Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Maximalism Around the World

"It is common to argue that intellectual property in the form of copyright and patent is necessary for the innovation and creation of ideas and inventions such as machines, drugs, computer software, books, music, literature and movies. In fact intellectual property is not like ordinary property at all, but constitutes a government grant of a costly and dangerous private monopoly over ideas. We show through theory and example that intellectual monopoly is not neccesary for innovation and as a practical matter is damaging to growth, prosperity and liberty." --Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine

Summary: A roundup of stories or spin observed over the past week, mostly favouring those who profit from patents rather than creation of anything

"Patentism" can be a lot like theism. It can be the blind faith in the ludicrous idea that patents in their own right -- not anything else -- are "innovation" or something along those lines. In reality, patents may grant incentives for original works to made where investment (time, money, material) is needed for these works. In the case of software, copyrights provide such an incentive. When someone writes code, unless it is marked as "Public Domain", that code is attributed to or gets assigned to the author (coder).



India



"When someone writes code, unless it is marked as "Public Domain", that code is attributed to or gets assigned to the author (coder)."It's not hard to see why the patent 'industry' distorts the history and purpose of patents. These people just try to defend their own job, which involves no production or innovation at all. A few days ago, revisiting the debate about abstract patents in India, LexOrbis was once again pushing banned patents (out of scope). It's far from the first time and LexOrbis typically uses IAM as the platform. It's trying to advocate/legitimise patents on "financial methods" (similar to business methods, which are similar also to software patents) and it doesn't seem to matter to these people that India neither wants nor needs such patents.

China



"It's trying to advocate/legitimise patents on "financial methods" (similar to business methods, which are similar also to software patents) and it doesn't seem to matter to these people that India neither wants nor needs such patents."Speaking of IAM, watch how it becomes a megaphone to Qualcomm, repeating the "China!" panic and alarming the US as if patent trolls moving to China is a bad thing. "The Qualcomm licensing chief predicted that China would be a huge player in 5G technology at a time when the country is developing an increasingly sophisticated IP system," IAM wrote. China probably will become a major player in everything that involves electronics and telecommunications, but that has nothing to do with patents. As Qualcomm does little but derive money from patent licences (including software patents), it is not hard to see why it worries about trends in US patent litigation.

Australia



Australia, as we noted earlier this year, is moving away from software patents. It seems crystal clear to the government that patent maximalism is not desirable, yet this same government seems to have allocated so much tax money to CSIRO, which is, according to IAM, suing again:

Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed two months ago by BASF Plant Science points toward another IP licensing initiative in a very different sector that CSIRO and its partners have been pursuing for several years. The organisation is working with Australian company Nuseed and the Australian Grains Research and Development Corporation to commercialise canola that contains long chain, omega-3 fatty acids – health-friendly fish oil. BASF has teamed with Dow AgroSciences and Cargill on a similar effort.

Beginning in October 2016, according to court documents accessed using Lex Machina, Nuseed has conducted negotiations with BASF, which it wants to take a licence to a portfolio omega-3 patents; these name CSIRO as the assignee. According to BASF, Nuseed has been clear about its intention to litigate if a deal could not be reached. By April 2017, talks appear to have reached an impasse. “With the numbers you’re talking about, there is no path forward,” a Nuseed representative is quoted as saying. BASF seemingly agreed, suggesting the parties “should be in court” if Nuseed was unwilling to revise its offer.


Lex Machina has helped uncover all sorts of disputes like that. What's most noteworthy and also notorious about CSIRO is the pursuit of patents on genome (and enforcement of such patents).

America (US/Canada)



This days-old press release speaks of the decision "in which a unanimous High Court invalidated software patents of Alice designed to facilitate the exchange of financial obligations between two parties by using a computer system as a third-party intermediary."

Based on this press release, it certainly looks like Canada is granting software patents. These are, suffice to say, unlikely to survive a court's scrutiny, so why grant them in the first place? There's this actual court case going on right now where the portfolio at stake sounds like software patents, with terms like "recipe app platform". To quote:

The ongoing court battle between Perfect Company and the maker of the Drop scale took another turn this week when Perfect announced a new patent and an additional patent infringement claim again Adaptics Limited, the maker of the Drop scale.


Perhaps they throw yet more patents into the mix because the original patent/s they sued with would not withstand the court's scrutiny. Such is the nature of desperate lawsuits where quantity is used to make up for lack of quality.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft XBox is Having Its 1990s Apple Moment (Near Bankruptcy), Says Respected Insider
Microsoft's CEO has already admitted that XBox is having serious financial problems [...] They already try to reuse the brand "XBox" to refer to Vista 11
OECD Carries Water for Microsoft, Targets Schools and Children With Slop Agenda
Peel off a layer or two to find GAFAM
Links 16/06/2026: UK to Restrict Access to Social Control Media; The FCC Wants to Eliminate Burner Phones
Links for the day
 
Links 16/06/2026: Mainstream Media Affirms Microsoft Studio Closures Planned, Anthropic’s Latest Marketing Hype Debunked by Experts
Links for the day
This Morning The Register MS Published Page With "AI" 42 Times in It. It Was Paid SPAM.
The Register MS is propping up a pyramid scheme
Microsoft "Xbox braces for sweeping studio closures before June 30."
Microsoft's control of the damage-limiting narrative has clearly slipped
In Africa's Largest Nation Windows Has Fallen From 100% to a Lot Less, Now All-Time Lows
Let's see what happens or will happen in Algeria in 2027
Richard Stallman's Talk Due in One Hour, Here's What People Say
To Stallman, what matters is control by users and collective control
SLAPP Censorship - Part 108 Out of 200: Moving On and Moving Up
an explanation of our rich history and commitment to courageous whistleblowers
Why We Call Him Dr. Stallman
He got at least 15 such titles
United States of America: GNU/Linux Hovering Around 5% (It Started There)
GNU/Linux is turning 43 this year (in a few months), Linux will turn 35
Microsoft Promises Made to be Broken
It's a real problem and it is not limited to XBox
IBM Down $61 in Two Weeks, The Lies About Quantum Computers Didn't Last Long
IBM is an unsafe employer, not a good place to work
You Probably Don't Want to "Go Viral" in Toxic Social Control Media
Good news sites do not strive to go "viral" but to be consistently good, irrespective of "traffic"
New 'Article' in The Register MS Has Mentioned "AI" 44 Times. The Register MS Got Paid to Publish It.
Bear this in mind when seeing "hey hi" all over the news
18-Year Anniversary of Our IRC Community
As noted some months ago, trolling and abuse in our IRC network is very rare these days
Microsoft - Like IBM - is Leaving a Legacy is Emptied/Abandoned Buildings
Microsoft's LinkedIn had many layoffs recently
Richard Stallman's (RMS) Speaking Tour in Europe Coincides With Abandonment of Microsoft Windows
The message applies to all governments
Gemini Links 16/06/2026: Nazi Law of Mental Abuse and Lewis Aburrow's 3D-Printed Slider
Links for the day
Links 16/06/2026: Windows TCO and Fedora Finding Serious 20-Year-Old Holes in Microsoft Outlook
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: An Advisor to the President
he had recently advanced to membership of the "inner circle" of Team Campinos.
Two Weeks Ahead of July Three Studios Microsoft Plans to Shut Down Already Named
This is what happens when companies try to establish themselves on a mountain of promises and false assumptions, kicking the can down the road until payroll becomes hard to complete
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 15, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, June 15, 2026
IBM Works for Microsoft
Hours ago in IBM.com
Microsoft May Already Be Shutting Down More Gaming Studios
the writings are on the wall: XBox is in disarray.
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The EPO's Brussels Liaison Officer
It would appear that in January 2020, Pellegrino was induced by Campinos to jump ship from the EUIPO and take up his current position as Brussels Liaison Officer for the EPO
European Patent Office (EPO) Receiving Section (RS) and Elimination of Many Roles
Open letter to Mr Rowan (VP1) and Mr Aledo Lopez (COO) [...] Does the EU leadership intend to tolerate this?
Microsoft's XBox is Disintegrating, Executives Are Quitting
We're basically witnessing the slow-motion "end of XBox"
Gemini Links 15/06/2026: Slop Code Benchmarked, Wireguard on NixOS and Guix
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2026: More Own Goals for the Slop Industry, Palantir Trouble in UK
Links for the day
Apple Wants Everybody to Forget About "Vision Pro" Because It Was a Giant Flop
worthless gadgets with no obvious use case/s
The Cyber Show is Adopting 'Book Form' (or Long Form Publications)
Andy and Helen nowadays invest more time in making their site faster
Richard Stallman's Software Freedom/Digital Sovereignty Tour in Europe
As things stand at present, the vast majority of people have their interactions controlled/policed by GAFAM
Estimates of Scale of Microsoft Layoffs, Will Likely Happen "in Batches"
"Heard 10 to 15 percent eventually but idk date."
IBM Has Put Red Hat on a Poor Diet of Slop, Now Fedora and Red Hat Suffocate or Choke on It
Over the weekend we saw more people leaving the company
Estimates of Microsoft Layoffs: 3,000 Staff to be Culled Just in Gaming, How Many in Other Divisions?
Now the XBox division has its own "fall guy", but it is a woman
Straw Man Arguments Against Rust
If anything, it teaches the importance of auditing packages
Tesla Debt Rose Sharply, Sales Declined, Wall Street's Claim of Tesla "Value" is Merely a Fairytale (and Not Just Tesla)
We would gladly sell land on Mars to anyone who honestly believes a company that loses money is somehow "worth" trillions in Wall Street
Stop Calling Losses "Investment"
XBox is losing money, it is a sinkhole
For Justice We Need More Speech, Not Less Speech
When you attack something you are just giving that something a bigger platform
SLAPP Censorship - Part 107 Out of 200: Keeping Law Accessible to Everybody
We'll have stories related to this in the future
Links 15/06/2026: Slop "Beg Bounties", Wall Street Fakes 'Worth', and Arkansans Saved PBS
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2026: Dating Oaks, Simulation, and Theremin
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 14, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, June 14, 2026
Links 14/06/2026: Energy Cost and Reality Strikes at Heart of Slop Bubble, 75 Data Center Build-outs "Successfully Blocked"
Links for the day
Microsoft CEO Says XBox is Not a Sustainable Business
"Now, we have to turn this into a sustainable business," he said about XBox
MElon (MUSK, Elon) is a Trillionaire Like Penguins Are Mammals
Have media outlets told the truth?
Unlikely Heroes
One personal hero who is not alive (anymore) is Navalny
Bruce Schneier Was Probably Wrong About Slop
Right now politicians who openly speak in favour of slop are committing "political suicide"
SLAPP Censorship - Part 106 Out of 200: 100 Kilograms of Legal Papers
When one party's communications and filings weigh at about 3 KG of paper and another's... at about 100 KG of paper
Links 14/06/2026: More Google Layoffs, Wall Street Deems Companies That Lose Money "Worth" Trillions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2026: "The Universe is a Hologram", "Matrix Brain Download", and "Happy 0th Year"
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Battistelli's "Baltic Crusader"
Gilles Requena, Battistelli's erstwhile "Baltic Crusader" and the loyal servant of his successor Campinos
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 13, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, June 13, 2026