Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gains for PTAB Supporters and Excuses From PTAB Opponents (the Litigation/Trolling 'Industry')

Aqua Products case a disappointment to PTAB foes

Aqua



Summary: The latest news updates about the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), its proponents, and Aqua Products v Matal, which patent maximalists are attempting to spin in their favour because they're not satisfied with the outcome

A COUPLE of days ago we noted that Cisco wholeheartedly supports PTAB, not only in terms of monetary means (for a pro-PTAB group) but also in words. The CCIA published a statement from Cisco. Well, the good news is that a former Cisco executive is now becoming Google's chief patent personality. As IAM put it a few days ago:



Google has a new head of patents. Michael Lee, who joined the company from Cisco in January, has been appointed to the role following Allen Lo’s exit in August. Lee had been lead counsel for mobile at Google, having previously spent eight years at Cisco in a variety of roles including, most recently, as senior director IP strategy, marketplace and policy.

Lee’s appointment came to light via his LinkedIn profile which gives October 2017 as his start date. It’s not clear who Lee will be reporting into — he didn’t respond to a request for comment — but, according to one source Google, is in the midst of shaking up its IP function: an overall head is due to be appointed with the respective heads of patents, trademarks and copyright all reporting into whoever gets that job.

[...]

Prior to joining Cisco Lee was senior legal director for IP litigation and conflict management at Yahoo! and before that did stints in private practice with Shearman & Sterling and Fish & Neave.


The High Tech Inventors Alliance (HTIA), a pro-PTAB alliance, is supported by both Cisco and Google.

As we noted here just before the weekend, US politicians will probably have a closer look at -- and possibly have immunity removed from -- Native American tribes that help patent trolls dodge PTAB. This too has been noted by the patent microcosm. Another loophole to be closed soon? To quote Patently-O:

As discussed previously, Tribal Nation Sovereign Immunity is not Constitutionally protected and may be eliminated by particular acts of Congress. Thus, this Bill would seem to be effective to eliminate the ongoing concern regarding tribal immunity assertions. The proposal does lack an effective date and so the only missing element would be whether the Bill would retroactively veto pre-enactment claims of immunity.



Michael Loney, who is based New York and is watching PTAB pretty closely, has just spread some doubts about PTAB. Sites like Managing IP, proponents of patent trolls most of the time, seem to be rather upset that the Federal Circuit doesn't stop PTAB. Loney wrote about the Aqua Products case and propagated the discreditisation, dubbing it "a wash out":

The Federal Circuit’s en banc Aqua Products v Matal ruling has been described as “a complete non-event” and “a real mess” that “did little to resolve the big questions” surrounding the PTAB's treatment of motions to amend. However, it did shift the burden of persuasion to the petitioner, while some believe the Chevron implications of the decision are most interesting


Not too shockingly, shortly after the typical PTAB bashing from IAM (site for patent trolls) came this post about the same case. It was composed by a patent trolls supporter and software patents pusher, Richard Lloyd. He's one among several of those who try hard to eliminate PTAB by all means possible, in essence lobbying by twisting facts. Here's an example:

In emails and conversations with a series of IPR specialists this week in the wake of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s (CAFC) decision in Aqua Products v Matal, “this is a mess!” was a common response.


They basically try to discredit the outcome. So did Alden Abbott, who says he is "deputy director of the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and the John, Barbara, and Victoria Rumpel Senior Legal Fellow."

Yesterday he published this piece entitled "Erosion of Patent Rights Is a Threat to Innovation and American Prosperity" (there is no "Erosion of Patent Rights", there's improvement of patent quality and patents are not even a "right").

Watch who/what he leans on:

The Patent and Trademark Office, an agency within the Commerce Department, reviews patent applications and issues patents for inventions that meet patentability criteria.

[...]

As Gene Quinn, a leading patent lawyer, explains, these changes mean that today “there are many other parts of the world that have more expansive views of what can be patented, including Europe, Australia, and even China.”


If you are citing Watchtroll as an authority on patents, then you're as about as extreme as a politician who promotes Breitbart. The usual "China!" line is there too, conflating trolls with "Innovation and American Prosperity". And then comes the attack on PTAB, revealing that the author is more interested in trolls and low-quality patents, not "Innovation and American Prosperity":

Patent experts note that this board has wreaked havoc, striking down the vast majority of patent claims it considers in a way that undermines fundamental due process rights of patent holders.


"Patent experts" just means patent microcosm, i.e. those who make a living from disputes.

Incidentally, speaking of China, Mark Kokes (the man who ruined BlackBerry and made it little more than a patent bully) did the usual deflection. Kokes wants us to focus on China again; the patent aggressors and trolls prefer China because it makes extortion easier, so watch what he was saying:

China gets a special mention - “We have had tremendous success at IT licensing there with the approach we have adopted.” – as does the US, though for less positive reasons: “The legal environment has changed dramatically. If you look at it from an asset perspective at a minimum you’d say that values are suppressed – even for high quality ones.” But overall Kokes is optimistic: “Innovation and having IP-centric economies is the right way to go. They are getting a lot more entrepreneurial in China and in parts of Europe, just as things are declining a little in the US.” But despite some head-winds his philosophy is very simple, he concludes: “If you are creative enough you can build your own markets.”


In other words, for litigation giants the US has become less attractive. Is that actually a bad thing? Well, for serial litigators it certainly is, but what have they ever given to society? PTAB and high patent quality (which IPRs entail) make the US a lot more competitive and productive. Less litigation, more development.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Polygamy, from Catholic Synod on Synodality to Social Control Media & Debian CyberPolygamy
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Only a Third of or 1 in 3 Web-Connected Devices is a Desktop or Laptop, According to statCounter
we can expect Android to widen its lead
 
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: Stimulants and Subscription Costs for DRM
Links for the day
When the Microsoft Aggressors Rely on Several Law Firms ('Attack Dogs', 'Guns for Hire'), Not Just One, Lawyering Up Against Techrights (Acting on Behalf of Americans Against UK Publishers)
From serving customers at some restaurant he has moved on to bullying people with demand letters
Links 24/06/2025: OpenAI [sic] May Soon Die (Too Much Debt) and Social Control Media Accused of Being Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda Amplifier
Links for the day
Nirbheek Chauhan in Planet GNOME Explains Why Wayland Pushers Are Losing
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
The Days Are Getting Shorter, the First Half of 2025 is Almost Over
We're gratified to see significant increase in traffic and also positive feedback on the work we do
Turning GNU/Linux Into a Political Football
X (not the site) is Free software
X Server Still Works for Many People
A lot of people will grow suspicious of Wayland boosters/pushers if they persist and insist on using these tactics
Exactly a Week Ago "BetaNews Staff" Said "Betanews Is Growing Alongside You". Since Then Every Article (All by "Camila Nogueira") Has Been LLM Slop.
BetaNews is basically a slopfarm
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 23, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 23, 2025
The "Tarzan Effect" in Compilers and Software
What happens when you forcibly make things 'work', either by hacks or by disregarding warnings (like those that compilers tend to issue)?
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: Mass Tourism, Hair Love, and Google Gemini as a Googlebomb
Links for the day
Law Firm Burgess Mee Does Not Fully Deny Participating in Abusive Litigation for Serial Strangler From Microsoft
I am not unfamiliar with these tactics
The Modus Operandi of Wayland Pushers: Make It Political
do what I say or you're a nazi...
Links 23/06/2025: RFE/RL Contributor Vladyslav Yesypenko Released, Recording Industry Cutbacks
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Solicitors (M): Over 99.9% of Our E-mail is Self-Marketing, We Send You 3.5MB E-mails for Less Than 1KB of Text
Why would tech people entrust legal matters to such people?
Peter Moon's (Computerworld) Interview With Richard Stallman
Stallman: If you want freedom don't follow Linus Torvalds
At What Point Does Outsourcing Constitute Malpractice?
Brett Wilson LLP's new staff page is misleading
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sailing to GNU/Linux, According to statCounter
countries in that region will quickly learn the price of neglecting digital sovereignty
From Do Your Own Research to Do Your Own Search
The Web is full of garbage; search engines amplify this garbage
More People Moving to Geminispace?
at age 6+ Gemini Protocol seems to have gained some maturity and it seems like more people use it
Permutation in LLMs Does, Inevitably, Change Meanings and Therefore LLMs Cannot Properly Rephrase or Summarise Texts
LLMs lack actual grasp or comprehension of what they spew out
Links 23/06/2025: Many Security Breaches, Population Declines
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: "America at the Crossroads" and OpenWRT Surgery
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 22, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 22, 2025
Pure Dove
Different means different, and sometimes those who "deviate" from "the norm" have a point
Censorship is a Sign of Weakness Which Invites More Censorship Attempts
revolutionaries don't succumb to pressure from bullies
Why It's Unlikely That LLM Slop Will Dominate the Web in the Long Run
Slopfarms will eventually perish (they have no actual value) and "survivors" on the Web will be sites that never depended on search engines and social control media
GNU/Linux in Argentina Now Measured Near 5%
Like in central Europe, they must be seeing an increasingly hostile US
BetaNews is Fake News, Composed by LLM Slop
nothing in BetaNews is written by humans anymore
Links 22/06/2025: Giving Up on Smartphones and 'Jaws' at 50
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Furniture Construction and Bubble for Comments
Links for the day
Links 22/06/2025: Windows TCO Tales and YouTube Getting More Hostile to Users
Links for the day
The FSF Board and FSF Beard
So the FSF's Board has grown
Law Firms Facing the Consequences for Patently Abusive Litigation on Behalf of Microsoft Employees Who Got Arrested for Strangulation and Had Done Even Worse Things
Having spent 1.5 years bullying me with patronising letters on behalf of Microsofters, last week they got served a massive bill and, in effect, lost the Hearing
New Report From the EPO's Staff Representatives in The Hague (LSCTH) Reveals Many Unsolved Issues
Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) wrote to staff just before the weekend
LLMs Breaking Everything
Computing and the Net became a playground for scammers and "bros", like people who "invented" fake currencies and also try to tell us that LLMs spewing out things will have some real value
Links 22/06/2025: More Slop Lawsuits (Copyrights) and "America’s Oligarch Problem"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Gigantic Toolchest and Annoying Bots
Links for the day