Bonum Certa Men Certa

When Patent Maximalists Openly and Shamelessly Defend a Patent 'Scam'

They hate PTAB enough to love a "scam" and a "sham"

Greg Ablavsky



Summary: The patent "scammers" (as many have been calling them for months) are appealing the PTAB's decision and various people, such as Greg Ablavsky (above), unwittingly help those who are attempting to 'scandalise' PTAB

TECHRIGHTS has published a lot of articles about the misuse of tribal sovereign immunity to dodge PTAB's scrutiny. Here's the latest one. It's one heck of a "sham" (a Federal judge called it that) if not a "scam" (many people call it that) for a lot of reasons, including the splitting of owner, holder, inventor etc. Can one exploit the special privileges of a tribe while actually operating as a massive, multi-national company? A lot of US politicians have been getting involved. They're not happy. It also makes tribes in general look bad because in this particular case they're willing participants in exchange for a "tribe bribe".

"It also makes tribes in general look bad because in this particular case they're willing participants in exchange for a "tribe bribe"."Michael Risch (not the Michael who set up this whole scam) has just given a platform to Professor Greg Ablavsky from Stanford Law School. Ablavsky almost supports a patent scam (by discrediting the decision) that clearly misuses tribal sovereign immunity. In his own words:

Per Lisa's request, I have returned to offer some thoughts on the PTAB's tribal sovereign immunity decision (you can find my earlier post here and some additional musings coauthored with Lisa here). I had thought I had retired my role of masquerading as an (entirely unqualified) intellectual property lawyer, but, as the PTAB judges clearly haven't relinquished their pretensions to be experts in federal Indian law, here we are.

The upshot is that I find the PTAB's decision highly unpersuasive, for the reasons that follow, and I hope to convince you that, however you feel about the result, the PTAB's purported rationales should give pause. I should stress at the outset that I have no expertise to assess the PTAB's conclusion that Allergan is the "true owner" of the patent, which may well be correct. But the fact that this conclusion could have served as entirely independent basis for the judgment makes the slipshod reasoning in the first part of the decision on tribal immunity all the more egregious.


We are actually rather surprised to see any people with self respect publicly supporting this scam, which neither politicians nor judges have been supportive/tolerant of. But the above academic may be the exception; not many academics would wish to associate with this scam. PTAB's reasoning may seem weak to him; but the resultant decision seems correct. It's common sense. Later this year in Oil States we expect to see Justices supporting PTAB, maybe unanimously.

Christopher Walker, who recently wrote a paper with Melissa Wasserman (about PTAB; Wasserman recently wrote about the USPTO as well, so she's an emergent name to keep up with and perhaps the next big influencer), has this new paper about Oil States. Walker called this a short @YaleJREG post on my new paper.

"We are actually rather surprised to see any people with self respect publicly supporting this scam, which neither politicians nor judges have been supportive/tolerant of."From what we can gather, scholars generally support PTAB, with the typical exceptions (Crouch and few others who revel in the crowd of rabid patent maximalists) and Koch-funded think tanks. Here we have the PTAB-hostile Kevin Noonan (another patent maximalist) who the other day commented on the latest twist when he wrote: "The Tribe and Allergan (and the PTAB) remain under the specter of the rule for completing an IPR within twelve months of institution, which in this case is March 31, 2018. This date is already delayed due to the Board's decision to consolidate IPRs from different parties and use the consolidation decision date as the date from which the deadline was calculated. The Board has the discretion to extend this date by an addition six months under appropriate circumstances, however. And in many ways it would be appropriate in this case (inter alia, being as the PTAB asserted in its denial decision a question of first impression regarding whether tribal sovereign immunity applies to IPR proceedings). Should the PTAB deign to abide by the March 31st deadline, this Notice could be moot. On the other hand, the Federal Circuit could order the Board to stay proceedings on the merits while it considers this appeal."

Dugie Standeford from IP Watch (known for his good coverage of EPO scandals) wrote about the panel thwarting the Mohwak patent ploy/scam, calling it a "first-of-its-kind case."

Native American tribes’ sovereign immunity can’t be used to avoid inter partes review (IPR) of patent validity, the US Patent and Trademark Office Patent and Appeal Board (PTAB) has ruled in a first-of-its-kind case.


We particularly liked the reaction of patent maximalists because they unwittingly reveal themselves as detached from ethics.

"Native American tribe to appeal PTAB ruling against use of sovereign immunity to avoid IPRs," one of them wrote (Notice of Appeal mentioned as well, along with a link to the PDF), echoing this headline from IAM. IAM waited long enough for a spin/slant on the Mohawk-Allergan patent scam and now it just says they will appeal the decision. Does IAM really want to be seen as supporting a scam? Well, it's not like there's a reputation left to lose; they front for trolls.

