Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board Squashes Many Software Patents (Abstract) and ۤ101 Seems Safe From Lobbying by the Patent Microcosm

Red displaySummary: The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), together with the Alice-inspired ۤ101, is an efficient eliminator of bogus patents on software and there is no end to that in sight

THE WORD "PTAB" has become a trigger warning to patent lawyers. It's so often that once PTAB is invoked (through "IPR/s") that a patent/s will end up invalidated. Not everything which gets granted by the USPTO has merit and trolls often rely on patents not being challenged (at all) inside courts.



The reality of the matter is, shallow/bogus patents are destroying practicing companies in the US. The main victims are small companies that we may never hear about (even in the media). They're quietly destroyed by a bunch of malicious trolls (serial litigators who prey on the weak).

"The reality of the matter is, shallow/bogus patents are destroying practicing companies in the US."Curiously enough, yesterday there was this article about serial litigators . It spoke about "infringement of Prism’s patents generally covering network security systems that provide for secure transactions on unsecured systems" (i.e. software patents). The one reprieve that most small companies can afford is PTAB. It gets the job done without having to spend much money and the courts (e.g. CAFC) typically swiftly and effortlessly agree with PTAB upon appeal (if any is filed).

Things aren't all rosy though; as we noted recently, a relatively small company that's being bullied by Cisco had an embargo against it (because of patents which were deemed invalid). We wondered why the ITC cannot obey the law and respect PTAB's decisions. Yesterday we found this update on the case:

The U.S. International Trade Commission has declined to rescind remedial orders blocking importation of products found to infringe two patents that were recently found invalid by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.


This is pretty serious because they are acting as though PTAB has no legal authority. Moreover, they persist with a radical measure like an embargo. What ever happened to due process?

"This is pretty serious because they are acting as though PTAB has no legal authority. Moreover, they persist with a radical measure like an embargo. What ever happened to due process?"It's time to recognise if not accept that parts of the system may be in the pockets of large corporations, which means that legal processes can magically be bypassed. Yesterday, as this tweet put it, IBM (patent aggressor) lost another patent at PTAB, which apparently cited Alice. The tweet said: "IBM now 0 for ∞ in PTAB cases, loses another! 101 case: https://e-foia.uspto.gov/Foia/RetrievePdf?system=BPAI&flNm=fd2015006311-08-15-2017-1 … reserving computer resources is now "abstract idea" too..."

IBM's friends at Watchtroll have also published an article about "ۤ101 Rejection" ("Abstract Idea") on the very same day. They're part of that malicious effort to derail PTAB and change ۤ101. They are doing this alongside PTAB foes like Patently-O, which incidentally, just days ago, ended up picking one of the ~20% of cases (not even a software patent) where a PTAB decision is overturned by CAFC.

To quote Patently-O:

In a split opinion, the Federal Circuit rejected the PTAB’s IPR validity judgment favoring the patentee Whirlpool — holding instead that the challenged claims are invalid as anticipated. Patent No. 7,581,688; IPR No. IPR2014-00877. Judge Dyk penned the opinion joined by Chief Judge Prost. Judge Newman wrote in dissent.

The underlying claimed invention is an automatically pulsed blender cycle. The basic idea is to occasionally go through a “deceleration phase” that slows the cutter blade down to a reduced “predetermined settling speed” before accelerating the blade back to the normal operating speed. The claims require that the settling speed be “indicative of the items in the container having settled around the cutter assembly.”


Why does Patently-O not cover all those other cases where CAFC endorses PTAB's decisions? Bias by omission?

"ۤ101 is largely supported by the technology sector and is widely opposed only by law firms that are trying to tax this sector."What PTAB makes clear is that it matters not whether the USPTO will grant some patents on software but whether courts will accept them (they almost certainly won't).

Recently, the USPTO issued a report on ۤ101 and it was dominated by the patent microcosm. Here is what one law firm says about this report this week:

On July 24, 2017, the USPTO issued a 48-page report on Patent Eligible Subject Matter. The report summarizes key court decisions interpreting and applying 35 USC ۤ 101, international views on eligible subject matter, and public comments and recommendations for addressing recent changes in this foundational issue of U.S. patent jurisprudence. While some have criticized the USPTO Patent Eligible Subject Matter report for failing to take a position on the issues or suggest any solutions, others have commended the concise summary of where things stand today.


It's hard to believe that anything will change for the worse; ۤ101 is largely supported by the technology sector and is widely opposed only by law firms that are trying to tax this sector. It certainly looks like even politicians now understand this.

Recent Techrights' Posts

[Meme] Python Knows Its Bosses
Microsoft strings attached
[Meme] Debt of About $20 Per Active User
Facebook isn't laying off tens of thousands for "efficiency" but for survival
 
The "Luddite" Complex
Sometimes simplest is best and sometimes "modern" is designed not with the buyers' interest in mind
SCO's Darl McBride Dead at Age 64
There's hardly any information about it, except we know he reached bankruptcy and 3 years later he died at a relatively young age
The 'Turning-Free-Code-Proprietary Foundation' (Linux/Microsoft Foundation)
LF will basically become just as sinister as its corporate sponsors
Python Software Foundation is 'Cancel Culture' Rehomed
Python isn't grassroots and it doesn't really tolerate grassroots
DeVault "Closes Down His Mailing Lists Every Time There's a Scandal" and Also Censors Messages
Censorious code hosting platform
What Social Control Media Really Is
Social Control Media, in a nutshell, isn't just bad if its controller is some foreign or hostile nation
Taking Ethics Lectures From Drew
Projection tactics
Links 02/11/2024: Facebook Stock Falls (Soaring Debt), Apple’s Quarterly Profit Down
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/11/2024: Burnout, Emacs Bookmarks, and Smooth Migration
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 01, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 01, 2024
Facebook's Debt Has Soared to All-Time High of Nearly 50 Billion Dollars
But the corporate media pretends all is well (while mass layoffs continue and slop takes over the social control media)
Geminispace Makes It Past 4,200 Capsules on November 1st
At last!
Links 01/11/2024: Election Interferences by X/Twitter/Musk, Strava as Espionage Tool
Links for the day
The October 2024 Web Server Survey Shows a Further Collapse for Microsoft in the Servers Market
Microsoft experienced the next largest loss of 699,464 sites (-3.45%)
Gemini Links 01/11/2024: TLS Sucks, twytere.com Announced
Links for the day
Links 01/11/2024: Few Things Are Cheaper Than This Antenna and "Nothing Lasts Forever"
Links for the day
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part V
By Dr. Andy Farnell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 31, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, October 31, 2024
R.T.O. is Another Name (or Acronym) for Voluntary Layoffs
Amazon is trying to get many workers to leave on their own
Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision (to Fake Revenue Growth by Buying Revenue) Was a Failure
Of course the mass layoffs at Microsoft aren't just a Microsoft thing
Stagnant, Shrinking Businesses and "IBM's Corporate Culture Since the Late 1980s... Over 35 Years."
Recently, IBM was using share price as a talking point, insisting the company was doing OK while tens of thousands were being laid off
Links 01/11/2024: World News, Political Catchup
Links for the day
[Meme] Probably the Worst Possible Time to Get Information From Social Control Media
Musk does not want to prevent disinformation from spreading and the same is true for Facebook and TikTok; they have their own interests
Update on Litigation Against the European Patent Office (EPO) at the ILO Administrative Tribunal (ILOAT)
Rewards and compensation for staff have long fallen, resulting in many experienced colleagues leaving and causing further declines in quality and compliance
Gemini Links 31/10/2024: NNCP, Declutter the Web, Cost of Community
Links for the day
Links 31/10/2024: Supermicro Plummets 33%, Block and Dropbox Mass Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 31/10/2024: Environmental Anxiety, Profound Changes in Hardware Market
Links for the day
Links 30/10/2024: TSMC Concerns and North Koreans in Ukraine War
Links for the day
Facebook is for Zombies
Social control media is for fools
Microsoft Now Has $235,290,000,000 in Liabilities, They Grow Over Time in Spite of Mass Layoffs (So Expect More Layoffs)
expect more mass layoffs
Links 31/10/2024: DST Woes, War Updates, Amazon RTO Backlash
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/10/2024: Attention Economy and Gemlogs
Links for the day
Happy Halloween
October is nearly over
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 30, 2024
For the Record: Linux is Controlled by the United States of America
"This is going to make many question the openness and inclusivity of the work done by Linux Foundation"
Microsoft: XBox Hardware Revenues Down About 30% (Ignore the Buzzwords and Activision Activity Dressed Up as "XBox")
For context, in a previous quarter XBox hardware sales were down by about 50%
Cooking the Books With "Cloud" And "AI" Was Not Enough to Fool Microsoft Investors
"Microsoft Shares Drop on Disappointing Azure Growth Forecast"