Bonum Certa Men Certa

Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) Are Not Inventions, But Sites of the Patent Microcosm (e.g. IAM) Want Us to Believe Otherwise

China and South Korea among the latest under the microscope

How on Earth are such simple GUIs being patented as though they are inventions?



Summary: In China and elsewhere the patent maximalists now get patents on GUIs (cascading or otherwise); Section 101 is not exactly designed to deal with such an absurdity

THINGS have gotten ridiculous. Some patents which are being granted nowadays (especially in countries like China) are borderline parodies. At Sun, engineers used to joke about the sorts of patents they could get examiners at the USPTO to approve/grant; they even mocked examiners for granting what they had drafted as (almost) practical jokes. WIPO is happy though because the number of annual patent grants continues to climb. More money for WIPO!



I'm not writing this site as a lobbyist or as a self-serving exercise. In fact, it doesn't affect my job in any way. It's almost orthogonal to it. I have been developing software since I was 14 and I created many GUIs in my lifetime (dozens of programs with GUIs, using half a dozen different toolkits); people don't 'invent' GUIs but simply design or piece them together, changing placement of buttons or menu items over time at risk of confusing users who have habits (muscle memory). The developers don't actually claim this to be an "invention" and it's barely even like a painting. The element of consistency for predictability is essential for users. That's where so-called 'UX experts' creep in.

Anyway, China's patents (in Mandarin) are of low quality, but these are difficult for Westerners to assess because very few of them comprehend Mandarin. IAM, being IAM, is making excuses for China. Yesterday it wrote this piece about SIPO and added: "Patent application rates in China are slowing and examiners are getting tougher."

Or maybe they've just run out of nonsense to file. It's far too late for examiners to get "tough" (after many rubbish patents were granted). We occasionally read about some of these patents, including for instance patents on GUIs (not a joke!) and earlier this week Managing IP posted another example of this. "GUI design patents in China after first infringement decision" is the headline and it's about China's Mandarin-only, low-quality patents (even patents on GUIs!). This won't do their economy any good, but perhaps they obey Xi's objective of just filing lots of patent applications (nearly 1.5 million per year!) to keep up the illusion of parity with the West in relation to so-called 'IP' (the US wants to use that card to impose sanctions and possibly fines on China). Anyway, here is what Managing IP wrote about the Beijing IP Court a few days ago:

Observers bemoan the lack of clear guidance after Beijing IP Court judge rules there was no infringement of a GUI design patent in a highly-anticipated case

China saw its first GUI infringement case since graphical user interface (GUI) design was classified and protected as a type of design patent on May 1 2014.


So this is pretty recent. But don't think for a second that only China stooped low enough for this foolishness. As if software patents weren't bad enough (they're more profound than mere buttons and often refer to implementation of callback functions for respective buttons).

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), where no judge is familiar (firsthand) with the process of software development, has just given an adrenaline rush to the patent microcosm. Early coverage of this came from Patently-O. This is already being cited by vocal patent maximalists and it says the following:

In a split opinion, the Federal Circuit has affirmed Core Wireless win over LG Electronics [DECISION] – finding the asserted patent claimed eligible subject matter and refusing to disturb the district court’s judgment of no-anticipation and infringement. U.S. Patent Nos. 8,713,476; 8,434,020; and 6,415,164 (UK Priority Date of July 2000). The patents here are directed to user-interfaces — basically users are shown a menu of applications; Selecting on an application takes the user to an “application summary” that includes functions of the application and files (“data”) associated with each application that can be selected to launch the application and enable the file to be seen within the application.

[...]

Holding: Claims are not directed to an abstract idea and therefore are eligible under Alice Step 1.

All judges on the panel agreed with this holding. The disagreement between the majority (Moore & O’Malley) and Dissent-in-Part (Wallach) comes over the definition of the claim term “unlaunched state.” The majority construed the term as “not displayed” while the dissent argues that it should be construed as “not running.” The two definitions result in differing treatment of apps that are running in the background. The changed construction result would likely impact both the infringement and anticipation conclusions. For its part, the majority explained that the patent used the word “launch” in several instances to be synonymous with “displayed” – thus leading to its conclusion.


Patent extremists have gotten so excited that they enter "ALL CAPS" mode and note that it's "PRECEDENTIAL". This actually hurts a Korean company, LG, and we hope LG will appeal in order to ensure that the Supreme Court gets a chance to overturn this terrible decision. Does the US really want to enter the crazy realm of patents on GUIs?

Speaking of Korea, LG Chem got mentioned by IAM in relation to Intellectual Discovery, which is proving to be a Korean disaster; it's a waste of money, it might dissolve into the hands of patent trolls. IAM of course supports all that. To quote:

Intellectual Discovery, South Korea’s sovereign patent fund, will lead the effort. “I believe it would be a win-win situation for the patent holder and potential licencees,” says Dongsuk Bae, who heads ID’s licensing division. Bae adds that LG Chem is open to discuss a range of licence terms apart from just exclusion of competitors. Like many large Korean corporates, LG Chem has not previously focused on licensing out technology. Min says the decision to engage ID came down to both the firm’s international experience and its ability to act as an intermediary: “We want someone who can help us find a partner in China, as well as someone who can help a partner understand our intentions and the benefits of a deal."


Well, partnering in China because Korean companies such as Samsung are being bullied by Chinese giants like Huawei and various patent trolls? In this current atmosphere of patent maximalism in China Samsung and LG might be better off just exiting the Chinese market altogether (not easy as they rely on manufacturing in mainland China). Sure, Huawei can still sue them in other countries, but not with the same litigation success rates.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Destruction and Distortion of Information, Including Facts About Linux (Bonus: This is Destroying the Planet)
All that LLMs have going for them is hype, and moreover media that intentionally misrepresents them and their supposed capabilities
IBM Layoff Rumours, Large-Scale Implementations Weeks Ahead (in March 2025)
There are some people corroborating
 
Google Seems to Have Just Killed All Instances of Invidious
YouTube is rapidly becoming just "another Neflix"
Microsoft Skype in a Freefall: About 20% Decrease in Site Traffic in 3 Months (Amid Microsoft Phasing Out Credits)
Microsoft axing more services/features may mean that now they scrape the bottom of the barrel and Skype will simply die, discontinuing service (like ICQ) in a matter of years
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: Depression, Gabbro, WikiTok, and More
Links for the day
Links 12/02/2025: Health, Security, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol is Increasingly Important to the Net
Gemini Protocol will turn 6 this summer
Former EPO Manager Warns That the Illegal 'Court' for "Unitary Patents" Enables “Law Shopping”
Daniel X. Thomas opposed the very existence of the UPC, which any honest person could recognise was both illegal and unconstitutional
Like GAFAM, the EPO is Passing the Financial Pains to Staff
the EPO is operating illegally at this point
Morale at Microsoft Ruined by the Company Labelling Thousands of Workers 'Low Performers', Sacking Them on the Spot and Denying Them Basic Benefits
people laid off as "low performers" go to social control media to bemoan the label
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Links 11/02/2025: Current state of the Internet and Smallnet Information Services (SIS)
Links for the day
Conservative Estimate: Over 10,000 IBM Workers to Be Laid Off in the Next Two Waves
The morale is low and layoffs are expected soon, with mass layoffs likely happening next month and then again later
Links 11/02/2025: Trade Wars and "Crisis for American Universities"
Links for the day
Parasitic LLM Slop Sites Destroy the Ability to Find "Linux" News in Google News
Remember that Google News laid off lots of its workers
Richard Stallman's English Talk in Italy Less Than 24 Hours Away (Torino) and Then Another Talk in Italy Scheduled (University of Bozen-Bolzano)
He's active and he travels a lot in spite of his medical condition
Links 11/02/2025: Nutritional Poverty, Closure of USAID, More Fictional 'Valuations' Around Buzzwords
Links for the day
Perl Programming Leftovers
recently in perl.org
Microsoft in Africa: From 98% to Less Than 10% in Just 16 Years
Microsoft being on less than 1 in 10 Web-connected devices in Africa is a very big deal
Almost as If MElon Reads Techrights
The joke we started appears to be spreading
Microsoft Blasted for Adding Insult to Injury: Workers Laid Off Without Prior Notice, Without Severance Payment and Basic Coverage (Like Health), Then Stigmatised as Bad Performers So They Cannot Find a Job Elsewhere
Such stereotypes end entire careers
Gemini Links 11/02/2025: NeoVim and Deploying Other People's Code
Links for the day
BetaNews is Still Publishing LLM Slop/SPAM About "Linux"
Assuming it is indeed LLM slop, it seems clear BetaNews has no intention of improving or is simply unable/unwilling to improve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 10, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 10, 2025
Scheduled Maintenance Tomorrow and on Valentines
If the site (or Gemini capsule) is offline for a bit, the maintenance windows are likely the root cause
If Matthias Kirschner Loves Free Software, He'll Change the Name of the Microsoft-Sponsored Organisation He Governs (in Order to Avoid Confusion)
The FSF-EEE does not really like Software Freedom, it just loves money (including Microsoft's)
Soylent News Lessens the Scope of Discussion Due to Persistent Trolling and Online Abuse
if they make it a lot harder for new people to participate, then they limit the "general appeal" and reach
EPO's Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in The Hague: Workers Are Getting Sicker, Conditions in Which to Assess Patent Applications Deteriorate
"According to the Office statistics the total number of days of absence has gone up from 12.4 to 13.1 total number of sick days per Full Time Equivalent (FTE) from 2023 to 2024."
The Standard Needs to Improve Its Standards for Fact-Checking, Aaron Swartz Had Nothing to Do With Reddit and He Detested the Company That Created It
The Web is already bad enough as it is
When the Livestream of Richard Stallman is Apparently Bury-Brigaded Offline You Finally Learn to Avoid Google/YouTube for Streaming
Please, people, stop uploading to Google/YouTube
New Paper From the EPO Highlights Large-Scale Discrimination at the Office, Where People Are Rewarded for Granting More and More Illegal Patents
Even the Kremlin is probably more competent than this
Links 10/02/2025: Ban on D.E.I. Language, Listeria Risk/Outbreak
Links for the day
Links 10/02/2025: Announcing "Stringless" and Mental Health Improvement
Links for the day
Links 10/02/2025: Facebook Mass Layoffs, "Meta" Did What Aaron Swartz Had Done But to the Tune of 81.7 Terabytes
Links for the day
Microsoft Tarnishing the Brand of Arch
Of course Arch can do whatever it wants, but being associated with Microsoft is a badge of shame
The Ultimate and Inevitable Fall of OpenAI (Even Brave is 'Bigger' Now)
"When you advertise at the Super Bowl, you’ve reached just about every consumer in America. It’s the last stop. If you’re not profitable yet, you never will be."
Adding Slop to Your Blog Only Makes One Assume All the Text is LLM Slop
Simon Coter from Oracle has turned to slop
Macao is Leaving Microsoft Behind
Windows is falling to new all-time lows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 09, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, February 09, 2025
Microsoft's WSL (LSW) Shows That It Can Never Love Linux, Only Windows
that's just how Microsoft rolls
Activism in Times of War and a Coup
'Linux' Foundation works for fascism
What the Silencing of Neatnik Tells Us About Linus Torvalds Inside a Microsoft-Dominated 'Linux' Foundation
Is Linus Torvalds free to express his mind as he wishes about every topic, even just any technical topic?
Windows Down to 11.35% in Senegal, as Measured by statCounter
Another all-time low (Windows was at 99% in 2009)
"Latest Technology News" in BetaNews is LLM Slop Promoting OOXML and Proprietary Software at the Expense of LibreOffice and OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Remember that "open-source" and Open Source aren't the same; the former is fake