THE world of software development -- not necessarily just Free/libre software -- hardly speaks of the dangers associated with GitHub.
"We also remain concerned about total apathy towards the patent aspect. When did OSI and Linux Foundation (both in Microsoft's pocket) last speak about it?"Also, behind IAM's paywall this week there's this scoop about Microsoft's patent blackmail and extortion chief moving to Marconi. To quote IAM on Twitter: "Another big hire for Marconi as it adds former Microsoft patent chief..."
Microsoft's patent chief is a thug, but Microsoft is also IAM's financial backer, so they will not 'insult' this Mafia, will they? Money talks, says the famous idiom. Microsoft buys a lot of "talk" and the "talking points" are passed on.
One can imagine what will happen next. HTIA (best known for advocacy of Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) inter partes reviews (IPRs)) has meanwhile published this letter and tweet, stating: “The single most important thing the USPTO should do in the context of AI is improve the technical training given to examiners who plan to examine AI-related technologies.” Read more in our joint comments on patenting AI inventions…"
We've looked into the underlying 'letter' [PDF]
and found it rather void of substance if not dreary. They suggest some amendments, but they play along with the buzzwords and the accompanying hype.
"Microsoft buys a lot of "talk" and the "talking points" are passed on."The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) likes finding tricks to work around restrictions on software patents (limitations such as 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101/Section 101/Alice) and just calling everything "HEY HI!!" (AI) is one of the more popular tricks these days. Out of nowhere they suddenly use these buzzwords all the time.
Suffice to say, the USPTO merely does here what the EPO did before it. They try to make it acceptable for patent offices to grant patents that courts later reject.
"The EPO Board of Appeal lacks independence; there are ongoing and outstanding complains about it. Already, as of months ago, Campinos threatens those same judges to permit software patents."How about patents granted in defiance of Mayo (the other high-profile SCOTUS decision alluding to naturally-recurring things in nature).
Perhaps not minding the underlying law, Emma Longland (HGF) has just published this piece about the EPO granting likely illegal European Patents on life, as the EPO is totally out of control and even its own judges are besieged by António Campinos and his boss. To quote:
The much-watched validity dispute over the Broad Institute’s patent for fundamental CRISPR-Cas9 technology – recently revoked by the EPO Board of Appeal – is not the only CRISPR-related IP issue to watch out for in Europe this year, explains HGF’s Dr Emma Longland.
The EPO Board of Appeal’s recent revocation of the CRISPR-Cas9 patent, EP2771468 – belonging to the Broad Institute, Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – has garnered a great deal of attention since January. However, IP professionals interested in keeping up to speed with the technology’s patent landscape should also pay attention to several other important CRISPR applications going through the EPO opposition and appeals process this year.
The Broad Institute and its collaborators were among the innovators working on CRISPR gene editing during its early development in 2012 and 2013. Thanks to a strategy of accelerating the prosecution of their related patent applications at the EPO, they were the first to get granted foundational CRISPR patents in Europe. And several patents other than EP2771468 are now at various stages of the opposition and appeal process.