Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patents Roundup: Microsoft Patent Tax, FireStar-Red Hat Revisited, US Patent Crisis

Summary: Microsoft uses ActiveSync to tax competitors; interesting details surface about FireStar's case against Red Hat; the USPTO is challenged for its poor performance

BITS and pieces that appear in the news play a role in the adoption of Free software, even though they are legal issues rather than technical. This post takes an overview.

Microsoft



Microsoft has just found another ActiveSync victim from which to extract patent tax. With new licensing deals, Microsoft hopes to extract revenue out of patents and other imaginary products. We gave some more ActiveSync examples in [1, 2]. Microsoft basically charges for the use of protocols and even Android (Linux) is harmed by it:

DATAVIZ has made available a version of its Roadsync client for Microsoft ActiveSync via Android Market, allowing users of Android phones to link with Exchange email servers.


The Wall Street Journal has this new article about the patent bill. From the opening:

Twelve Republican U.S. senators on Thursday sent a letter to Senate leaders criticizing pending patent legislation, saying the bill "threatens to diminish the value and enforceability of U.S. patent rights."

The Oct. 15 letter backs criticism against the legislation being levied by independent inventors and academics who argue the bills favor major technology companies. If approved the legislation would be the most sweeping rewrite of federal patent law in 50 years.

Critics say two similar bills now in Congress would broadly make it harder for individuals, universities and start-ups to defend their inventions against companies with deeper pockets.


Microsoft too is mentioned in the full article, which states that "Microsoft and IBM are two of the most active companies involved in filing patents." IBM makes about a billion dollars per year from taxation of competitors and IBM is what the FFII calls a "fake" supporter when it comes to patents. IBM's actions speak for themselves.

Law.com has this article about the Eastern District of Texas, which is known as patent trollville. Microsoft is mentioned also:

The story, of course, is also bigger than Powers and Davis. There's the fact that Microsoft is signing off on both the trial strategy and the briefs being filed. That suggests that the big old software company is taking a more aggressive tack in the Eastern District these days, not just backing up its lawyer. After losing a couple of big cases there, it seems like the company is eager to show up a judge who it believes did it wrong. Sort of like in baseball when there's a questionable call and the manager runs out on the field to jaw with the umpire: The purpose is not only to get the call reversed, but to make him think twice the next time.


Red Hat



The FireStar case [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] may be old, but the Prior Art Blog has some interesting new details about those who were involved:

* In October 2006, in the lawsuit's early stages, FireStar told Red Hat it wanted $100 million to settle its patent claims—and Red Hat said "there was nothing left to discuss."

[...]

After the case was underway, FireStar apparently tired of the patent litigation game. The company was reluctant to make engineers available for deposition because, Foley's brief states, they "were focused on product development rather than the Red Hat case and as a result were not sufficiently responsive." By December 2007, the bankers at Amphion had agreed to take the suit off FireStar's hands by creating DataTern, a shell company solely focused on patent enforcement that acquired the patent in early 2008. (Amphion also agreed to compensate FireStar for employee time spent on the litigation.) At about the same time, DataTern stopped paying Foley's bills, and turned to IP Nav and its lawyers to press the suit.

Those lawyers—Texas solo Dan Perez and Michigan-based Patrick Anderson, both of whom frequently work for Spangenberg and his patent companies—quickly hammered out the $4.2 million settlement. The figure, Foley notes, was lower the total litigation budget it had agreed to with FireStar. If the plaintiffs were willing to settle for so little, Foley lawyers Michael Lockerby and Greg Neppl write, a deal could have been struck "without the expenditure of much in the way of legal fees."


Patent Crisis



The following stories ought to speak for themselves:

EFF Challenges VOIP Systems Patent

As part of its Patent Busting Project, the Electronic Frontier Foundation claims it has discovered a prior patent and published reference material that should invalidate a patent granted to Acceris for implementing VOIP using analog telephones as endpoints.


USPTO Removes Rule Changes

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) published a final rule in the Federal Register in August of 2007 to revise the rules of practice for patent cases pertaining to continuing applications and requests for continued examination practices, and for the examination of claims in patent applications (Claims and Continuations Final Rule). The Office is revising the rules of practice in this final rule to remove the changes in the Claims and Continuations Final Rule from the Code of Federal Regulations.


Bits and Bytes

* I am teaching obviousness this week in my introductory patent law course here at the University of Missouri School of Law. The Justice Douglas concurrence in the 1950 A&P case always gives me pause: o "The Constitution never sanctioned the patenting of gadgets. Patents serve a higher end--the advancement of science."


Are Technology Patents Lost on Jurors?

Attorney Tucker Griffith brainstormed for months about how to best illustrate the inner-workings of his client's patented technology.

[...]

"I've seen judges ask questions that show they're confused," said Menard, who works in areas of electromechanical technology such as hydraulics and pneumatics. "You have 48 minutes of hearings and the judge asks a question that shows they have no clue. Then the lawyers just look at each other and say, 'That was a waste of time.'"


Change is still needed urgently. Can Kappos deliver?

David Kappos



Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day