We’ve already noted that the EU Parliament has rejected the secrecy around ACTA, but the EU Commission (which is negotiating the agreement) has more or less ignored them. Now, with reports coming out saying the agreement being close to done, EU Parliament members are speaking out against ACTA.
On tuesday october 5th, Mexican Senate took the first step to take Mexico out of ACTA by voting through a non-binding point of agreement that makes a strong call to reject any type of international policy fabricated behind closed doors, at least in Mexico.
The Senate voted unanimously in favor of the resolution promoted by Senator Carlos Sotelo from the PRD party. Some Senators took the stand to support this initiative as they were tweeting their reasons to support this resolution.
Posted in Patents at 5:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Daily patent links of interest
• A Patent Granting Milestone (they are measuring leniency or monopolies rather than progress, which is a logical trap, optimising the wrong parameter or to the wrong objective function)
This dramatic increase in the rate of granting patents is impressive — especially in light of the fact that during this time, the USPTO eliminated examiner overtime hours for an extended period of time and hired only a handful of new examiners.
“Fast forward four years and the federal government now owns the “new GM.” It was inconceivable in 2006 that Uncle Sam soon would be in the business of making cars, not to mention in the businesses of banking and insurance, setting salaries of CEOs, purchasing mortgages, etc., etc. This dramatic turn of events means that court decisions that once seemed exceedingly narrow have acquired new breadth and scope. This essay thus explores how Zoltek justifies extensive infringement of U.S. patents by GM and other firms now working for the federal government. Although it is arguable that denying patent-owners their constitutional rights is insignificant in any situation, the events since 2006 at least suggest that many people spoke too soon when they claimed that Zoltek was of little import or concern.”
So the medicines patent pool scores its first triumph. UNITAID, the Geneva-based organisation that aims to improve access to medicines in the developing world, announced today that is has been given its first patents on Aids drugs. We are on the way to the brave new world where the phenomenally expensive but very effective HIV/Aids drugs taken by people in the USA and Europe can be replicated by generic manufacturers in India, who can make clever, dirt-cheap new combinations to keep more people alive in the poorest regions of the planet. Or are we?
Reality’s biting for Monsanto. John Gilbert, an Iowa farmer tells the Christian Science Monitor about GM crop uptake: “A lot of it, to be perfectly honest, is herd mentality. They believe Monsanto when they say it’s going to yield more.” But scepticism has begun to set in, with the Christian Science Monitor noting that a common criticism now being leveled at GM firms like Monsanto is that crop yield increases have largely been the result of advances in conventional breeding, but that those features are only being made available in strains sold with genetically-modified traits as well.
Summary: Bill Gates has bought a TED event and Microsoft is buying some too, coercing this brand to ‘TED-wash’ its goals or portfolio
ON several occasions before we mentioned TEDxChange [1, 2] (brought to you by the Gates Foundation so that the keynote talk will be Melinda Gates lobbying the UN, also via satellite) and TEDxRedmond [1, 2], which are both a case of using the “TED” brand (associated with some authority and trust) to promote Gates’ business agenda, including Microsoft’s. Gates has in some ways tarnished the “TED” brand and we discussed this with some parties, including those who help organise TEDxRedmond (“Microsoft Studios is providing streaming services to TEDxRedmond,” says one Web site and Microsoft is apparently also a sponsor of this event, which helps the company capture young people). What is TED turning into? It liaises with monopolists now? So that they can ‘TED-wash’ their own brand? It’s funny how companies use independent outside brands to market themselves and a Red Hat-run blog is currently running a small series about the “TED” brand. It’s like when the tobacco industry recruits celebrities.
“Those who will attend TEDxRedmond ought to know that it is being used as a demo venue/platform for Microsoft products.”In the Indian press, Microsoft markets “Azure” under the faux “open” banner right about now. That is what’s known as “open-washing” (there is also "Seven-washing") and it needs to be exposed because it’s PR, i.e. it’s deception.
