping
Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
"August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
Links 04/07/2025: Google Replaces the Web With Slop, "AI Might Kill Us All"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: Mindfulness and F1
Links for the day
Weeks After Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia the Company Shuts Down in Pakistan, Too
Last month Windows' share in Pakistan fell to an all-time low
Rob Musial's June 2025 Additions of Malware in Proprietary Software
Via the GNU Web site this week
Links 04/07/2025: Microsoft's H-1B Visa Applications Show Another Crisis Unfolding, Many More Deep Cuts and Shutdowns Revealed, Complete Microsoft Exits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: A Day To Remember and "Stop Killing Games"
Links for the day
Crime and Corruption at Microsoft GitHub Cannot be Covered Up by SLAPPs in Another Continent
We'll write about this for a long time to come
Slop Videos Are Disappointing Garbage, Nothing New, Just Brute Force up on Display or a Pedestal of Slop
Slop videos aren't a new thing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 03, 2025
The War on Local Storage (People Hosting Their Files Locally and Privately)
There's nothing wrong with controlling one's computing
What Digital Independence Means
Independence in the digital realms means abandoning platforms like GitHub, not just rejecting proprietary software
NVidia is a Bubble
they temporarily see fortunes and wrongly assume perpetuity thereof
Fedora Does Not Care About Diversity and Inclusion, It's About Optics (Corporate Image)
any notion of inclusion is superficial and misleading
Don't Buy the Excuses for Microsoft's Mass Layoffs
Back in the 90s, Microsoft bought a lot of companies to get and stay ahead
Happy Independence Day to Our American Readers
Maybe tomorrow will be a good opportunity to explain to American people - in terms of concepts, not brands - which tools respect their independence
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Linuxsecurity, and Google News Getting Even Worse (More Slopfarms Added Which Attack Linux With Bruce-Force SPAM)
Google News is part of the same problem
Links 03/07/2025: More Cuts and Cancellations at Microsoft Revealed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/07/2025: Favourite Child and Launching WikiGem
Links for the day
GNU/Linux is Replacing Microsoft Windows. But We Need to Eradicate Microsoft, It's a Hub of Crime.
I have been writing about Microsoft since the 1990s when I was in school
Mystery Surrounding the PCLinuxOS Sites and PCLinuxOS Magazine
Let's hope this isn't something major
People and Companies Do Learn Some Lessons From Their Mistakes (Stubborn Ones Don't)
Brett Wilson LLP is an example of one that would rather drown in mistakes
Links 03/07/2025: 'Hey Hi' Slop Ridiculed Some More and Microsoft's Layoffs Tally for 2025 Reaches About 29,000 in Just 6 Months (Almost 5,000 Per Month)
Links for the day
Microsoft Staff Harassing Women, Strangling Women, Telling Women to Kill Themselves and Worse? Not a Problem!
Two women have left Brett Wilson LLP
The Slopfarms Are Losing the Plot (and Google is Propping Up Rogue Sites)
Google is part of the attack on the Web, on information, and on technology
New BetaNews Realises There's No Potential or Future in Slopfarms, Prior Editor Wayne Williams is Back
They realise that slop (so-called "AI") cannot replace humans
Claims That Microsoft Looks for Staff That Works More and Gets Paid Less (or Can Only Code by Grabbing Other People's Code, Under the Guise of "AI")
People can form their own opinion
Richard Stallman Was Right About Reasons Not to Use Microsoft
last updated 2017
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 02, 2025
Gemini Links 03/07/2025: No to Cloudflare and Small Web July
Links for the day