Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Biggest Patent Troll Now Leverages the US 'International' Trade Commission (ITC) for Embargo Attempts

The world



Summary: The latest reports about the supranatural court that works from the US and imposes US patent law worldwide serve to show that Intellectual Ventures too has its finger in the pie

THE USPTO has granted truly awful patents for a number of decades. The chart (graph) of the number of granted patents (over time) makes it abundantly clear. The problem is that low-quality patents won't always be tested by a court and many lawsuits predate the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which uses inter partes reviews (IPRs) to invalidate US patents outside of courts, too.



"These people can and do assert control over foreign companies."A dozen years ago Microsoft used patents to embargo a rival from East Asia, not from China but from Asia in general (although the production is often in mainland China, Microsoft's production included). Microsoft filed a complaint at the ITC and managed to block the competition (in the area of computer mice). We covered that at the time.

ITC has since then made quite a few headlines and yesterday Docket Navigator wrote about it, which is rare (citing "LED Lighting Devices, LED Power Supplies, and Components Thereof, 337-TA-1081 (ITC July 24, 2018, Order) (Lord, ALJ)"). To quote: "The ALJ denied respondents' motion for summary determination that complainants could not satisfy the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement because of their de minimis domestic investments."

ALJ stands for Administrative Law Judge, which at the United States International Trade Commission is a high position. These people can and do assert control over foreign companies. Well, the ITC and its ability to impose embargoes is on the line again. Richard Lloyd from the patent trolls' lobby (IAM), a known cheerleader of Microsoft's biggest patent troll, now speaks of efforts to embargo the rivals (of Microsoft, as usual) using the ALJs. To quote: "An International Trade Commission judge has called into question Intellectual Ventures’ ability to get an injunction against several car manufacturers and industry suppliers in what is a key case in the firm's attempts to license much of the sector. A failure to get a favourable verdict from the ITC would come as a considerable blow to the broad assertion campaign that IV launched last year. In a hearing earlier this week, Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender suggested that IV had not done enough to satisfy the domestic industry requirement."

This isn't really about cars (there are many non-vehicular things inside cars these days). Another new article by Yury Kalish and Blaney Harper (Jones Day) has meanwhile emerged at Mondaq, the context for this case having been covered here dozens of times before. ITC basically continues to make products deliberately worse, ignoring judges at PTAB when they say the patents at hand are invalid. As Yury and Blaney put it a few days ago:

The underlying investigation between the Complainant, Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco) and Respondent, Arista Networks, Inc. (Arista) concluded in May 2017 when the ITC found that Arista, infringed two of Cisco's patents – U.S. Patent Nos. 6,377,577 ("the '577 patent") and 7,224,668 ("the '668 patent"). The ITC subsequently issued an LEO and a CDO against Arista.

[...]

Parties at the ITC should pay particular attention to the usefulness of redesigned products at the ITC. Respondents should look to incorporating a redesigned product into their case strategy early and Complainants should consider how to address any such redesigns, including how to effectively utilize modification and enforcement proceedings. As this case demonstrates, the ITC gives little deference to PTAB proceeding unless all appeals have been exhausted.


This has been truly incredible; the ITC's ALJs basically assert that they are above all other courts and can simply disregard other courts' rulings. What sort of justice is this? Embargo first, ask questions later? And now they even open their doors to Microsoft-connected patent trolls such as Intellectual Ventures, whose patents are very often invalidated by the Federal Circuit? This is very wrong.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
 
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
Links for the day
Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
Links for the day
Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text)
The Web is really getting bad; it's also overwhelmed by fake material or plagiarised material, wherein the plagiarism gets disguised/hidden by LLM sausage factories
Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan
Links for the day
Linux is Already Dominant (Android), Let's Make GNU/Linux Dominant in Desktops/Laptops as Well
"Dr. Stallman recently warned everybody about Microsoft."
The Loyalty to Microsoft and the Salaries From Microsoft (Funding SLAPPs Against Techrights and Tux Machines)
Garrett always knows better. He knows everything best.
Windows Falls in Italy as GNU/Linux Jumps to 5%
Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google
Windows down to almost nothing in Africa's largest population
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond
"More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster"
Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June
Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 02, 2025