Those who will attend TEDxRedmond ought to know that it is being used as a demo venue/platform for Microsoft products. It can be seen as an extension to Bill Gates’ attempt to capture the US school system, even if it’s just a small component of that ongoing crusade [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
The TED brand/franchise was so good it had to be put up for ‘sale’ and that’s just a shame and a real loss to society. As stated yesterday at Identi.ca, in relation to Bill’s and Melinda’s appearances at TED, “[t]he speech writer of Gates is reported to have begun working for Hilary Clinton last month. For those who think that Gates writes them…”
It’s all PR. TED has begun leaning too much towards money, mostly at the expense of objectivity and neutrality. As always, be sceptical. █
“He who does not need to lie is proud of not being a liar.” –Friedrich Nietzsche
Summary: Glyn Moody responds to British Copyright Licensing Agency; The FFII formally responds to some very recent disinformation from Vincent Van Quickenborne (Belgian EU presidency)
ACCORDING TO THE “IPKat-approved” 1709 blog, last week’s Open Meeting at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington (hosted by the Copyright Licensing Agency) concluded that “Intellectual Property Will Save the British Economy” and Glyn Moody says, “read these reports of people’s positions, and weep…”
Moody, who leaves near these people, is at least being honest as he considers the above to be “a neo-colonialist plot to ensure the continuing dominance of Western nations.”
“The Belgian Presidency is pushing for a central EU patent court, that will create caselaw in favour of software patents.” –FFIITo quote part of the report, “[f]ollowing a further question as to whether 70 year copyright protection is too long, and whether the duration of protection for copyright and patents should be rethought, Louise said that if the market is looking at that, then it would be something CBI would look at.”
Copyrights and patents are separate things and David Kappos (currently head of the USPTO) complained about creating “a new 20-year [patent] monopoly for no good reason.”
Further south in Brussels, things have turned sour as well, partly due to the Belgian EU presidency and Vincent Van Quickenborne in particular [1, 2, 3]. Speaking from Belgium, the FFII issues the following new press release:
In a radio interview held last Thursday, Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne, Belgian Minister of the Economy, tried to explain that the current situation concerning software patents in Europe was fine, and that the current plans are not intended to “change the patent system to make software programming more difficult”. The FFII says this is wrong, considering the thousands of software patents already granted by the European Patent Office (EPO). The Belgian Presidency is pushing for a central EU patent court, that will create caselaw in favour of software patents.
There are many Europeans who are tired of seeing their systems harmed by so-called “IP” lawyers, who do not foster progress. The full press release is also appended below for increased exposure. █
Belgian EU Presidency wrong about software patents, pushing for their validation
Brussels, 5 October 2010 — In a radio interview held last Thursday, Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne, Belgian Minister of the Economy, tried to explain that the current situation concerning software patents in Europe was fine, and that the current plans are not intended to “change the patent system to make software programming more difficult”. The FFII says this is wrong, considering the thousands of software patents already granted by the European Patent Office (EPO). The Belgian Presidency is pushing for a central EU patent court, that will create caselaw in favour of software patents.
Benjamin Henrion, President of the FFII, says: “Mr Van Quickenborne is throwing dust in the eyes of software developers. The reality is that the Belgian Presidency is pushing hard for a central patent court, that will validate software patents. Large companies that were supporting the Software Patent Directive 5 years ago are now all in favour of a central patent court.”
The Belgian Presidency is currently awaiting the decision of the European Court of Justice over the draft treaty creating an international patent court, a court which would sit outside of any parliament, and which would not be backed by any constitution.
Benjamin Henrion
FFII Brussels
+32-484-56 61 09 (mobile)
bhenrion at ffii.org
(French/English)
About FFII
The FFII is a not-for-profit association registered in twenty European countries, dedicated to the development of information goods for the public benefit, based on copyright, free competition, open standards. More than 1000 members, 3,500 companies and 100,000 supporters have entrusted the FFII to act as their voice in public policy questions concerning exclusion rights (intellectual property) in data processing.
“Those who can, innovate, those who can’t, litigate.” –Harish Pillay, Red Hat (and others)
Summary: Some of the latest articles about Ballmer’s and Ellison’s warpath against Android
THE LAWSUITS against Android are not something to be depressed about. They may simply mean that Android is winning and rivals see no solution to this other than to sue. Here is a diagram of mobile patent lawsuits, sent to us yesterday under the subject: “we’ve spent over 30 years developing cutting-edge computer software” (it’s about Microsoft suing Motorola over Android).
