Bonum Certa Men Certa

Alice/Section 101 is Fine Because Copyrights Already Cover Software and Patents Are Inadequate for Code

But IBM, Watchtroll et al continue to set up lobbying events against Section 101 (not to mention jurist-bashing tactics)

Patent Lawyers' Tears



Summary: The world has moved away from (or beyond) software patenting and companies/firms that rely on such patents try to sabotage progress, sometimes by bashing courts

THE world generally rejects software patents. Sure, the EPO and USPTO make it possible to overcome restrictions using buzzwords and semantic tricks; but courts and appeal boards (BoA/PTAB) aren't quite falling for it.

"...Bangladesh should reject software patents like the rest of the world (bar China) does."Hours ago we saw this new article from the Dhaka Tribune. It's titled "Minister urges for immediate measures to reform IP laws for ICT" (the term "ICT" is one of those notorious buzzwords that the EPO likes to use). But Bangladesh should reject software patents like the rest of the world (bar China) does. Here's the core paragraph:

Thanking Tina Jabeen for her passionate efforts to secure proper sustenance for the budding startups in the country, Mustafa Jabbar took a trip down the memory lane to elaborate the upward transition of the ICT sector in Bangladesh. “Back in our time there was no procedure to register a software, but when there is a will, there's way and I kept applying for the patent of my product despite repeated rejections. When I applied for the patent in 1992, there was not a single person in the responsible department who could examine the product,” he told the audience about his struggle to patent the iconic software Bijoy. “Fortunately for me, an official came to my rescue and took the responsibility to inspect. It was in 2004 when I reapplied and it took four full years for me to finally get the patent. However, things have drastically changed and the procedures are way simpler now,” he added.


This almost perpetuates the false assumption that one patent covers an entire program, potentially conflating copyrights with patents. He speaks of a "procedure to register a software" as if patent applications are a registration process.

"He speaks of a "procedure to register a software" as if patent applications are a registration process."Mythology about patents has become widespread. Patent maximalists like to 'name-drop' "innovation", "protection" and so on. They typically admit that they never even wrote a computer program. They don't understand programming.

The other day, writing about Tesla's latest legal ordeal, Josh Landau (CCIA) said that "Nikola got it all wrong."

The "Cult Of Patents" has basically created an untenable situation where stuff covered by copyrights is now being patented too: designs!

To quote Landau:

Last week, Nikola sued Tesla over advanced technology trucks. But it isn’t about the technology. It’s not AC vs. DC or Edison vs. Tesla. It isn’t even about electric vehicles (or hydrogen-electric trucks, Nikola’s chosen technology).

It’s about the shapes of windshields and doors. It’s about design patents.

And Nikola got it all wrong.

[...]

Different curvatures, a gentler rounding at the bottom right corner and a sharper one at the top. The Tesla windshield also exhibits a significantly larger difference between tallest and shortest portions, extending much further down the nose of the truck.

And that’s just the infringement argument. If you want to claim that your wrap windshield patent covers all wrap windshields, I think that Italian automaker Lancia (among many, many others) might have had something to say about that around 40 years ago.


How does one get a patent on mere curves? What would Bézier say? Why are windshield patented? Who's responsible for such a patent grant?

Unfortunately, among patent maximalists at least, this is considered to be "normal". They don't care about patent quality and if they actually do care, it is because they hate patent quality. They actively combat improvement in quality.

"They don't care about patent quality and if they actually do care, it is because they hate patent quality. They actively combat improvement in quality."Consider Watchtroll's tweet from a few days ago: "Matt Troyer from Anaqua predicts Patent No. 10,000,000 will issue on June 18, 2018, and it will be issued to Qualcomm on Application 13/666670."

This "Cult Of Patents" (Watchtroll/Anaqua in this case) is obsessing over mere numbers rather than substance. They're diluting and reducing the value of pertinent patents -- a dime a dozen at this pace!

The corresponding article is titled "Predicting Patent Number 10,000,000" and it was composed by Matt Troyer from Anaqua, basically a bunch patent maximlists who profit from an abundance of patents (that's what their product is for). The greater the number of patents, the more messy the repository of US patents will become. So they sell "solutions". Now they obsess over the 10,000,000 mark (as laughable as it is; there aren't 10,000,000 inventions). As readers may recall, they did this some months back and we wrote several rebuttals to their nonsense. It's not as though the sheer quantity is what's worth celebrating; they should speak about quality.

"This "Cult Of Patents" (Watchtroll/Anaqua in this case) is obsessing over mere numbers rather than substance. They're diluting and reducing the value of pertinent patents -- a dime a dozen at this pace!"It has, in the meantime, emerged that IBM implicitly attacks the US Supreme Court for doing the right thing about patents (namely improving patent quality) and it also uses former USPTO and IBM staff to lobby on it. We see that the Koch-funded think tankers, people who are paid to attack PTAB, are really boosting David Kappos this month. It's about IIPCC (US IP & Innovation Policy). Kevin Madigan wrote: "Former @uspto Director Dave Kappos: the US #patent system has been degraded by standard setting organizations that are stacked against innovators [...] Qualcomm’s Laurie Self: with the onset of 5G, the patent system must help protect the massive amount of investment in R&D that has revolutionized cellular technology..."

Well, guess who's behind this event: the former employer of Kappos (IBM), Qualcomm and so on. This whole event is like another think tank -- mere scaremongering from IBM, Kappos and others. Watchtroll has just boosted it. Watchtroll plays a major role in this propaganda. They're perpetuating the lie about "uncertainty" ("uncertainty created by the Supreme Court") and just prior to it Watchtroll had this article from Manny Schecter (IBM) in which he again attacked Section 101 and the Supreme Court. IBM continues to associate with and write for judge-bashing maniacs who promote patent Armageddon. This, to us, shows that IBM not only promotes software patents but deserves bankruptcy. It's an enemy of software developers.

"Well, guess who's behind this event: the former employer of Kappos (IBM), Qualcomm and so on. This whole event is like another think tank -- mere scaremongering from IBM, Kappos and others."Schecter's concluding words: "And now, as we embark into the unknown with nearly limitless computing power in the fields of quantum computing, artificial intelligence, cyber security, medical diagnostics, and biotechnology, and in fields that have not even been thought of yet, do we really want to continue with a weakened patent system that throughout our history played such a key role in promoting “the Progress of Science and useful Arts” to bring us to this technologically-advanced state?"

It didn't take long for Watchtroll's Gene Quinn to attack the courts again. The following day he published an article titled "Is the Supreme Court anti-patent?"

This is the latest court-bashing or judge-bashing article from Watchtroll. That's all they have left. Attack the person/s. Just because of Alice.

Speaking of Alice, it was mentioned on the same day as Schecter's article:

What kinds of trends are you seeing in patent law? The one that's kind of a little bit of an old story right now is the Supreme Court's 2014 Alice decision, which says you cannot patent an abstract concept.


That includes software/algorithms.

"This is the latest court-bashing or judge-bashing article from Watchtroll. That's all they have left. Attack the person/s. Just because of Alice."Meanwhile, in another public forum (think tank), IAM reported/quoted: "MacKenzie - i might be in a minority but i like where Alice [101] is right now. if you have to read a claim 10 times and you still have no idea what it's claiming then that's bad..."

When one has a crooked boss like Battistelli (at the EPO) this means that the examiner gets all confused, grants a patent anyway. Later this weekend we'll show some of the latest buzzwords and tricks being employed. Scholars Michael Frakes and Melissa Wasserman recently wrote about this phenomenon in relation to the USPTO.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Plagiarism is Hardly a New Problem, It Predates Mainstream Media Getting Paid to Whitewash It as "Training" or "Hey Hi", Then Conflate Plagiarism With "Intelligence" or Deferred "Value"
"Quantum" isn't new either; it's a 'circle-jerk' for companies without direction, only hype
 
Gemini Links 10/09/2026: "I Don’t Want to Interact With Stochastic Parrots" and "ROOPHLOCH 2026!"
Links for the day
What the British School Closure (BSN Senior School Leidschenveen) Means to EPO Staff
The only European thing about the EPO is the staff
Standing in Solidarity With Matt Mullenweg
I don't trust the people and companies that want Mullenweg out. Neither should you.
Links 10/09/2026: "Smear Campaign Says Anti-Flock Movement Is Chinese Propaganda" and "Flock Employee Calls Cops on Reporter Filming Them"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 09, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 09, 2026
IBM's Senior VP of Infrastructure is Out, Silent Layoffs Still Going On
Some people imagine the CEO will also "retire" very soon (and "ahead of time")
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: Mechanical Cameras, "Super App", and Prusa Issues
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 177 Out of 200: Manosphere Without Financial Transparency
It has moreover replaced a female worker with a male
Deadline Tomorrow (10th of September) to Appeal the EPO's Fleecing of Staff (Union to Make Legal Challenges)
Join them. Fight the good fight.
linuxstans.com Died, Then Came Back as Slop (LLM Junk)
Don't make the mistake or the assumption that merely 'dabbling in' or 'experimenting with' LLMs can be forgivable as it is a trust destroyer
Links 09/09/2026: GAFAM Fatalities in Miami International Airport, "Britain’s Health Crisis Is Becoming a Political Crisis"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: "Adjective Is Subjective" and Walled Gardens
Links for the day
Links 09/09/2026: Airport 'Down' (Glasgow and Edinburgh), 'Open' 'AI' Losses Rise to Pace of 50 Billion Dollars in Losses Per Year
Links for the day
Unsafe at Any Speed, "Modern" Appliances
Appliances have gotten worse
SLAPP Censorship - Part 176 Out of 200: The Sex-Obsessed Non-Experts
We heard some sexual stories
European Patent Office (EPO): No Transparency and No Paper Trail
The incompetence is that of the management, i.e. sheer incompetence of people who never examined a patent in their entire lifetime
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: Going Out, Smartphone Addiction, Mapping the Geminispace
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 08, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 08, 2026
Linux is Sabotaged by Botspam and Bloat (de Facto Denial of Service Attack in "Intelligence" Clothing After Rust in "Security" Clothing)
Linux is becoming orphaned, devalued and diluted by GAFAM slop
Switzerland No Longer Wants Microsoft's 'Swiss Cheese' (Back Doors)
Switzerland's patience with Microsoft is wearing thin
Debian is Not a Community, Many Debian Developers Work for Large Companies Including GAFAM (US)
"Community" sounds like friendship and amicability
Links 08/09/2026: Slop Companies Attack Some More Sites, Nvidia Bribes 'Linux' Foundation for Some More Openwashing and for Saying Slop is "Secure"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/09/2026: Ultra Introverts, BlackBerry Bold in 2026, and Laughing at LLMs
Links for the day
Microsoft Layoffs in October 2026
Microsoft is a market leader. In NDAs.
Links 08/09/2026: "The Green Revolution Has Failed Africa" and Palantir/Microsoft Harming NHS
Links for the day
Microsoft's Silent Layoffs Are the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft has a ton of layoffs all the time, but the media isn't mentioning those as no WARN notices get issued
SLAPP Censorship - Part 175 Out of 200: Implicit and Explicit Coalition Against the UK's SLAPP Industry
SRA recognises the problem
Further Transparency Problems at the EPO
The EPO was never meant to be profitable
Gemini Links 08/09/2026: "Everything Must Go", Announcing Perigee, and Presentations in a Browser
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 07, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, September 07, 2026