"Wait and watch how the Federal Circuit, quite frankly as usual, agrees with PTAB and throws this scam out the window."IAM then added: "St Regis claims PTAB ruling "contradicts other PTAB panels' decisions from last year holding state sovereigns do enjoy such immunity, as well as longstanding Circuit Court and Supreme Court precedents holding that sovereign immunity does apply to these exact types of proceedings"..."

Lloyd, the author, said: "This is going to be a real humdinger at the Fed Circuit..."

Wait and watch how the Federal Circuit, quite frankly as usual, agrees with PTAB and throws this scam out the window. A Federal judge already called it a "sham" and did exactly that; we wrote about it at the time. To put it crudely, the scammers are just "pissing in the wind" at this point.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft's 'Lawsuit Diplomacy' (SLAPPs Riding UK Libel Law and Piggybacking UK GDPR, Inapplicable!) Will Only Give a Worse Image to Microsofters (and Microsoft), Give Exposure to Even More Suppressed Facts and Scandals
Microsoft came to dominate some sectors because of (or owing to) crimes; Microsoft won't just go away without some more crimes.
Five (or Three) Years Without Social Control Media
Glyn Moody quit X (Twitter)
Why GNU/Linux is Growing
There's growing interest in GNU/Linux right now because people do not fancy buying a new PC just to 'upgrade' (more spying) Windows
 
Links 20/04/2025: Bleeding Constitution and ChatGPT Infuriates Users Some More
Links for the day
Deja vu: Hitler's Birthday, Andreas Tille elected Debian Project Leader again
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Chinese OEMs (and World's Largest) Pave a Path Out of Microsoft Windows
So Microsoft now values (or prices) Vista 11 at just $140?
Gemini Links 20/04/2025: Contradictions of Mark Carney and Blog Questions Challenge
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 19, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 19, 2025
Electronics in People's Bedrooms
Modern technology not only blurred the gap between "functions" of rooms
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Contingencies, GTD, and Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: Economic Races, Charm Offensives, and USB-C Rants
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: "Infantilization at Big Tech" and LLM Slop Abused in Defiance of Workplace Rules/Policies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Palm Addiction and Real Experts
Links for the day
Egypt is Controlled by Google, Not Microsoft
Moving from Microsoft to Google is not the answer
Microsofters Say They Cannot Find a Job (That They Want) Because of Techrights, But Techrights Merely Reported on Their Behaviour
Quit pointing the finger at people who are recipients of abuse or merely mention the abuse
Free Software and Standards - Not Marketing Blitz - Needed Amid Growing Severity of Dependency on Hostile Suppliers (or Another Country's Sovereignty)
ZenDiS can be described as the "Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration"
When It Comes to the Web, Google is Evil and It Destroys the Web's Integrity With LLM Slop
Even academia, which is meant to keep standards high, is being lured into LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 18, 2025
Links 18/04/2025: "Fentanylware (TikTok) Exodus Continues", Chinese Weapons Allegedly in Russia Already
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Price of Games and State of Tinylog
Links for the day
Sounds Like IBM is Preparing for Mass Layoffs/Redundancies in Red Hat, Albeit in "PIP" (Performance Improvement Plan) or "Relocation" Clothing
This isn't the "old" IBM; they're applying pressure by confusion and humiliation
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Role of Language and Back to Mutt for E-mail
Links for the day
"Sayonara" (さよなら), Microsoft
Windows had fallen below iOS in some countries
Links 18/04/2025: Layoffs at Microsoft Infosys and Qt Becoming Increasingly Proprietary (Plus Slop)
Links for the day
Google News is Dying
treating MElon's algorithmic/biased site as a source of verified news
Microsoft's Attack Dogs Have Failed. Now What?
It would be utterly foolish to assume that Microsoft has any intention of changing
All Your "Github Projects" Will be Gone One Day (Just Like Skype)
If you have code you wish to share and keep, then start learning how to do so on your own
To Understand Who's Truly Controlling You Follow the Trail of Censorship (or Self-Censorship)
Do not let media steal and steer the narrative; CoCs are not about "social justice", they're about corporate domination
Fedora Already Lost Its Soul Under IBM
Fedora used to be very strict compared to many other distros and it had attracted very bright volunteers
Microsoft is Still Attacking GNU/Linux and the Net
Microsoft bribed the government using money that did not even exist
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 17, 2025
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Pinephone Pro and Linux is too Easy
Links for the day