Bonum Certa Men Certa

Only After Millions Were Spent on Lawyers Microsoft's Patent Troll in Europe Loses European Patent Used to Shake Down Android (Linux) Vendors

Conversant (formerly MOSAID) loses a tooth, but it doesn't mean it's toothless

Missing old tooth



Summary: More cautionary tales about European Patents being wrongly granted, potentially causing billions to be wasted and millions to be spent in legal fees; Microsoft's attack dogs are still active and their targets demonstrate who the EPO really serves these days

THE patent trolls' business has seen 'healthy' growth in Europe, based on surveys conducted by people who add up the number of court cases and their origin (plaintiff type/s). The Campinos/Battistelli attack on patent quality at the European Patent Office (EPO) is unprecedented. Sure, Brimelow permitted software patents [not] "as such", but things went totally out of control under Battistelli. Contrariwise, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office saw a decline in the number of patents granted last year (some would attribute this to 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101). Only a lawyer or a liar would assert that this means decrease in American innovation.



"Contrariwise, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office saw a decline in the number of patents granted last year (some would attribute this to 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101)."The pile-up of low-quality patents in Europe will harm the most those least able to afford a court battle. The economics of patent trolling rely on these, e.g. SMEs. The last thing a troll wants or needs is lengthy court battle which may result not only in the loss of patents but also having to compensate the wrongly-accused defendant (this increasingly happens in the US). Thankfully, the UPC is more or less dead already, so at least we can still rely on courts (to some degree, assuming one can afford the battle).

Here's some news: citing this older post predating the latest twist of events, Sidney Martin (Quebec Daily Examiner) wrote (emphasis ours): "The European Patent Office (EPO) opposition division has narrowed Afilias Technologies Plc’s device detection patent EP2245836B1 in Europe, as a result of an opposition brought by rival firm 51Degrees. The EPO concluded that the patent as initially granted was not valid."

"Thankfully, the UPC is more or less dead already, so at least we can still rely on courts (to some degree, assuming one can afford the battle)."Had it not been for this opposition, it would be granted and quality is only sliding further and further. It's hard to keep up and file oppositions (the time windows for oppositions were also narrowed in recent years). Kilburn & Strode LLC's Julia Venner and Kristina Cornish have also just published this article about Actavis v ICOS (covered here), demonstrating the narrowing of patent craze in courts, which unlike offices don't just rubberstamp everything and more often than not toss out European Patents.

During Independence Day not many people paid attention to English language news (let alone to court battles). Writing about patents-in-standards (so-called 'SEP', or "standard-essential patents", part of the cynical "FRAND" agenda that includes evergreening ploys in 5G), Rose Hughes takes notes about EP1797659, which is now tackled by Huawei, a Chinese giant (hence Huawei v Conversant), affecting also other Chinese giants such as ZTE.

It's about a patent troll, MOSAID/Conversant, that Microsoft was arming -- using Nokia's 'core' patents -- to attack Microsoft's competition, even in Europe. Guess what... the Supreme Court found that the European Patent is not valid. Quoting Hughes:

The FRAND/SEP saga continues today with a UK High Court decision on the validity of Conversant's patent for 3G mobile phone technology. Mr Justice Arnold found that Conversant's patent is essential and infringed by Huawei and ZTE, but invalid for added matter: Conversant v Huawei [2019] EWHC 1687 (Pat).

For a background summary of the dispute see IPKat here. In short, the case relates to standard essential patents (SEP) patents and Fair Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) licences. SEPs are patents protecting a technology which its owner has declared to be essential to the implementation of one or more of the telecommunications standards. To prevent anti-competitive behavior, standard setting organisations require SEP holders to licence the technology on Fair Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms.

In Huawei v Conversant [2019] EWCA Civ 38 (IPKat post here), Conversant sued both Huawei and ZTE in the UK courts for infringement of, what it claimed, were its essential patents. Conversant sought an injunction, damages and a declaration that it had made FRAND offers to the defendants. Huawei and ZTE responded that the English courts did not have the jurisdiction in determining the terms of a global FRAND licence. The Court of Appeal found that the English courts did have jurisdiction to decide on the global licence terms, but could not force Huawei to enter into a global licence (but that they may face and injunction on the basis of the UK designation). The UK courts could, however, decide on the validity of the patent and whether Huawei infringed. Huawei and ZTE have been given permission to appeal this jurisdictional aspect of the dispute to the Supreme Court (the hearing is expected in October this year, see IPKat post here).

In the latest decision Mr Justice Arnold considered whether Conversant's European Patent (UK) (EP1797659) was essential, valid and infringed by Huawei and ZTE. Conversant argued the UK patent was essential to an aspect of the 3G Universal Mobile Telecommunications Standard ("UMTS"), Uplink DRX. Conversant also argued that Huawei and ZTE marketed mobile phones complying with the UMTS, and were therefore infringing the patent. Mr Justice Arnold accepted Conversant's arguments. The Judge agreed that Huawei was not infringing under a literal interpretation of the claims. Particularly, the claims did not cover Uplink DRX under a literal interpretation, but could be found to be essential and infringed under the doctrine of equivalents (Actavis) (para. 201).


Here we have a good example of the harms done by European Patents wrongly granted; no doubt a bunch of law firms made lots of money from it, but at whose expense? It's not too hard to answer that question...

Recent Techrights' Posts

Azure is Turning 17 This Year, Still Losing Money and Staff
Hallmark of pyramid schemes, deriving "value" out of things that do not really exist?
Richard Stallman on RISC-V and Free Hardware
Invidious is under attack by Google
 
Alex Oliva, the Potential 'Successor' of RMS, Has a New Web Site
More freedom for Alex Oliva
Links 16/02/2025: "Microsoft Is Laying Off Employees" and Internal Dissent Brewing at Facebook Over Regime Complicity
Links for the day
Promoting Microsoft Windows With LLM Slop
What is the policy at BetaNews regarding LLM slop?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 15, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 15, 2025
Links 15/02/2025: Harms to Health, Public Domain, and More
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/02/2025: On Autistic People, AuraGem Over HTTPS
Links for the day
The Cyber Show (C|S) Speaks of the "Rise of the Nerd Reich."
This 'Valentine Episode' is quite good
Strong Momentum for the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as Winter Approaches Its End in Boston or in the Northern Hemisphere
FSF's founder, Richard Stallman, gives another talk in Italy in 9 days from now
The 'Drunken Plagiarists' Are Harming Journalism About GNU/Linux
They lessen the incentive to do real journalism abut GNU/Linux
Female Nazis and racist Swiss women
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 15/02/2025: Erasing of American Science and Tesla SLAPPing Critics
Links for the day
IDG 'Reviews' of GNU/Linux Now Contain LLM Slop
It's typically ads or commercials... or sometimes spin disguised as news
Gemini Links 15/02/2025: Spectacles and "Before Sunset", Moving Domains Out of the US
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Only $17,482 Million Left, "Cash on Hand" Sank 40 Billion Dollars in 2 Years
Microsoft runs low on money in the bank
YouTube Layoffs Mean That YouTube is Still Losing a Lot of Money (Net Income or Profit Almost Definitely Negative)
In more recent years Google defunded many vloggers
In Gopher and Gemini Protocol People Abandon Services Based in the United States
There's no resistance whatsoever
Python and Microsoft: Pandas Should Have Known OpenDocument Format (ODF) and Microsoft Excel Are Different and Competing Things
now we're meant to think that in order to open ODF files we need some functions with "Excel" in their name
Not Only Windows, Surface, and "Hey Hi" PCs; Microsoft's Hardware Ventures Are a Dumpster Fire; HoloLens Mixed Reality Hardware Now Axed Altogether and Staff is Miserable
Microsoft is in a terrible state
Certificate Authority (CA) Let's Encrypt Now Down to TEN (0.3% of the Whole) in Geminispace
The number of capsules that use Let's Encrypt is, according to Lupa, about to fall to single-digit figures
Links 15/02/2025: University Price Hikes and Copyright Action Against Slop Companies
Links for the day
Slopwatch: All Those New 'Articles' Are Fake and Crafted by Chatbots (LLM Slop)
Google News is promoting these as "Linux" news; they're not even made by humans
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 14, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 14, 2025
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Mysterious Friend and "Eight by Eight"
Links for the day
They Will Never Leave Linus Torvalds Alone, Rust is Just Another Way to Cause Instability and Infighting in Linux
We already identified the Rust "community" as troublemakers more than 5 years ago and we wrote about the evidence
Apple: Social Justice or Social Nationalism?
Remember to buy Apple, folks
Links 14/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Sophos, Chatbots Failing Very Badly, "DOGE as a National Cyberattack"
Links for the day
Moving Away From Certificate Authorities (CAs) Like Let's Encrypt Means Taking Away From the US Government the Power to 'Censor' Sites by Revoking Certificates
Gemini capsule is cheap to run and easy (easier than a Web site) to maintain. More people disillusioned and frustrated with social control media flock to it.
BetaNews' Managing Editor Wayne William Took Charge of GNU/Linux Articles and His Articles Are Real (He Actually Wrote Them)
We are frankly relieved to see that Wayne William recognised the problem and did something about it
Links 14/02/2025: Publicity Rights Violated (ByteDance), Bribes to Trump Passed via Social Control Media 'Settlements' Again
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Constitution, Cosmic DE, and More
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles Published by Bots, Dominating Google News
So a lot of the Web is Microsoft chatbot-generated anti-Linux FUD
Links 14/02/2025: Measles Outbreak in Texas, Zelensky Warns Russia Will Attack a NATO Country
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 13, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 13, 2025