Bonum Certa Men Certa

J Nicholas Gross Thinks Professors Stop Being Professors If They're Not Patent Extremists Like Him

Summary: The below-the-belt tactics of patent trolls and their allies show no signs of abatement and their tone reveals growing irritation and frustration (inability to sue and extort companies as easily as they used to)

THE INTERNET is not a pleasant place when it comes to discussions about patents. We may seem confrontational/abrasive at times, but nowhere near as much as trolls and their defenders. They describe people who invalidate patents as "killers" or "death squads". Watchtroll even called them a "cartel" earlier this month.



J Nicholas GrossThis theme of death or "kills" isn't too uncommon. Here is one patent maximalist stating: "In a Rule 36, Fed. Cir. Affirmed 101/Alice Kill of ZKey Patent Asserted against Facebook" (he always, without exception, uses the word "kill" in such scenarios, otherwise "survives" i.e. the language of militarism).

These people are habitually attacking CAFC judges, not just PTAB panels and SCOTUS Justices (as well as the EFF, as J Nicholas Gross repeatedly did when he wrote for the Web site of a patent troll last year). According to him, based on this tweet, professors stop being professors when he doesn't agree with them on patents. These are his words: "Anti-patent troll "Professor" (RIGHT!) Lemley reversed today: cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/… CAFC says his serial infringer client loses on 101 bc SOFTWARE-BASED 'innovations can make “non-abstract improvements to computer technology”' here security profile enabled bette [sic] virus filtering..."

J Nicholas Gross must be suffering from inferiority complex; he's not a professor like Lemley (heck, he is not even a doctor), so he's attacking Lemley's credentials. Some patent trolls did this to me as well, defaming me as having fabricated my Ph.D. and even resorting to literally below-the-belt insults (like speaking about my genitals in their public podcasts). He appeared to have developed quite a reputation for these things and he is connected online (maybe professionally) to these trolls, too. Here he is, only days ago, attacking PTAB's decision: "Another typical day at PTAB: Facebook inventor has novel, non-obvious invention that distinguishes over prior art, so Examiner overruled; but random application of 101 results in no patent: e-foia.uspto.gov/Foia/RetrieveP…"

And on he goes:

Today's CAFC decision proves categorically that their 101 jurisprudence is disastrously panel-specific, and your only hope as patent owner is that you are fortunated to get udges who actually understand how software works: http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions-orders/16-2520.Opinion.1-8-2018.1.PDF …



From what I can gather, virtually none of these proponents of software patent (and vocal PTAB bashers) even wrote a computer program. Ever. The above rant comes from a person (attorney) whose online profile suggests to be "[c]urrently marketing and soliciting offers for license or purchase of certain key patent assets in the area of e-commerce..."

Sounds like the patent 'assertion' types (borderline trolling). That explains it then. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

Massive Cuts Inside Microsoft (the Media Does Not Talk About That)
It is in many ways like IBM a decade ago
IRC's Growing Popularity in 2026
No company controls or profits from IRC, it is in the Commons
Amazon's Debt Skyrockets by Almost 100 Billion Dollars in 9 Months
On top of that there is additional (secret, kept stealth by accounting tricks) debt
 
Links 01/11/2026: Digital Ninimalism and "Palantir Cofounder Announces Cruel Plan to Breed Thousands of Lab Monkeys for Medical Experiments"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 31, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, October 31, 2026
Gemini Links 31/10/2026: MangoWM, Qutebrowser and Codeberg, Plugh
Links for the day
In US Government Sites, GNU/Linux Measured at New All-Time High of 7% (or About 10% Across Desktops/Laptops Alone)
There's no doubt GNU/Linux is growing
Intel Has Just Lost in One Single Day Over 150 Billion Dollars in 'Value' (Market Cap), Intel is Also Over 50 Billion Dollars in Debt
This really says a lot about Wall Street and the slop bubble, doesn't it?
They Hate Him Because He's Effective
Effective voices invite more aggressive censorship attempts
Audience Growing in Spite of the Deluge of Webslop
We probably benefit from the rejection of LLM slop
The Munich FUD Tactics (Microsoft Modus Operandi): Microsoft-Connected Sites Claim Denmark Failed With Free Software, But That's Not What Actually Happened
With Microsoft, it almost always boils down to politics
Links 31/10/2026: John Romero Comeback After Being Shafted by Microsoft, Google Faces Criminal Probe Over Deforestation in Finland
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/10/2026: Rambling on Self-hosting and Ad Video Screens Don’t Make Money
Links for the day
Can't Trust Big Banks, Let's Try 'Bros' Instead?
But let's blame "North Korea"
"AI" as Surrogate for Debt and Distraction From Computing (Bots Described as "Agents" and/or Any Form of "Intelligence" is More Like a Religion)
We're letting people without even college degrees game the "market" (Wall Street) by lying to it
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXV - Election Integrity at a Time of Back Doors and Very Severe Bugs in UEFI
How dare British media comment on insurrection following a US election?
"The Judge Accepted That Mrs Schestowitz Had Been the Subject of a Vicious Campaign of Online Harassment"
That's consistent with how they men treat women
Gemini Links 31/10/2026: Hallowe'en and "Thinking About People"
Links for the day
Links 31/10/2026: The Hinge on Apple's Constantly Breaking New Foldable iPhone Was "Built With Slop", Slop Causes Cash Squeeze GAFAM
Links for the day
Google Illegally Destroyed a Quarter Million Trees Without a Permit for a Hypothetical Project That Might be Cancelled, Debt Has Soared by 30 Billion Dollars in 3 Months ($10 Billions Borrowed Per Month)
Google is bleeding from slop
Slavery at Microsoft
illegal if true
Many People "Left" Red Hat This Month, Including Yesterday
We already saw this with SUSE
Gemini Links 31/10/2026: "Where I Draw the Line With" Slop Plagiarism and "Nobody Cares That You're Leaving Proton" (Over Slop)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 30, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, October 30, 2026
Links 30/10/2026: "Over 41,000 DHS Employee Records Leaked Online" and Concerns Over Radicalism in France
Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXIV - It's an Inherently American Issue and American Elections Are at Risk From Restricted ('Secure') Boot and LLM Chatbots (Disinformation at Scale)
We'll focus a lot on US elections in the coming days
Birss Replaces Vos in UK's High Court, LLM Slop Plagiarism a Contentious Issue
Only days ago we mentioned Sir Geoffrey Vos in relation to lobbying for LLM slop
"Early Retirement" (Silent Layoffs) for Everybody Except the Executives
Some will stick around even past 70
Despite the Mass Layoffs Microsoft's Debt Soared by 5.1 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months
This is why Microsoft asks 60,000 workers to leave
Gemini Links 30/10/2026: Solar MiniBBS, Kubernetes With FreeBSD, "Sysadmin Day"
Links for the day
Microsoft Layoffs Far Worse Than the Media Tells (Microsoft Spin Laundered as "Reporting")
Some people are made to "retire" and sign an NDA to make it seem like a happy ending and mostly consensual retreat
Links 30/10/2026: Google Crashes on Slop Disappointment and GAFAM's "Data Center Blitz Is Burning Through Cash and Scaring Wall St."
Links for the day
Fake 'Articles' in The Register MS Concerning "AI"
We don't suppose The Register MS will be around for much longer after this bubble pops
What Linus Torvalds Told Me Two Decades Ago
It seems like he was eager to distinguish himself from the "elders" of FSF [...] For anything "revolutionary" to happen in the sciences one must accept the risk of living in poverty like Tesla (the person, not the right-wing fanatics) and Torvalds isn't too old to "cause a stir"
GNU/Linux as a Free Software Platform is More GNU (and GPL) Than Linux
GNU predates Linux by nearly a decades and it was born to tackle injustices
Who Or What Are Security Professionals/Experts?
Companies like GAFAM are willing to tolerate cheaters because those companies themselves are cheats
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXIII - What Garrett Did Puts Elections at Risk (Also in His Own Country, Where a Dictator Trusts Only Machines That 'Support' Him)
UEFI 'security' is only as trustworthy as its ferocious boosters
Gemini Links 30/10/2026: RIP Patrick Stewart and Amp Integration
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 29, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, October 29, 2026