Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Reform in the United States is Led by the Supreme Court, Not Industrial Lobbies

But extremists like Watchtroll (who systematically bullied/smeared Michelle Lee) keep blaming "Google" for everything

Blaming Google



Summary: Although lobbying by large corporations has served to change the patent landscape in the US, a lot of the big changes become possible because Justices with no vested interests (in patents and patent lawsuits) overturn decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

THE USPTO, especially since David Kappos, strives to make money and make itself relevant by granting a lot of patents. The same is true, to some degree, at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), a "top patent court" according to this new Reuters report about the Supreme Court's rulings regarding patents. To quote:



The U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous backing on Monday of a ruling by the country's top patent court was a rare instance of agreement with a body whose decisions in that specialized area it regularly overturns.

Tellingly, Monday's decision related to trademarks, not patents. Since its term began last October, the Supreme Court has thrown out all six patent-related decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which was set up to handle such cases.

Since 2014, the high court has upheld the patent court in only two of 16 patent cases, a Reuters review showed.

The lack of agreement between the high court and the patent court reflects a basic conflict at the top of the U.S. legal system over intellectual property rights, which are critical to many industries.


What this serves to demonstrate is that those who are in the business of patent maximalism are out of tune and out of touch with the law. Currently, the Supreme Court is what's changing the US patent landscape, e.g. with Alice (2014) that invalidated many/most software patents. It's actually this court that's driving progress, not Google et al (or Michelle Lee) as patent extremists such as Watchtroll try to tell us. Here is another new article, which deals with the same subject:

A Sign of the Times? A Brief Look at the Trend of Patent Cases Before the US Supreme Court



[...]

Since Tyler v. Tuel in 1810 the US Supreme Court has played a large role in interpreting patent law and defining the role patents play in our society. In the last few years the number of patent cases decided by the Supreme Court has greatly increased. Historically, there has typically been just one or two patent cases per year heard by the Supreme Court, and sometimes years when with no patent cases. Now the Supreme Court is hearing 3-4 or more patent cases per year, every year.


Patent maximalists' sites may not like it, but the US Supreme Court actually does its job on these matters without financial conflicts of interest. Recently, as per this report, there was a Supreme Court remand in relation to Stryker and the $248.7 million penalty over patents. It's not true to say that the US Supreme Court is a problem. It's simply doing what any court was supposed to do but as Gilstrap and Rader served to show simply isn't happening. Many of these courts have been taken over by special interests. Justices are harder to accomplish such a coup with.

At the moment, patent extremists try to install patent maximalists at the USPTO, having driven Lee out of her job. These people (IAM, Watchtroll etc.) are about as aggressive as patent trolls.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
Links for the day
 
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
Downlplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day
Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
Links for the day
The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
Links for the day
A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Katrina Memories and Google Versus Software Freedom
Links for the day
Links 27/08/2025: Police Against Media Freedom in the UK, Energy-Hungry Countries Targeted by China
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025