Bonum Certa Men Certa

IAM Magazine, Authored by Benoît Battistelli, is Rubbish Compared to Patent Scholars

Ask patent scholars for an honest perspective (not indebted to/invested in patent maximalism)

Michael Risch

Summary: Benoît Battistelli has just written an article for IAM (in which he promotes buzzwords that relate to software patents) and contrary to him, prominent academics believe that the patent systems have gone too far and are unhinged from "any economic justification."

THE EPO has been using buzzwords like "fourth industrial revolution" and "artificial intelligence" lately. We have already explained why we believe these to be loopholes for software patents, among other things. IAM has just published (in its new issue) another piece with buzzwords in the headline ("intellectual property and artificial intelligence"), but we were rather surprised to then find out that even a crooked tyrant, Benoît Battistelli, became a contributor/writer for IAM. He promotes the "fourth industrial revolution" buzzwords right from the get-go (headline).



"We also quite like Professor Bessen, Lemley and others who strive to improve the patent system and take nothing for granted; if only someone like them was to run the EPO; instead we have another President coming (in less than 5 months) who's a banker."The use of buzzwords is to be expected from lawyers, politicians and marketing people; not from scientists (which Battistelli cannot understand or relate to). Software patents will occupy the remainder of today's coverage. We're still seeing new evidence that the USPTO grants these. There's no reason to do so when US courts repeatedly reject them and so do software professionals, but who's to say that policy is based on evidence or rationale?

In Twitter, Prefessor Michael Risch has just announced the publication of his latest paper in which he argues that the US is doing it wrong and things "fail any economic justification." Risch studied patent trolls a long time ago. He wrote a lot about patent trolls, software patents, roots of patents in the US, patent scope, and so on. We mentioned him many times before and we don't always agree with him (especially not on software patents), but at least he's genuine and honest, unlike Battistelli.

From his latest abstract:

Though reasonable royalty damages are ubiquitous in patent litigation, they are only one-hundred years old. But in that time they have become deeply misunderstood. This Article returns to the development and origins of reasonable royalties, exploring both why and how courts originally assessed them.

It then turns a harsh eye toward all that we think we know about reasonable royalties. No current belief is safe from criticism, from easy targets such as the 25% “rule of thumb” to fundamental dogma such as the hypothetical negotiation. In short, the Article concludes that we are doing it wrong, and have been for some time.


We also quite like Professor Bessen, Lemley and others who strive to improve the patent system and take nothing for granted; if only someone like them was to run the EPO; instead we have another President coming (in less than 5 months) who's a banker. Maybe quite fitting considering what the EPO has become. Our readers generally agree that Professor Alain Pompidou was quite alright and evidence does seem to suggest so.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Techrights' Statement on Code of Censorship (CoC) and Kent Overstreet: This Was the Real Purpose of Censorship Agreements All Along
Bombing people is OK (if you sponsor the key organisations), opposing bombings is not (a CoC in a nutshell)
[Meme] The Most Liberal Company
"Insurrection? What insurrection?"
apple.com Traffic Down Over 7%, Says One Spyware Firm; Apple's Liabilities Increased Over 6% to $308,030,000,000
Apple is also about 120 billion dollars in debt
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 23, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 23, 2024
[Meme] GAFAMfox
Mozilla Firefox in a state of extreme distress
Google Can Kill Mozilla Any Time It Wants
That gives Google far too much power over its rival... There are already many sites that refuse to work with Firefox or explicitly say Firefox isn't supported
Free (as in Freedom) Software Helps Tackle the Software Liability Issue, It Lets Users Exercise Greater Control Over Programs
Microsofters have been trying to ban or exclude Free software
In the US, Patent Laws Are Up for Sale
This problem is a lot bigger than just patents
ESET Finds Rootkits, Does Not Explain How They Get Installed, Media Says It Means "Previously Unknown Linux Backdoors" (Useful Distraction From CALEA and CALEA2)
FUD watch
Techdirt Loses Its Objectivity in Pursuit of Money
The more concerning aspects are coverage of GAFAM and Microsoft in particular
Links 23/11/2024: Press Sold to Vultures, New LLM Blunders
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Relationship with Oneself" and Yretek.com is Back
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Real World" Cracked and UK Online Safety Act is Law
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: Celebrating Proprietary Bluesky (False Choice, Same Issues) and Software Patents Squashed
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 22, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 22, 2024
Gemini Links 23/11/2024: 150 Day Streak in Duolingo and ICBMs
Links for the day
Links 22/11/2024: Dynamic Pricing Practice and Monopoly Abuses
Links for the day
Topics We Lacked Time to Cover
Due to a Microsoft event (an annual malware fest for lobbying and marketing purposes) there was also a lot of Microsoft propaganda
Microsofters Try to Defund the Free Software Foundation (by Attacking Its Founder This Week) and They Tell People to Instead Give Money to Microsoft Front Groups
Microsoft people try to outspend their critics and harass them
[Meme] EPO for the Kids' Future (or Lack of It)
Patents can last two decades and grow with (or catch up with) the kids
EPO Education: Workers Resort to Legal Actions (Many Cases) Against the Administration
At the moment the casualties of EPO corruption include the EPO's own staff
Gemini Links 22/11/2024: ChromeOS, Search Engines, Regular Expressions
Links for the day
This Month is the 11th Month of This Year With Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (So Far It's Happening Every Month This Year, More Announced Hours Ago)
Now they even admit it
Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024