"A software patent may take $50,000 and 10 years to obtain, at which point the technology is obsolete," says this new article (from yesterday). Indeed, software patents are a waste of time and money, more so after Alice (2014). Why is anyone ever willing to pursue these? According to recent rumours, USPTO examiners may soon abolish software patents.
"Every computer program is abstract. This means that using words like "technical", "invention", "effect" or "device" (or pseudo-novelly buzzwords like "IoT" and "cloud") won't change the underlying nature."Yesterday we saw another new example of the patent microcosm pretending not to understand that software patents -- as per Alice as well -- are abstract and thus passé. Here is what Patently-O wrote:
One of the struggles of the Subject Matter Eligibility test is understanding the definition of the legal term “abstract idea.” The Supreme Court has used the term “abstract” in many other areas of law – perhaps most pointedly in the area of standing and the requirement of a concrete, non-abstract harm.
"It's 2017, so of course software patents are no longer defensible in court."Rightly so. This is the same IBM which lobbies hard against Alice and uses dirty tricks for that lobbying. We wrote many articles about that.
And speaking of software patents, this Microsoft-aligned site now speaks about Element Data buying patents of Auguri, a company with just half a dozen employees.
Element Data announced another acquisition today. The Seattle-area machine learning startup has purchased the technology assets and patents from Auguri Corporation, a small Silicon Valley company that describes itself as “a decision support software platform.”
Auguri employed six people and will shut down as a result of the deal. Its chairman, Fadi Micaelian, will join Element Data as its new senior vice president of innovation and partnership, and will remain in California.