Bonum Certa Men Certa

About Half of the Supposed 'Growth' in Patents is Abstract Stuff or 'Software-Related' (Patents That Courts Would Quite Likely Reject)

Illustrator promptSummary: Despite a disturbing mass-granting trend, wherein quality and legitimacy of patents may matter no more (it's all about quantity, not quality), the courts are pushing back, both in Europe and in north America; so unless they can miraculously put the courts at the hands of patent maximalists -- basically what Team UPC is hoping to achieve to no avail -- there's a massive avalanche ahead (millions of tentatively invalid or fake patents)

LATELY we've been writing a great deal about corruption that enabled the lowering of patent quality, human rights, and standards of the sciences (we're meant to think granted patents and innovations are surrogates). Donald Trump's regime contributed its fair share to this fiasco (Hungarian/Hungary-born litigation USPTO 'mole'), but we have our own 'Trumps' right here in Europe (with cross-pollination). They don't even need to win an election and rally a bunch of violent mobs. We've written more than enough about EPO dictators Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos shamelessly promoting patents on software using a plethora of laughable and usually meaningless buzzwords and hype waves. Across the Atlantic they lobbied for the same, seeing that since 2014 (Alice at SCOTUS and 35 U.S.C. €§ 101) software patents have been mowed down by the thousands in the Federal Circuit and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), mostly via inter partes reviews (IPRs), i.e. post-grant.



"Lately we're been writing a great deal about corruption that enabled the lowering of patent quality, human rights, and standards of the sciences (we're meant to think granted patents and innovations are surrogates)."Earlier this week Eileen McDermott (editor of Watchtroll) wrote about these fake patents and dubious verdicts. She wrote* : “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) today reversed a jury verdict for Juno Therapeutics and Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research (Juno), wiping out a $1.2 billion judgment for the entities. The CAFC found that the jury’s verdict with respect to written description was not supported by substantial evidence.”

"CAFC, which still isn't too eager to allow any of these patents, is without its chief judge Prost (not in charge anymore)."A day or so apart Raymond Millien (also over at Watchtroll) said: "In First Half of 2021, 63% of U.S. Patents, 48.9% at EPO and 40.1% in China Were Software-Related" (so basically questionable if not outright fake patents, even where the law forbids them).

CAFC, which still isn't too eager to allow any of these patents, is without its chief judge Prost [1, 2, 3] (not in charge anymore). But it's still insistent. Steve Brachmann (Watchtroll) wrote: "Federal Circuit Affirms [Section] 101 Invalidation of Secure Transaction System Patents in Victory for Apple and Visa..."

"We must confess that we try really hard to find more sources for 'news' or noise about patents, but many of the blogs we used to follow have shut down or simply became inactive, especially blogs vocally in favour of software patents."Here in Europe I constantly find stories about European Patents perishing in courts; well, software patents are also fake patents across the Atlantic -- in American courts too...

That's certainly a relief and good news to software developers.

We must confess that we try really hard to find more sources for 'news' or noise about patents, but many of the blogs we used to follow have shut down or simply became inactive, especially blogs vocally in favour of software patents. Their influence is waning, but they will never admit it. That's just how they operate, projecting confidence to clients while egging them on to pursue more lousy patent and file more lawsuits (even actions that likely go astray at the end, i.e. enriching nobody but the law firms).

To be most frank, having written literally thousands of posts about these issues already, we'd rather focus on new material and revelations. "EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part VI" is due to be published tonight. There has been a lot of interest in this series. We're also grateful to readers who shifted over to gemini:// and take advantage of better (and lighter) protocols. ____ * All links are omitted in this case because Watchtroll is the only site we refuse to even link to because of its highly aggressive tone and blood-lust-type stance, especially when its founder was still in charge there, constantly attacking judges -- left and right -- for merely doing the right thing. He has since then softened his tone somewhat.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
 
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles
Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games
Links for the day
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol