Bonum Certa Men Certa

Watch Out for Buzzwords That Are Used to Mask Patents on Software, Even in Europe

Recent: Blockchain Becomes the Target Not Only of Financial Institutions With Software Patents But Also Trolls

Older:

  1. Blockchain and Bitcoin Patents Help Demonstrate How Software Patents Get Used by Giants to Crush Emerging Technologies ('Threats')
  2. Blockchain Domain Infested With Software Patents, MasterCard Among the Culprits
  3. Financial Giants Will Attempt to Dominate or Control Bitcoin, Blockchain and Other Disruptive Free Software Using Software Patents


Blockchain



Summary: The EPO now exploits EPO budget for advocacy of software patents; It's troubling as it was traditionally the 'job' of the patent 'industry' and moreover it reveals an EPO so adrift from law and order that it's a Bavaria-based pariah acting with impunity, posing a threat to software development in the whole of Europe

THE USPTO has been gradually phasing out software patents (owing to Alice and PTAB for the most part). Software patents in Europe, however, continue to spread because the EPO disregards the law. It's unaccountable and it exploits immunity.



Proponents of software patents in Europe rear their head again. Working around the rules in an effort to patent software may seem legitimate in their minds. "Thanks to my partner Christof Karl for the useful insights on #softwarepatent claim drafting in today’s lunch seminar at the @bardehleIP office," one of them said. He then continued: "Software is patentable at the @EPOorg if it provides a technical contribution - but there is little guidance on what is actually technical. Lucky to have Stefan Steinbrener on my team, who compiled an extensive “whitelist” of positive Board of Appeal #softwarepatent decisions!"

"The EPO rarely speaks about blockchain, but it certainly says "AI", "ICT", "CII", "4IR" and so on."So people who profit from patents and (with few exceptions) never wrote a computer program basically get all giddy about fooling examiners. "Those of us practising in the area WISH the EPO were granting software patents as easily as they are made out to be," one person wrote in response. Here's a rebuttal: "Also, how is my software copyright protected against patent claims? It's not. Intellectual property is being stolen by those who can *pay* for patents. That's why experts in the field want #swpat to be generally excluded. (Yes, single claims as well.)"

I spent the afternoon having some discussion with them about it. They just don't get it. They don't write software.

One of the above took it a step further and suggested pursuing software patents using the blockchain hype. He wrote a whole blog post about buzzwords, berating the appeal boards for not using US-favoured buzzwords. To quote:

To my surprise though, there are no (as in absolutely 0) hits for “blockchain”, i.e. it is not mentioned in any board of appeal decision.

Ok, blockchain is a relatively young technology (at least from a patent law perspective) and appeal cases take a couple of years.


Benjamin Henrion called it "yet another computer program. But the EPO might say again it is "technical"."

The EPO rarely speaks about blockchain, but it certainly says "AI", "ICT", "CII", "4IR" and so on. Buzzwords are a fool's gold/game/errand. Henrion added that "those last words are inventions themselves. They were created by the patent community."

"What they don't say is that this so-called 'study' involved the EPO passing money to the media.""Fourth Industrial Revolution" (4IR) is a new/latest EPO buzzword. It's how they avoid speaking about software patents. The EPO used those buzzwords only hours ago (Battistelli will have a whole speech about it in an upcoming IAM conference). The EPO said: "Interested in the Fourth Industrial Revolution? This study looks at the inventions behind the digital transformation..."

What they don't say is that this so-called 'study' involved the EPO passing money to the media. They actively participate in buzzwords promotion and one might say software patents advocacy (at the expense of EPO budget and at risk of corrupting the media).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Unless a Third of All Microsoft Layoffs Worldwide Are in Redmond (Washington) Alone, Microsoft Has Just Lied to Everyone Via Jordan Novet in CNBC (i.e. the Usual Any Time There's Mass Layoffs and Novet Weighs in With False Numbers)
Maybe when Microsoft said 3% it meant ~6,000 or more in the US alone
As Expected, Microsoft Uses Media Operative (Jordan Novet) to Downplay the Scale of Mass Layoffs
here we go
Last Week's Public Talk by Richard Stallman Well Attended and Covered in Technical News Sites
and we're looking at about 60,000 Microsoft layoffs in 3 years
 
Gemini Links 13/05/2025: Apocalyptic Future and More
Links for the day
There Are Also Loads of Microsoft LinkedIn Layoffs Today (Keep Track of the Subsidiaries They Keep Out of Headlines)
Perhaps lost in the smokescreen
McKinsey (McK) is Killing IBM, It's All About Killing This Goose, "National Sales Team 80% on PIP Now" (Preceding Layoffs Without Severance)
PIPs are not based on performance
Links 13/05/2025: Microsoft Breaks Windows Very Badly Again, Mass Layoffs Reported (But False Figures, It's a Lot Higher)
Links for the day
2025 Will be a Big Year For GNU/Linux on Desktops/Laptops
with an economy like this, people who don't live in rich countries won't turn to Apple
Signs of Trouble: Microsoft Job Openings for Jobs That Do Not Exist!
Keeping up appearances?
"Special Place in Hell" for Women Who Help Violent Microsofters From Another Continent Attack Local Women Who Did Nothing Wrong, They Just Got Bullied and Deserve Sympathy or Compensation
Nothing says "Brat" like men who attack women, right?
The Numbers Game: 50,000-60,000 Microsoft Workers Laid Off in 2.5 Years? And Debt Still Tripled Under Nadella.
under Nadella Microsoft's debt trebled
The Slow Death of Windows Will Mean the Inevitable Demise of Microsoft
Once people stop using Windows, it'll be hard for Microsoft to sell anything to them
Gemini Links 13/05/2025: Shopping is an Exasperating Nightmare and Making Phones Minimal
Links for the day
23,000 More Microsoft Layoffs by the End of June If the Estimates Are Correct (In Addition to About 6,000 Layoffs So Far This Year)
There's no questions about many layoffs happening this month. It got leaked already. The only question is when (and also how many).
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 12, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, May 12, 2025
Major Microsoft Layoffs This Week (Discussed Online)
later we can expect a lot of spin, even misinformation
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: Missed Deadline
they helped expose a number of other scandals
Links 12/05/2025: Measles Rising and Taliban Outlaws Chess in Afghanistan
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/05/2025: Advice, Iorist Ethics, and Touchscreens
Links for the day
The Finances of GAFAM Aren't as They Seem
MICROSOFT FINANCIAL PYRAMID revisited
Links 12/05/2025: US Brain Drain and Reminder That "Microsoft's Lobbying Efforts Eclipsed Enron" (Fraud Coverup)
Links for the day
The Enshittification of Royal Mail (Post Office/Postal Services) Continues
Enshittification is a thing, not only in the digital realm
Red Hat's Owner is Called "America's Worst Tech Company" (IBM) and Microsoft's Liabilities Grow
Microsoft has about a quarter of a trillion (yes, trillion with a "T") in liabilities
If the Gossip is True, Today Microsoft Has "Large M1 Meetings" to Discuss Almost 30,000 More Microsoft Layoffs in 2025
the claim is that Microsoft is preparing to lay off 10% of its staff
Microsoft Has a Long and Proven History of Funding Meritless Lawsuits Against Rivals and Critics (It Always Backfires)
It also looks like the solicitor used by two Microsofters to SLAPP us is being urgently replaced
Links 12/05/2025: Gardens and Kitchens
Links for the day
Links 12/05/2025: Media Being Attacked (New Forms of Attack on the Press), Many Data Breaches
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 11, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, May 11, 2025
Links 11/05/2025: Pyotr Wrangel and Kubernetes With FreeBSD
Links for the day
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: A Moment of Silence and Revisionism Amid US Government Investigation and Community Uproar
Not a word this month
Microsoft Florian Becomes Patent Troll, Arranges to Sue Companies (Extorting Money Out of Them)
From campaigner against software patents to paid Microsoft shill to "FOSS patents" (actually attacking FOSS) to revisionism as "books" (for Microsoft)... and now this
How the SLAPPs From Microsoft Staff Are Connected to the Corrupt OSI, Whose Majority of Money Comes From Microsoft for Openwashing, LLM Hype, and Whitewashing GPL Violations During Class Action Trial
Let's explain how some of these things are connected
Links 11/05/2025: China's Fentanylware (TikTok) Tells Kids to Vandalise Schools' Chromebooks and Increased Censorship in India
Links for the day
You Need Not Be a Big Company to Defeat Microsoft If You Can Successfully Challenge Its Core "Ideas"
Maybe that's just a sign that the ideas of RMS have become too effective and thus "dangerous"
Gemini Links 11/05/2025: Yeeting Oligarch Tech, Offline Browsing
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 10, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 10, 2025