Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Mass Litigation Lobby Craves for Patent Armageddon

And it does not always want its critics to see what it's doing/saying

IAM blocking



Summary: The propaganda arm of patent trolls and other patent aggressors (those who would rather sue than create) keeps promoting patent maximalism, the Unified Patent Court (UPC), and even draconian injunctions (embargo) which are almost synonymous with UPC-type visions

AS another month starts, following a short holiday, we return to covering USPTO matters only to receive nasty threats in the post (from those attempting to silence us). This time it comes from another continent (America), not from Europe. That really says a lot about the patent microcosm, doesn't it? A bunch of bullies. And the bullying isn't limited to patent trolls; even law firms and management of the EPO can do it.



"They are already drooling over litigation prospects because they, as lawyers, would profit from it (irrespective of the outcome)."Recently, IAM 'broke' the story about one troll buying part of another (in Europe). Today it published its magazine article about InterDigital’s acquisition of Technicolor, but don't expect to find the "T" word (troll) anywhere in there. In fact, there's a paywall too. They recently broadened their obstruction to access by 'outsiders'. Managing IP does the same thing. On they go with their misleading coverage and it's mostly/only those who agree with them that can see what they say, hence little/no scrutiny. It's that 'echo chamber' mentality we see at their events. They make it extremely expensive for anyone outside the patent microcosm to attend and don't even think about a speaking/panel position (not even by becoming a corporate sponsor if the views are too 'different' and thus inconvenient to Managing IP, IAM, and their other sponsors).

"Ericsson and/or its patent trolls are already suing in Europe (targeting even foreign firms) and Team UPC habitually celebrates this."Managing IP is actually being rather laughable this week. Lawyers without much of a clue about blockchains (they’re nontechnical for the most part) ride/suft the hype wave again. Managing IP endlessly mentions blockchains these days, this time in the form of a so-called 'Special Report'? More like Special PR. And for the second time in a week Managing IP latches onto hype waves, this time CRISPR, in order to sell misleading numbers ("near 200% increase") and advocate patents on life itself. "Patent filing trends for the gene editing technology indicate a near 200% increase globally between 2013 and 2015, and a continuing boom since. Patrick Wingrove investigates what is driving this and whether a litigation war is brewing," says the summary. They are already drooling over litigation prospects because they, as lawyers, would profit from it (irrespective of the outcome).

These are the sorts of people who attend Unified Patent Court (UPC) lobbying events and try to impose the UPC on Europe, typically behind the scenes or behind closed doors in "exclusive" events. They just want lots and lots of litigation. Ericsson and/or its patent trolls are already suing in Europe (targeting even foreign firms) and Team UPC habitually celebrates this. Watch that trolls' jingoism at IP Kat, typically but not always courtesy of Bristows. They just love it! Even when -- or especially when -- these patent trolls come to London, where they are based. Earlier today Benjamin Henrion wrote:

The Unitary [sic] Patent Court (UPC) is not a democratic structure. It suffers from the same problems as those ISDS investment courts: capture and not counter-balanced by an elected legislator #upc #isds


Henrion already knows what it's like to be targeted by a patent troll in his home country. Such trolling would be vastly exacerbated by anything resembling the UPC (which is itself in its death throes but can be renamed and reattempted in the future). The UPCA (agreement) was crafted based almost solely on a single author's paper from 2009 -- a paper which was full of errors.

"Henrion already knows what it's like to be targeted by a patent troll in his home country."Managing IP and IAM still try to usher in this mess, sometimes emboldened or motivated by payments from the EPO or its PR agencies. It's gross, but that's just where we are.

And speaking of IAM, earlier today it wrote about "[h]ow and why Huawei got an injunction in its ground-breaking Chinese FRAND/SEP dispute with Samsung."

"Managing IP and IAM still try to usher in this mess, sometimes emboldened or motivated by payments from the EPO or its PR agencies."The title of the corresponding blog post is "Full judgment in Huawei v Samsung details why Shenzhen court hit Korean company with SEP injunction" and it's similar to what Ericsson's patent trolls did to Chinese/Asian firms in Europe. China now uses patents to ban Koreans (it already drove LG away, but not yet Samsung). As for BlackBerry? Like Nokia and Ericsson it is becoming less of a practising entity over time. As a former IAM writer put it earlier today: "BlackBerry FY2018 results: Handheld devices revenue -83%; IP licensing revenue +56%."

BlackBerry is being transformed/warped into "patent troll" mode. Sooner or later it will be just a "holding" company, i.e. an empty shell with nothing but patents. Sites like IAM would then hail it as an "NPE" and speak about how truly wonderful its "monetisation" strategy is.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Media Helps Microsoft, Amazon and Others (GAFAM and Beyond) Lie About Mass Layoffs Amid Valuation Bubble
The media, instead of saying that there's an "AI bubble" crashing the economy might instead choose the narrative of "jobs replaced by AI"
Bad Tempered? You Might Have Just Given Away That You're Losing the Argument
Brett Wilson LLP is fully aware that it is being investigated
Lies Need to be Corrected
the Court never invited us
 
The Linux Foundation Seems to Have Turned Linux.com Not Only Into a Spamfarm But Also LLM Slopfarm
it's polluting the Web, even important domains like Linux.com, with spam and LLM slop
Links 17/10/2025: UK’s Largest Breach Penalty and Windows TCO Examples
Links for the day
Go Watch Video About Librephone, Get Microsoft Ads
Very ethical company...
Campaign of Defamation Against the People Who Built NixOS (and Are Now Pushed Out From Their Own Project)
We've already grown familiar with - and resistant to - such tactics
Links 17/10/2025: Nestlé Crisis, Canada Post Versus 'Gig Economy' [sic] and Vista 11 Breaks Itself
Links for the day
Tux Machines Has Helped Separate Opinions/Analysis From News
In September 2023 we decided to split things apart and not repeat links in both sites
Tux Machines Has Improved Navigation of GNU/Linux and BSD News
Some more 'wiring' work
What a World Would Look Like If Everyone Used Free Software Only
Freedom is what matters, not "Open".
Richard Stallman (RMS) is a Target of Defamation Campaigns Because of His Views on Software (But Politics Are the Excuse for Defaming Him)
Here in this site we try to refrain from politics, except in Daily Links
End of Vista 10 and Rise of GNU/Linux as Client Side Operating System
It seems certain GNU/Linux will grow in popularity over time
Taking Stock of a Week's Worth of EPO Leaks
We remain committed to exposing EPO corruption as long as it keeps happening
Mathieu Parreaux claims FINMA knew since day one
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Calumny, Libel, Joerg Jaspert & debian-private untouchable cyberbullies
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 16, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 16, 2025
Techrights Turns 19 in 3 Weeks
coverage of suppressed topics and protecting all sources/whistleblowers
International E-Waste Day Same Day as End of Vista 10
message from Akira Urushibata
The EPO's Central Staff Committee Presents Evidence That Staff Compensation Lowered While the Office Increases Income by Illegally Granting Invalid Patents
These people become millionaires by doing illegal things
Second or Third Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in October 2025, This Time Portugal
Those are just the ones we know about, there may be several more
'Help Net Security' (helpnetsecurity.com) May Have Become a Slopfarm as Well
Zeljka Zorz, Editor-in-Chief at Help Net Security, was reported to us
Gemini Links 17/10/2025: Rant About Network Solutions, Strange Anomaly on Lagrange
Links for the day
EPO Staff Representation Lacks Social Dialogue With Relevant Management, Controversial and Sometimes Illegal Policies Implemented Without Necessary Input
"In this open letter, the CSC requests that the President submits an agenda item in the next available General Consultative Committee (GCC) meeting on setting up regular meetings between the CSC and the higher management of DG1."
Links 16/10/2025: Political Leftovers and Gemini Protocol Links
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Guardian Digital (linuxsecurity.com), Slashdot, Google News, and More
Maybe one day, once the bubble pops completely, Google News will just outright delist all slopfarms
Lufthansa Modern Slavery, Joerg Jaspert (ganneff) & Debian NSB Softwareentwicklung charade
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/10/2025: US Starting More Trade Wars With China, CIA War on Venezuela
Links for the day
SUSE Blog is Still LLM Slop, Marketing Manager at SUSE Cannot Write
Would you buy from a company or seek support from a company that cannot even write (or fakes writing)?
Pretend You're Not Dead: Microsoft Spent Almost Two Decades Rebranding Things as "Cloud, Then "AI", Now "XBox" and "Quantum"
"AI" bubble pops, Microsoft harping about "quantum" already
IBM Allegedly Found New Tricks for Silent Layoffs: LPI, Then MIS (Not PIP)
Remember that "Red Hat layoffs" won't be reported after the bluewashing
Links 16/10/2025: Red Lines and Feeding of Microsoft Trolls
Links for the day
MIT as a Propaganda Mill of GAFAM, Paid by GAFAM
"the news" today
Links 16/10/2025: Lies Euphemised as ‘Dueling Versions of Reality’ and Microsoft "Open" "Hey Hi" Resorts to Porn as No Business Model Was Found
Links for the day
The Local Staff Committee Munich (Representation of the EPO's Staff) Explains When Cluster of Pregnancies May Result in Reduced Pay
"...even one week of part-time working is sufficient to reduce the salary you perceive during the entirety of your maternity leave."
Another Black Eye for 'Secure Boot', Microsoft Media Tries to Blame "Linux"
It enables Microsoft to remotely control computers, even computers that don't run Windows and never had any Microsoft software installed
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT, linuxsecurity.com, and Various Slopfarms in Google News Attacking "Linux"
A new survey of the Web said that the majority of the Web is now slop (that's being said in the news this week)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Links 16/10/2025: Increased Use of Social Control Media Surveillance in US, French Rage Over Pensions
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Qantas Airways Loses Control of Sensitive Data and Software Patents Are Being Thrown Out
Links for the day
Vista 10 is 'Dead', Here's Why People Should Move to GNU/Linux (or the BSDs)
Today we try to make an outline of reasons move away from Windows to GNU/Linux
Our Sites Continue to Improve
LLM slop has had no noticeable impact on us
Gemini Links 15/10/2025: Neovim, Helix Compared and Gemlog.blue Now Closed
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Mass Layoffs at Amazon, OneDrive Spyware Revved Up, More 'Gen Z Protests'
Links for the day
The EPO's Staff Engagement Survey 2025 is Already Tainted by Intimidation by EPO Management (Trying to Influence Outcomes by Scaring Genuine, Honest Critics)
"[W]e have received reports that, following the previous survey, teams with negative responses were reproached or questioned about their answers..."
The DDoS Attacks by Microsoft's Scam Altman and Other Slop Charlatans and Frauds is Hurting the FSF, Delinking It From Copyleft Projects
This impacts a lot more than access to the licences
Microsoft Scanning Faces in Photos People Upload to Microsoft (Even Unconsciously), Slashdot Turns Report About It Into "Microsoft Sez" (Says)
Or "let's repeat the lies from a PR person/Microsoft's publicist"
[Teaser] Angel Aledo Lopez the Manipulator (Nepotism, Poll Rigging, and Other EPO Corruption)
We'll discuss this later today or tomorrow, based on internal EPO material
Attacks on Techrights Are Only Making Techrights Bigger and Even More Popular
A week ago they offered to settle with us
Epic Metaphor for End of IBM: "The IBM Demolition is Down to the Last Shards!"
Nothing lasts forever
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Proprietary and DRM Prisons Spiralling Down the Sinkhole? Not Just Yet.
Let's hope that more people will flee to GNU/Linux
The European Patent Office (EPO), the Second-Largest Institution in Europe, is Cracking Down on Recreational Activities
Without AMICALE activities, and as staff already says it's pressured to work more for less, how can the EPO recruit bright people?
Transparency: FSFE financial reports exclude speaker fees and expenses
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock