Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Policy Controlled by Giants Like GE and Apple, Not the Public

Electric lobby

Great background



Summary: More new evidence that huge corporations with tens of thousands of patent monopolies are those which also control policy

IF THE USPTO proclaims to be there to serve the public, then it sure does a shoddy job. Being the granter of monopolies, it merely helps shut the public out and artificially elevate prices for the benefit of huge businesses (and the billionaires who run them). The sooner the citizens realise this, the greater the opposition to the USPTO will become (especially the "P" in USPTO).



Last week we showed that Intel was attacking public interests while pretending to do the opposite. It argued that software patents were good for the public. What a shameful, shameful lie. The "IP" crowd echoes Intel's message by saying (in this case) that "Intel on necessity of software patents. It has 45K patents worldwide and invests $300-500M year in #smallbiz"

There is nothing like PR, is there? For a company which is worth (market cap) almost 1,000 times what it claims to invest (for profit) in small businesses this is purely propaganda. And that says nothing about the small businesses that Intel crushes all the time, even by breaking the law and then shredding the evidence. We have covered this before.

The president of the FFII responds with:

@ballard_ip Smallbiz cannot compete with Intel on patents. I should challenge Intel on their claim of hardware == software


Another company which is even larger than Intel would be GE, which also promotes software patents and other stuff which harms Free software. Well, according to this new article, "GE Joins Apple in Urging Congress to Let Patent Office Keep Fees":

Apple Inc. (AAPL), the AFL-CIO and Yale University were among businesses, unions and universities urging House lawmakers to include a provision in pending legislation that would let the U.S. patent agency control its own funding.

More than 150 companies, schools and groups sent a letter today to House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, expressing their support for letting the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office keep all the fees it collects from users.


Conspicuously missing from this debate are representatives of the public. It just shows that to the USPTO the public does not matter. It's not justified. The truth is, patents as a whole hurt the public in many ways, except perhaps members of the public who are highly ranked in some corporation like GE. Patents are for them. To the rest it's just an issue that oughtn't really exist. It is not just issues like cost of medical treatments but also minor things that relate to society and not purely cost; consider Microsoft's patent's on cameras that refuse to work (as a patent). Apple too making phones turn against their 'owners' based on this new article which says or at least asks, "Apple to ban iPhone concert filming?" Well, Apple is always serving the copyright cartel, which is abominable in itself. Well, now they pursue a monopoly on this Hollywood suck-up. Ain't Apple a dreamy company?

Disclosure: My sister and her husband work in Intel and GE, but I reserve no judgment because principles come first.

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