As for Oracle’s lawsuit against Google (Steve Jobs’ friendship with Larry Ellison might have something to do with it [1, 2, 3]), Google is trying to toss it:
Google today responded to Oracle’s (ORCL) claims that its Android OS infringes copyrights and patents related to Java, which Oracle acquired as part of its purchase of Sun Microsystems earlier this year. This morning, the search sovereign filed an answer to Oracle’s suit, denying all seven of its patent-infringement charges, and asking that the company’s copyright-infringement claim be dismissed because Google (GOOG) feels it is “legally deficient.”
And, interestingly, the answer calls Oracle out as a hypocrite–a company that pushed for a fully open Java platform when the OS was owned by Sun, only to blatantly ignore the open source community’s requests to fully open source it after its acquisition of Sun closed.
The post above has the full filing inside the page (Groklaw looks closely at this case as well) and there is coverage of the same development in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. █
Neither Red Hat or Software Tree have disclosed the terms of the settlement. When asked for comment Red Hat would only say “Red Hat routinely addresses attempts to impede the innovative forces of open source via allegations of patent infringement” and confirmed they had settled the case. Whether the settlement includes a resolution for users of the open source Hibernate library is therefore unclear. Previously, Red Hat has settled cases and acquired a “licence” for users of its open source projects; without doing this, the settlements effect would be limited to Red Hat.
As to how Red Hat has settled the alleged IP infringement, that’s where the transparency (or lack thereof) is my concern. When I asked Red Hat about the patent settlement with Acacia I got the following statement:
“Red Hat routinely addresses attempts to impede the innovative forces of open source via allegations of patent infringement. We can confirm that Red Hat, Inc and Software Tree LLC have settled patent litigation that was pending in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas (Civil Action No. 6:09-cv-00097-LED).”
It’s not clear, whether this dispute was settled with a licensing of the patent, a financial payment of some kind of other mechanism. I specifically asked Red Hat about the settlement terms, but so far haven’t received any clarity beyond the above statement.
These articles do not help answer an important question. I asked Red Hat’s Fontana if users other than Red Hat customers are covered. “[If] the answer is “no”,” I said”, “that’s OK but we must have transparency from Red Hat; an NDA [is] no excuse” (Fontana almost always replies to me, but this time there is no response and other journalists who tried the same thing received no real answer either, so maybe it is a matter of policy to keep quiet). Acacia is a real problem and it is believed to be connected to Microsoft (Acacia has former Microsoft staff in it).
More people should pressure Red Hat to provide answers. Without transparency there is no trust. █
Another notable company which has some Microsoft roots and focuses on proprietary software development (for tracking free/open source development) is Black Duck (background reading may be required).
“The Ohloh acquisition didn’t work so well for Free software, for obvious reasons.”One trend we have been noticing in recent years is that Microsoft alumni are getting authority in Microsoft’s opposition including Free software, occasionally counting all sorts of things in ways that are beneficial to Microsoft (we gave examples before, ranging from C# boosting to promotion of Microsoft’s software licences and insistence that Microsoft is an open source player rather than adversary).
Black Duck is finally picking some Microsoft alumni from Ohloh away from SourceForge (renamed and restructured for separation) and here is the official announcement:
Black Duck Software, the leading global provider of products and services for accelerating software development through the managed use of open source software, today announced that it has acquired Ohloh.net from Geeknet, Inc (NASDAQ: GKNT.) The transaction closed on September 30, 2010.
Ohloh, founded in 2006, is the largest free public directory of open source software, and also hosts a vibrant web community of software developers and Free and Open Source (FOSS) users. Ohloh’s directory contains information aggregated from over 250,000 public code repositories, projects and forums. Black Duck, which has acquired all assets of the Ohloh property, will maintain and enhance the Ohloh website, brand, and project information for the Ohloh community, and will ultimately combine Ohloh and Koders.com to establish a comprehensive, free resource for developers to find, create, use and manage FOSS.
The announcement is not open to feedback, so comments in LWN (if any) will go here.
