Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Belated Demise of Propaganda Sites of the Litigation 'Industry'

Lex Machina Q4 2017 End of the Year Litigation Update
Source: January's report



Summary: Sites that promote the interests of Big Litigation (patent trolls, patent law firms etc.) are ebbing away; in the process they still mothball the facts and push propaganda instead

THE USPTO may be claiming all sorts of records, but US patent courts actually saw 50% more 'action' half a decade ago. The legal certainty associated with US patents has simply nosedived since, partly owing to SCOTUS, whose decisions were taken into account by the Federal Circuit. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) inter partes reviews (IPRs) also invalidated many US patents outside the courts.

"The legal certainty associated with US patents has simply nosedived since, partly owing to SCOTUS, whose decisions were taken into account by the Federal Circuit."Bizarre and outright stupid patent applications continue to be filed (example from yesterday), but that does not mean that these patents -- if/once granted -- have any real value except perceived value, especially when assessed in bulk (companies that just amass lots of crap patents which they assume never get reassessed at any point in the future).

The one encouraging aspect of the collapse of the patent litigation 'industry' (it's not really an industry but a parasite) is that its think tanks and propaganda outlets are rotting away. Good riddance. One such propaganda outlet is trying to tell us that there's a patent litigation resurgence, but it's based on distortions. And "according to data pulled from Docket Navigator on September 7 2018," Managing IP says that "US district court patent litigation rises 20% in August" (that's the headline). Rises compared to what? August needs to be compared to August last year, not July. Surely Sanjana Kapila knows that? From what's outside the paywall:

Data pulled from Docket Navigator reveals US district court patent case filing increased in August over July, with PersonalWeb extending its lead as the year’s top plaintiff


August and July are quiet months (people are on holiday) and for any meaningful comparison one must assess the same months (in different years). See the very clear fluctuations in the above graph (same source/data, previous years).

But such is the nature of propaganda being crafted and it's obvious who pays for it. Just check the sponsors of the publication and its events, subscribers, etc. They call themselves "media", but this so-called 'media' organised UPC propaganda events, sometimes with the EPO involved. They're propagating lots of false predictions (basically just pure lobbying and lots of lies about desirability of UPC) and now we know that UPC is already dead. Team UPC, however, is fantasising about trying it all over again, this time differently. Guess who promotes these talking points...

Managing IP writes: "If the UPC agreement is amended for Brexit, it could open up the system to non-EU member states. Olivier Corticchiato at Nestle in Switzerland says that is an important possibility for his company."

It cannot just be "amended". Ratification in pertinent states then needs to be redone. UPCA is a mess.

"As the patent litigation 'industry' collapses funding for its propaganda outlets will dry up, too."We expect Managing IP to continue with this nonsense, so we'll monitor it closely and correct it. IAM is now hiding behind paywalls (made a lot more aggressive a fortnight ago) in order to dodge scrutiny (i.e. pointing out the lies it keeps repeating). Watchtroll too seems to be rotting away. In January the number articles there was 106. Last month it already dwindled down to 72 (gradually over the months). And now they're looking for a writer, perhaps realising that the site is losing steam and even moving away from the subject of patents (to totally unrelated things, sometimes not even copyrights and trademarks). We reckon they just don't get much traffic anymore and at the current pace, there will be no more than 60 article by month's end (for September).

It is all pretty much expected. As the patent litigation 'industry' collapses funding for its propaganda outlets will dry up, too. Watchtroll has been reduced to little more than attacks on judges, on courts, and on politicians who aren't pro-litigation. The whole thing has become so farcical that only a Trump 'stooge' can actually appreciate it.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft said “GitHub and its leadership team will continue its mission as part of Microsoft’s CoreAI organisation.” But it's just an empty shell created earlier this year.
In short, it's not too clear what Microsoft has just done except dumping GitHub - i.e. mostly a Web site that loses a ton of money (it always lost money) - into some mysterious new bucket
IBM Layoffs in MCC, or Marketing, Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
IBM and Microsoft inflate their share price by circular financing
The Register MS gets Lazy, Uses Slop
Unlike 3-D renderings or "Classic" CG, slop images aren't quite original and definitely not fair use
Overly Maximalist, Expensive, Localised Patent Law is Dooming Western Companies, Argue 3-D Printing Champions
We've long warned (over 7 years already!) that China's approach to patents will impress WIPO by gaming the totals but will doom the West
Microsoft's Windows in Gabon: Still Moving Down
What is this Unknown? Who knows...
 
Links 19/08/2025: "NASA Is Giving Up on Climate Change Science" and "Earth's Continents Are Drying Out at an Unprecedented Rate"
Links for the day
Phil Wyett evidence & Debian Zizian plagiarism, modern slavery tendencies
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
In Many Countries People Move Away From Vista 11
Vista 11 has been available for download for 4 years already, but adoption has been poor
Desktops/Laptops Fall to All-Time Lows in the UK, So Why Does British Media Quote a Famous Criminal on "End of the Smartphone Era"?
mobile usage (for Web access) has never been higher, based on an Irish surveyor, statCounter
The Groklaw Web Site Has Been Hijacked by Scammers
Groklaw.net isn't a safe site to access at this time
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 18, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 18, 2025
Online Safety Act Does Not Tackle the Worst (and Biggest) Culprits
if our governments are serious about tackling online harms, then they need to look closely at GAFAM and social control media giants
Chat Control (1 and 2) in the European Union Sends the Wrong Message
This is an EU law
Slopwatch: Google News and Serial Sloppers (Fake Articles About "Linux")
Calling out the culprits
Gemini Links 19/08/2025: Digital Legacy and Chat Control
Links for the day
English Law Misused by Americans and Irishmen Against Brits is Unfair
There's always a way to improve existing laws
Links 18/08/2025: "Microsoft Store" Gets Increasingly Hostile, "Cracking Abandonware DRM"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Summer "Gone" and Web Reposts in Gemini
Links for the day
Links 18/08/2025: LLM Reputation Damaged, Australia Catches Google Foul Play
Links for the day
Geeks Like GNU/Linux
The technical community seems to be consolidating and rallying around GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux is 486 in Ireland
4.86% that is
End of Reliable Media
it makes the world a worse place, it renders the Web a misinformation machine
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 17, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 17, 2025
GitHub Won't Last Much Longer
Many things at Microsoft are going to go the way of the Skype (or "dodo"). GitHub will be among those.
We've Never Used Large Language Model (LLM)
we just never used an LLM
"Secure Boot" is a Security Problem, Not a Solution
These people don't try to improve security but to undermine security
Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Retro and Endless Escape from the WWW
Links for the day
Working Whilst Away From Home
Decades ago being away meant all sorts of problems associated with workflows and connectivity
The Next Version of Windows Will Always be the Best (for Microsoft)
It's worse and slower over time
"End of the Smartphone Era" According to Jeffrey Epstein's Key Enabler
They call it "sour grapes"
Links 17/08/2025: Strike Downs Air Canada, Postmortems of Putin's Red Carpet Summit
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: Slow Tools and Enshittification of YouTube
Links for the day
Don't Talk to Bullies
This serious matter is still being examined by British authorities
Links 17/08/2025: "The Performance of Power" and "My Undesirable Friends"
Links for the day
Growing Our Reach
Our goal was never "hits"
The Russian Vision of Technology
Russia's surveillance is very extensive
Sooner or Later Almost Everyone Will Know "AI" is Just a Go-To, Misused, Misapplied, and Grossly Overused Term of Liars and Con Jobs Who Ride a Ponzi Scheme
At the expense of people gullible enough to "invest" in this or take salaries/bonuses in the form of "stock" (tied to a Ponzi scheme)
The Register MS Has Begun Using Slop Images
It's not clear when it started; but it's definitely getting worse [...] Worst of all are 'articles' about slop that are themselves slop
Reddit Funded by Microsoft
Reddit is merely a filter and we knows who controls that filter (using money)
When It Comes to Technology, Mozilla and Firefox Are Illiberal
Last month in Planet Debian we saw one more person explaining to everyone how to "turn off" DRM in Firefox and hide the pop-up/s
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 16, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 16, 2025
The Open Source Initiative Has Many Scandals, We'll Try to Summarise Them All
Open Source Initiative (OSI) hates facts
Open Source Initiative (OSI), Wikipedia, Molly De Blanc, and Censorship/Reputation Laundering
OSI is like SPLC. The old name remains, the mission changed
Gemini Links 17/08/2025: Misunderstanding "Geminiverse" and Let's Encrypt
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: Breaches, Layoffs, and Scams
Links for the day