10.28.08

Gemini version available ♊︎

European, Indian and American Patent Systems: Time for a Reform

Posted in America, Asia, Courtroom, Europe, Google, Microsoft, Patents, SUN at 2:29 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Software patents protest against EPO

EPO Exposes Itself, Microsoft Exploits It

Since the latest development at the European Patent Office had occurred, we’ve posted a couple of items to explain how deplorable it was [1, 2]. Glyn Moody wrote a critical article about it, as well. To quote just a fragment:

Court decisions on whether software patents are permissible within Europe have see-sawed wildly, with some decisions in favour being counterbalanced by others that confirm that software cannot be patented “as such”. Unfortunately, those meaningless weasel words “as such” have provided a tiny opening for proponents of software patents – typically large companies that want to use intellectual monopolies to stifle competition, and software patent lawyers who want more lucrative business – that the latter are constantly trying to widen.

[...]

One trick that has been tried by software patent lawyers is to define something called a “computer-implemented invention”, which is basically a repackaging of software to include a technical effect in order to be patentable.

Digital Majority has found some more evidence of what was mentioned last week. Under many people’s noses, Microsoft is already applying for software patents in Europe, and quite successfully in fact.

Last week Marshall Phelps observed that Europe thinks it does not grant software patents, but that actually it does. When the enlarged board answers the president’s questions, maybe we can all have the same certainty as Microsoft’s VP of IP Strategy and Policy.

India’s Law Bypassed by Multi-nationals

It’s happening again, but this time around, Google deserves the blame. Previously it was Microsoft, Nokia, and BT. They are trying to obtain patents on software-implemented methods, despite the fact that Indian patent laws forbid it.

Google has filed for a patent in India, for a map based local search application. This appears to essentially be a patent for Google Local on Mobile, a service launched in 2005, and subsequently renamed/replaced by Google Maps for mobile.

This is a soft patent.

Indians needs to respond to it [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] as the issue won’t just go away. In absence of opposition, it’s bound to get worse over time.

“Value your freedom or you will lose it, teaches history. “Don’t bother us with politics,” respond those who don’t want to learn.”

Richard Stallman

Companies will always strive to seize ownership not only of physical things, but also content and even simple ideas. “Greed knows no bounds,” as Microsoft once exclaimed so hypocritically, so it’s time to stand up against this.

The Klausner Troll

A report from Reuters suggests that another patent troll got its way. It is a very silly software patent which this dispute involved. The patent was discussed (ridiculed) in several Web sites before.

Klausner said it granted Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group, a patent license related to voice message alerts.

Here is a less restrained coverage of this.

Before you get uppity about having us call Klausner Technologies a patent troll, consider what they’ve been doing since their invention of the PDA: Suing everyone under the sun who has used visual voicemail.

As the post above shows, there is still resentment and denouncement of the term “patent troll.” It’s disappointing to find the IEEE entertaining defenders of patents trolls. Why would they sink to this level?

Need for Reform

NetApp appears to be suffering quite badly. Yesterday alone there was some evidence in the news, including the cancellation of their User Conference.

NetApp chucks staff at OS merger

[...]

Frustrated by drawn-out development schedules, NetApp has put all its US-based engineers to work on merging 7G and GX, its two ONTAP operating systems.

In another sign of how far-reaching the economic downturn has become, NetApp on Monday said it plans to cancel its user conference scheduled for February next year.

Like several other struggling companies (e.g. Avistar [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]), they seem to be using their patents offensively, hoping to make a buck this way. The problem is that they attack Free/open source software projects. We covered this before. NetApp writes about this in one of its blogs. Witness the chaotic state of affairs (or general state) of the patent office, which has not yet suffered the wrath of budget cuts.

The patent office currently has a backlog of 730,000 patents, and they can’t hire fast enough to close the gap. Waiting could take years.

Government officials elevated the USPTO’s funding a few months ago, but is it sustainable in these difficult times? There seems to be unrest, lack of resources, and dissatisfaction from applicants. Over at Groklaw, this court case is being covered as well. The conclusion?

I vote for a new system, frankly. This one, as the NetApp-Sun litigation is just the most recent proof, is seriously broken.

Amen to that.

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Reddit
  • email

Decor ᶃ Gemini Space

Below is a Web proxy. We recommend getting a Gemini client/browser.

Black/white/grey bullet button This post is also available in Gemini over at this address (requires a Gemini client/browser to open).

Decor ✐ Cross-references

Black/white/grey bullet button Pages that cross-reference this one, if any exist, are listed below or will be listed below over time.

Decor ▢ Respond and Discuss

Black/white/grey bullet button If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

A Single Comment

  1. pcole said,

    October 28, 2008 at 8:00 pm

    Gravatar

    Microsoft’s ongoing blatent disregard for sovereign laws of other nations continue. I guess the offensive, blatant disregard for people’s judiciary is business as usual. It’s like they won’t take “NO” for an answer.

    The way these corporations and elected officials do business puts the country they spawned from in a bad light. Sometimes I think that they’re a different species where the only thing they have in common with the normal population is that they also breathe.