Open source software company Black Duck Software (which is backed by close to $40 million in funding from Red Hat, Intel Capital and others) has acquired Ohloh, a free public directory of open source software and people. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Ohloh, sold by its previous owner and operator Geeknet (formerly known as SourceForge), will be integrated with Black Ducks’ free code search site Koders.com in an effort to further promote the adoption of open source software around the world.
For those who do not know, Black Duck has not a good relationship with the SFLC as they patented Bradley’s job, which led to polite confrontation last year. “A #Disturbing Combo” called Bradley the above development “#BlackDuck buys Ohloh [...] was already proprietary, now can only get worse. Use @openhatchery instead!”
Here is a post from last week where Black Duck tried to associate itself with the Linux Foundation. All in all, Techrights views this news as two Microsoft sympathisers (they facilitate Microsoft influence inside “open source”) becoming one entity. Whether that’s good or bad is open to debate. At least they are under a single umbrella now. █
Summary: Microsoft may be organising a coup against Linux, especially inside some of its very top supporters, and evidence from the news concurs
“Nokia’s MeeGo device chief quits,” reportsEngadget. This is the type of thing we have been expecting ever since a Microsoft president was made the CEO of Nokia, right after Nokia had become one of the top developers of Linux (the kernel) and told the press that its future crown jewel phones would run MeeGo. And now, just 2-3 weeks after Microsoft’s Elop comes to Nokia:
Nokia’s MeeGo device chief quits
[...]
In case you’re keeping track, Jaaksi’s departure follows the high-profile exits of Nokia’s former CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (replaced by Stephen Elop) and the head of Nokia Mobile Solutions, Anssi Vanjoki. Notably, Nokia’s MeeGo team picked up Palm’s Peter Skillman as the head of MeeGo User Experience and Services during the same period.
Nokia can whitewash this all it wants, but in recent weeks we learned that Nokia had allegedly started playing with Vista Phone 7 [sic] and the commitment to MeeGo was weakened. Microsoft comes in as CEO, Linux comes out, eh? Sounds like potential entryism to us, unless the import from Microsoft only came after a strategic decision from ‘old Nokia’ (perhaps the board). Microsoft would not mind it so much if Nokia carried on with Symbian because Symbian development — unlike Linux development — does not help hundreds of Microsoft competitor at the same time. It is “the Linux phenomenon” — not Symbian — which Steve Ballmer called “threat number one” 9 years ago.
A key partner and co-developer of MeeGo, Intel, appears to be procrastinating as a result of all that news from Nokia. “Intel Says No MeeGo Handsets Until 2011,” reports a Forbes blogger and David Wood, known for his old role in Symbian, says “(sounds like Q2?)”. That’s a whole year from now. From the informal article:
MeeGo, the open-source mobile operating system that Intel and Nokia are jointly creating, recently took a hit with the departure of its Vice President of Devices, Ari Jaaksi. In the wake of that announcement, an Intel executive who oversees MeeGo development insists the project is on track, but concedes that MeeGo-powered smartphones–and tablets, for the most part–won’t debut until next year.
The news could disappoint gadget fans that have been anticipating the release of a portable MeeGo device since Intel and Nokia joined forces in February. It could also have implications for Nokia. Though the Finnish mobile technology giant is still the world’s largest handset maker, it is struggling to reinvent itself under a new Chief Executive and has been looking to MeeGo to rekindle interest in its high-end smartphones.
MeeGo is very important because of relative LSB compliance which Android, for example, does not have.
Having expressed some concerns after the “pee in the pants to get warm” remark from Nokia (about Android), Glyn Moody told me that “Eric [Schmidt] is not stupid: that just makes his poker hand stronger” when he contacts Nokia:
As MeeGo VP Quits, Nokia CEO Taking Calls From Eric Schmidt
News broke this morning that Nokia’s executive in charge of MeeGo devices, Ari Jaaksi, resigned last week. This continues a string of high-profile people leaving the world’s largest mobile phone company as it attempts to establish an identity in the quickly-evolving mobile space. The internal turmoil and the recent hiring of former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop to be Nokia’s new CEO has led to quite a bit of speculation that Nokia may turn away from its own operating systems and go with the new Windows Phone OS — or at least fork its products to have this OS as an option on top of the upcoming MeeGo. But don’t rule out Google’s Android OS just yet either.
We’ve heard from a good source that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has called Elop to discuss the possibility of Android running on Nokia phones. We actually heard this information about a week ago, but today’s news makes it potentially more interesting. Around the time Jaaksi was resigning, Elop and Schmidt were talking.
Why would a CEO who came from Microsoft embrace the same platform which Microsoft is zealously suing? This whole affair is somewhat depressing and worth keeping track of. We previous covered it in:
Nokia is not the only company which seems like a victim of Microsoft entryism. “HP-SAP merger talk considered far-fetched,” opines a writer from IDG, but the Microsoft boosters now report that HP “Windows 7 slates [come] ‘this Christmas,’ touch optimizations in 2011″ (as a reminder, HP sort of abandoned Vista 7 when it comes to slate, but then top appointments were made from SAP and Microsoft [1, 2]). Are we seeing Nokia and HP going through a phase similar to the one Yahoo! and VMB_ware went through (they became occupied by Microsoft executives who brought more Microsoft executives, over time)?
Never underestimate Microsoft’s willingness and ability to compete against Linux using dirty tactics like FUD, lawsuits, and entryism. HP and Intel (of MeeGo) were both distinctly named in Microsoft’s SEC filing as threats, specifically because they were promoting Linux. Gary Clow, a famous victim of Microsoft, once said that “[a] lot of people make that analogy that competing with Bill Gates is like playing hardball. I’d say it’s more like a knife fight.” █
“Where are we on this Jihad?”
–Bill Gates (about removing Linux support at Intel)
A new year's reminder that the EPO has only one legitimate union, the Staff Union of the EPO (SUEPO), whereas FFPE-EPO serves virtually no purpose other than to attack SUEPO, more so after signing a deal with the devil (Battistelli)
Orwellian misuse of terms by the EPO, which keeps using the term "social democracy" whilst actually pushing further and further towards a totalitarian regime led by 'King' Battistelli
The paradigm of totalitarian control, inability to admit mistakes and tendency to lie all the time is backfiring on the EPO rather than making it stronger
An outline of recent stories about patents, where patent quality is key, reflecting upon the population's interests rather than the interests of few very powerful corporations
The role played by Heiko Maas in the UPC, which would harm businesses and people all across Europe, is becoming clearer and hence his motivation/desire to keep Team Battistelli in tact, in spite of endless abuses on German soil
The latest facts and figures about software patents, compared to the spinmeisters' creed which they profit from (because they are in the litigation business)
The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is planning to weigh in on a case which will quite likely drive patent trolls out of the Eastern District of Texas, where all the courts that are notoriously friendly towards them reside
The scope of patents in the United States is rapidly tightening (meaning, fewer patents are deemed acceptable by the courts) and Fitbit’s patent case is the latest case to bite the dust
Pretending there is a violent, physical threat that is imminent, Paranoid in Chief Benoît Battistelli is alleged to have pursued weapons on EPO premises
A look at actions taken at a political level against the EPO in spite of the EPO's truly awkward exemption from lawfulness or even minimal accountability
Selective emphasis on very few cases and neglect of various other dimensions help create a parallel reality (or so-called 'fake news') where software patents are on the rebound
Example of abysmal service at the EPO, where high staff turnover and unreasonable pressure from above may be leading to communication issues that harm stakeholders the most
Battistelli's circle (or "Team Battistelli") is starting to disintegrate, perhaps in anticipation of a tough year full of new leaks ("WillyLeaks" as some put it)
In light of Trump's awkward history with judges (e.g. attacking them) one can hope that upcoming patent cases at the highest court won't be affected by his pro-big corporations agenda
Free/Open Source software (FOSS), which encourages sharing, is increasingly becoming infested or subjected to software patents barbwire, courtesy of those who want to monopolise rather than share
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), led by David Ruschke, continues to function as another 'layer' that ensures patent quality by weeding out bad patents and here are some of the latest cases
Nokia's saber-rattling (and now lawsuits) against Apple are a worrying sign of what's to come, impacting Android OEMs as well as Apple, which is why the post-Microsoft Nokia is dangerous
Now is the time for Australian software developers to explain to their government that they don't want any software patents, otherwise their voices will be hijacked by a bunch of law firms that totally misrepresent them
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