Bonum Certa Men Certa

Instead of Worrying About Alice, the Patent Microcosm Ought to Accept That Software Patents Have Been Rendered Obsolete by Software Copyrights

They are still trying to come up with loopholes around Alice

An Ontological Model for Determining Section 101 Patent Eligibility under Alice
An Ontological Model for Determining Section 101 Patent Eligibility under Alice [PDF]



Summary: While it is widely recognised -- at least among technical people -- that it is not worth pursuing patents on software (courts if not examiners would crush hopes of assertion/enforcement), the patent microcosm continues to sing a different tune in order to sell services

TECHRIGHTS soon enters its twelfth year. It's a milestone because the site has run nonstop throughout these years. Software patents were always the primary issue. Here we are at the end of 2017 and as we noted some days ago, the higher courts in the US (including the Federal Circuit) have effectively ended software patents. Those which were granted by the USPTO don't make it far; upon challenge, sometimes citing Alice, these patents get discarded. Throughout 2017 the high courts were very consistent on this.

"Here we are at the end of 2017 and as we noted some days ago, the higher courts in the US (including the Federal Circuit) have effectively ended software patents."The patent microcosm, which got accustomed to making money from software patents, keeps moaning that abstract patents are rejected outright. Get used to it.

Rather than accept defeat and pursue something else, these stubborn people try to utilise and master new 'tricks'; they want to pursue software patents in spite of Alice, irrespective of what courts (with expert testimonies and other scrutinisers) may inevitably say.

DLA Piper LLP's Larissa Park has just published this article in which she insinuates that software can be patented. Not so constructive an advice...

"The patent microcosm, which got accustomed to making money from software patents, keeps moaning that abstract patents are rejected outright."Software is not patentable. It's no longer worth pursuing in the US. Want some software patents in spite of it? Then go to China...

Want to protect software developers from plagiarism? Then rely on copyright instead. It already does the job pretty well, for both proprietary and Free/libre software developers. Enforcement or compliance is accomplished differently, but it works. To quote Park:

If your product or service involves software, you should explore the possibility of filing for and obtaining a software patent. While copyright can protect your actual code from being copied; copyrights cannot prevent others from independently (i.e., without copying) developing the same software. On the other hand, a patent can permit you to exclude others from practicing the functional aspects of the software claimed in your patent, even if the other party independently developed the software. See our corresponding article on patents.

The federal government grants patents on new, useful and non-obvious inventions. While features and functions of your software may be new and non-obvious, the biggest hurdle to obtaining patent protection can be overcoming the useful requirement, that is, whether your new and nonobvious software is even eligible for a patent.

[...]

Software can be protected with copyright and trade secret. As noted above, copyright will protect you from someone copying your actual code. However, you will not be protected if that person independently develops his or her own code that performs similar functions. More details on copyright protection can be found in our corresponding blog post on copyrights. Trade secrets can protect the structure and methodology of your software, but will require you to implement confidentially procedures to keep the material secret. Once the information you are attempting to protect with a trade secret becomes public, it will no longer be protected by trade secret law. More details on trade secret protection can be found in our corresponding article on trade secrets.


Park is correct only in the sense that software can be reimplemented to work around copyright issues, e.g. in a different programming language. The issue she fails to address, however, is that in a world with hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of software patents developers won't be able to safely write any code at all. Since she and her colleagues rarely (if ever) claim to have developed software, perhaps the reality of it conveniently evades them*. Moreover, they may simply not care about software development at all; for them, the important thing is maintaining litigation and an atmosphere of hostility. They profit from it.

"Since she and her colleagues rarely (if ever) claim to have developed software, perhaps the reality of it conveniently evades them."What's also absent (or lacking emphasis) in the article from Park is Alice. In the dawn of 2018 it makes absolutely no economic sense to invest in software patents; companies should, instead, form a strategy around copyrights (or copyleft). The world is changing and one must move on with the times...

The new journal article at the top is Alan Gocha’s paper on “Section 101 patent eligibility under Alice.” Patently-O mentioned it a few days ago and so did a few other people. To quote Patently-O:

Alan Gocha’s new article focuses on patent eligibility and provides “an ontological model for determining section 101 patent eligibility under Alice.” I think the most important contribution that Gocha makes is to categorize abstract ideas into those that are “inherently abstract” (preexisting fundamental truths) from those that are only “temporally abstract” (longstanding practices).


Alan Gocha is not a software developer but an attorney or law professional. So these people tend to speak of software from a more philosophical or theoretical perspective, not practical or professional. Gocha, in this paper of his, repeats the patent microcosm's talking points, e.g. that there's lack of "clarity" or "clarification". Gocha says that the "Supreme Court and Federal Circuit [two of the most software patents-hostile courts nowadays] case law can be synthesized to provide a comprehensive set of rules to help guide the Alice analysis." It's an effort to find new loopholes, that's all it is.

"The patent microcosm likes to demonise technology companies as if law which leans towards technology companies is an abomination -- almost as though the law is intended to protect the lawyers rather than developers.""Test Wording" is the title of one section, which says that "[a] claim is directed at an abstract idea if a theoretical being that has errorless and unlimited computative capacity could essentially duplicate the claimed invention in its mind."

That can be done with any algorithm; the author then alludes to "non-tangible ideas for which can be entirely performed in the mind—i.e. purely cognitive processes" and again -- this applies to virtually any algorithm, which can be tackled/solved using pen and paper.

We recognise that it's hard for the patent microcosm to let go; it probably made billions of dollars (altogether) from the terrible decision to permit software patents since decades ago; but things have changed and the way software gets developed and distributed changes very rapidly owing to the Internet. These people ought to focus on copyright/copyleft if they want to remain relevant. The paradigm is inherently different (even if they still refer to it by the misleading term "IP"), but this is what software developers actually want. The patent microcosm likes to demonise technology companies as if law which leans towards technology companies is an abomination -- almost as though the law is intended to protect the lawyers rather than developers. That's just sheer Hubris. _____ * Gene Quinn (Watchtroll) got very irritated after he had claimed that he writes code and once asked for proof of it he was unable to produce or even name any. Instead, he blocked me to avoid further interaction. In other words, it's unlikely that he ever wrote any computer program and he continually demonstrated that he does not understand how computers even work. Actual software developers started mocking him for it and he could not deal with it. If these are the sorts of people who lobby the hardest for software patents, we are in serious trouble. They lack the most basic understanding of digital operations and tools, such as compilers, assemblers, interpreters, and processors.

Recent Techrights' Posts

They Want You To Talk About Trump or 'The Other Bill' in Relation to Trafficking of Underage Girls for Sexual Exploitation
Just something we wanted to say...
How to Quadruple Your "Goodwill" Value and Grow Your (Wall) Street "Value" From $152B to $4000B Without Producing a Single Successful Product/Service
The longer it goes on for, the bigger the implosion will be
Staying Productive
Two very reputable institutions recently told us they now reckon Microsoft is somehow funding those SLAPPs against us
66 Countries Where More People Use iPhones (or iPads) Than Microsoft Windows, According to statCounter Data
a list of countries where iOS now exceeds Windows
Windows All-Time Lows, Android All-Time Highs in Kuwait
New lows for Windows can be found in many countries this month
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Some Cola Formulas Aren't Secret, But the Barrier is the Branding
That's the power of the channel/distribution, marketing, and brand recognition (accomplished through endless marketing)
 
Links 06/08/2025: Faked Values of Slop Companies and Government Bailouts
Links for the day
FOSSY 2025 Conference Safety
The GAFAM-funded FOSSY 2025 is over
Microsoft's Favourite Pay-to-Say 'Analyst' Firm Has Just Collapsed
'Analysts' that helped propel Microsoft to fictional values akin to Ponzi schemes
Ask Google (Jeeves)
What does Google "know", not know, or would rather forget (or embellish)?
A Blow for Patent Ambitions of Bill Epsteingate
It's about money
Apple's iOS Bigger Than Microsoft Windows in Many Countries
This ought to alarm Microsoft
The Mainstream Media Talks About Spotify Share Price and Price Hikes, Not Its Debt Increasing by About 33% in Just 12 Months
Spotify isn't a company in good shape
New "US Editor for The Register" is 80% Microsoft and Windows
they typically just treat Microsoft like the "Holy Grail" of "IT"
Microsoft is Apparently Sending Gag Orders or NDAs to Staff That Got Laid Off (“We were told not to post on LinkedIn. Not to say anything.”)
The main lies we keep seeing
Richard M. Stallman Has Published AI Memos Since 1980 (45 Years Ago)
Back when the term AI actually meant something
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: BitTorrent and Feedly Bots
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 05, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 05, 2025
Openwashing Slop... Using Slop!
So get ready for "open" "hey hi" with its proprietary models to engage in openwashing, helped by serial sloppers who use the LLMs to produce fake 'articles'.
On "Tragedy of the Commons in the Production of Digital Artifacts"
There's a better way to do things. None of that should involve GAFAM.
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Opel Zoo near Frankfurt and Alhena 5.2.5
Links for the day
The Inflammatory Influence of Social Control Media Giants
CPC's ByteDance says it's cool
Microsoft v Planet Earth
Is Microsoft profitable?
IRC Turns 37
Internet Relay Chat (short: IRC), which started in 1988, turns 37 this month
Shortly After a Microsofter Took Over The Register as Editor in Chief Microsoft Tim (Tim Anderson) is Back and It's Still Microsoft Propaganda, Sometimes Funded by Microsoft
Notice his focus
Stricter Enforcement of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is Sorely Needed
Who's keeping track anyway?
Calling Plagiarism "Intelligence" is Pure Genius, Brilliance!
One thing to "like" (or dislike) about LLMs is how they're falsely marketed using various buzzwords
Geminispace Promises Simplicity But Also Provides a "bunch of forums that get flood-filled by agitation against the very essence of Gemini itself"
claims of stagnation in Geminispace started because of a person who spent a long time agitating against GNU/Linux as well
Zimbabweans Aren't Into Windows or Microsoft
This cannot be good news for GAFAM
Microsoft's Washington Layoffs Aren't Everything, They're Definitely Not Happening in Just One State in the US
Washington is just more strict with WARN notices
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Lagrange v1.18.6, No Stagnation in Geminispace, and Fake Coding (Slop)
Links for the day
The Register's Editor in Chief (Who Left for Google) Told Me "AI" Was a Bubble, But Now The Register Gets Paid to Participate in Inflating This Bubble
A lot of the online media is a scam
Introducing Mission:Libre and FreeXR (and BreakXR)
efforts that accompany the foundations put there by the Free Software Foundation in 1985
Slopwatch: WebProNews, LinuxSecurity, and Some Success Stories
Google News still has a slopfarm issue
Links 05/08/2025: Hey Hi (AI) Passing Fads and GAFAM "Embracing the Military"
Links for the day
Links 05/08/2025: Samsung and Microsoft Layoffs
Links for the day
Rumours of Mass Layoffs at Red Hat Next Week (August 11th, 2025)
The eleventh means next Monday
IBM is Shutting Down (Piecewise)
IBM is basically being liquidated
The Debian Language Police Department (PD)
"there has never been complaints about anyone that was offended by this -off package"
Tesla's Debt More Than Doubled in 2 Years and the Company Will Operate in the Red (at a Loss) Quite Soon
If your first-quarter net income is $409 million and you borrow billions from banks, plus interest to pay on those loans, then you're not far from returning to losses
When The Register MS Says "Linux Backdoor" It Actually Talks About Malware
The leading story in The Register US/MS this morning is Microsoft
Microsoft Windows Fell to 19% "Market Share" in Montenegro
Microsoft must be well aware of this trend
Why We Also Include Gopher Links in Our Gemini (Protocol) Links
There are still many people who use Gopher to relay their messages (like blog posts). They're mostly technical people.
Shouting is an Indication of a Lack of Convincing Argument
Beware what they are attempting to distract from
Mongolia: Microsoft Windows at All-Time Low
in 2009 when Windows was at 99.45% in Mongolia the company was "worth" less than 200 billion dollars
About a Quarter of Today's "linux" News in Google News Came From One Domain and It's a Slopfarm
Not kidding!
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Zombie Threat and Switching to NixOS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 04, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 04, 2025
ChatGPT in Trouble
Watch out for the newer buzzwords
The Register MS Links to the Wrong statCounter Page
They link to older data
Dr. Andy Farnell Explains How Google Turned From "Librarian" Into "Oracle", Telling Us What to Think Instead of Where to Look
Google was always a lousy librarian
Microsoft Layoffs Continue in August 2025
If Microsoft is doing so well, how come about 10 rounds of layoffs in about 7 months in 2025?
Microsoft and Windows Have Many Back Doors, But LLM Slop Keep Claiming That Linux Has "Backdoor"
It's another example of LLM slop as FUD amplifier, via slopfarms as well
In Many Countries Vista 11 Adoption Stalled or Became Negative
Not just because people move to GNU/Linux
Microsofters' Lawyers Are Name-calling and Insulting Microsoft Critics, Even Their Spouses
How not to win arguments
Flagging or Tagging Slop That We Find Online
Right now we use ImageMagick
Links 04/08/2025: Very Bad Weather and Travel Restrictions in China
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/08/2025: Misiamisia and Mobile Linux
Links for the day
Microsoft's Stock is Like a Religion, Microsoft Goes Into 'Hiding' (From Shareholders)
like a religious person or devout believer, the media just parrot anything Microsoft says
Links 04/08/2025: 80 Years Since Last Nuclear War, IPv6 in China
Links for the day
Groklaw Static Site Relaunches With New Theme, But Many Pages and All the Comments Are Missing
We suppose that's still a lot better than the site being offline, as it was for several months
"For Five decades; For freedoms; For all users" (Original EMACS Turns 50 Next Year)
Linus Benedict Torvalds was only 6 when EMACS started
In Spain, Microsoft's Search Engine Market Share Fell to 2%
16 years have passed since Bing was introduced
Protecting GNU/Linux-Centric Journalism From Serial Sloppers
Unoriginal slop is taking away traffic from the people who did all the real work
It Looks Like Managers at Oracle Now Use LLM Slop to Write Blog Posts
Did he cheat by prompting LLMs for mindless text "filler"?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 03, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/08/2025: Qubes OS and Curious crypto case of certificates (CCCC)
Links for the day