DecorWhat Else is New


  1. All of Microsoft's Strategic Areas Have Layoffs This Year

    Microsoft’s supposedly strategic/future areas — gaming (trying to debt-load or offload debt to other companies), so-called ‘security’, “clown computing” (Azure), and “Hey Hi” (chaffbots etc.) — have all had layoffs this year; it’s clear that the company is having a serious existential crisis in spite of Trump’s and Biden’s bailouts (a wave of layoffs every month this year) and is just bluffing/stuffing the media with chaffbots cruft (puff pieces/misinformation) to keep shareholders distracted, asking them for patience and faking demand for the chaffbots (whilst laying off Bing staff, too)



  2. Links 28/03/2023: Pitivi 2023.03 is Out, Yet More Microsoft Layoffs (Now in Israel)

    Links for the day



  3. IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 27, 2023

    IRC logs for Monday, March 27, 2023



  4. Links 27/03/2023: GnuCash 5.0 and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on Phones

    Links for the day



  5. Links 27/03/2023: Twitter Source Code Published (But Not Intentionally)

    Links for the day



  6. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 26, 2023

    IRC logs for Sunday, March 26, 2023



  7. Links 26/03/2023: OpenMandriva ROME 23.03, Texinfo 7.0.3, and KBibTeX 0.10.0

    Links for the day



  8. The World Wide Web is a Cesspit of Misinformation. Let's Do Something About It.

    It would be nice to make the Web a safer space for information and accuracy (actual facts) rather than a “Safe Space” for oversensitive companies and powerful people who cannot tolerate criticism; The Web needs to become more like today's Gemini, free of corporate influence and all other forms of covert nuisance



  9. Ryan Farmer: I’m Back After WordPress.com Deleted My Blog Over the Weekend

    Reprinted with permission from Ryan



  10. Civil Liberties Threatened Online and Offline

    A “society of sheeple” (a term used by Richard Stallman last week in his speech) is being “herded” online and offline; the video covers examples both online and offline, the latter being absence of ATMs or lack of properly-functioning ATMs (a growing problem lately, at least where I live)



  11. Techrights Develops Free Software to Separate the Wheat From the Chaff

    In order to separate the wheat from the chaff we’ve been working on simple, modular tools that process news and help curate the Web, basically removing the noise to squeeze out the signal



  12. Links 26/03/2023: MidnightBSD 3.0 and FreeBSD 13.2 RC4

    Links for the day



  13. IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 25, 2023

    IRC logs for Saturday, March 25, 2023



  14. Links 26/03/2023: More TikTok Bans

    Links for the day



  15. Links 25/03/2023: Gordon Moore (of Moore's Law) is Dead

    Links for the day



  16. Links 25/03/2023: Decade of Docker, Azure Broken Again

    Links for the day



  17. [Meme] Money Deducted in Payslips, But Nothing in Pensions

    Sirius ‘Open Source’ has stolen money from staff (in secret)



  18. IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 24, 2023

    IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 24, 2023



  19. The Corporate Media is Not Reporting Large-Scale Microsoft Layoffs (Too Busy With Chaffbot Puff Pieces), Leaks Required to Prove That More Layoffs Are Happening

    Just as we noted days ago, there are yet more Microsoft layoffs, but the mainstream media gets bribed to go “gaga” over vapourware and chaffbots (making chaff like “Bill Gates Says” pieces) instead of reporting actual news about Microsoft



  20. Sirius 'Open Source' Pensiongate: Time to Issue a Warrant of Arrest and Extradite the Fake 'Founder' of Sirius

    Sirius ‘Open Source’ is collapsing, but that does not mean that it can dodge accountability for crimes (e.g. money that it silently stole from its staff since at least 12 years ago)



  21. Links 24/03/2023: Microsoft's Fall on the Web and Many New Videos

    Links for the day



  22. IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 23, 2023

    IRC logs for Thursday, March 23, 2023



  23. Links 24/03/2023: Social Control Media Bans Advancing

    Links for the day



  24. Links 24/03/2023: GNU Grep 3.10 and Microsoft Accenture in a Freefall

    Links for the day



  25. Links 23/03/2023: RSS Guard 4.3.3 and OpenBSD Webzine

    Links for the day



  26. Experiencing 15 Years of LibrePlanet Celebration Firsthand as a Volunteer: 2023 - Charting the Course

    Article by Marcia K Wilbur



  27. [Meme] Grabinski the Opportunity

    Reports of European Patents being invalidated (judges do not tolerate fake patents) have become so common that a kangaroo court becomes a matter of urgency for the EPO‘s Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos; will the EU and the EPO’s Administrative Council go along with it, helping to cover up more than a decade of profound corruption?



  28. Union Syndicale Fédérale Cautions the EPO's Administrative Council About Initiating an Illegal Kangaroo Court System for Patents (UPC) While EPO Breaks Laws and Sponsors the Ukraine Invasion

    Union Syndicale Fédérale (USF) is once again speaking out in support of the staff union of Europe's second-largest institution, which lacks oversight and governance because of profound corruption and regulatory capture



  29. Investigation Underway: Sirius 'Open Source' Embezzled/Stole Money, Robbed Its Own Staff

    In light of new developments and some progress in an investigation of Sirius ‘Open Source’ (for fraud!) we take stock of where things stand



  30. [Meme] Sirius 'Open Source' Pensions: Schemes or Scams? Giving a Bad Name to Open Source...

    What Sirius ‘Open Source’ did to its staff is rightly treated as a criminal matter; we know who the perpetrators are


RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts