07.31.17

Gemini version available ♊︎

The War on CAFC, on Alice and on Patent Reform is Getting Ugly

Posted in America, Deception, IBM, Patents at 11:13 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Gene Quinn

Summary: Gene Quinn’s attack site, Watchtroll, continues its long tradition of attacking people who actually create things, in order for patent parasites like himself (and patent trolls/bullies) to gain at the expense of those who create things

THE USPTO has begrudgingly evolved after Alice, but as we showed on numerous occasions earlier this month, the patent microcosm is lobbying the USPTO and even hiring (i.e. bribing) former USPTO officials to help the lobbying. It’s truly nefarious and politicians need to be made aware of it.

“IBM, we must add, should be utterly shamed of itself for associating with this site — a supposedly ‘informed’ site that has called techies “idiots”, even in the headlines.”Watchtroll is one of the worst culprits in all this; it is making the patent microcosm look like a bunch of bullies. “Bullies of any kind don’t want their victims to speak out,” one person explained to us last night — a fact that we know having covered these matters for over a decade. It has gotten so bad that Microsoft extortion or blackmail with patents seeks to gag/silence/bribe the victim. As part of the settlement, for example, the victim is obliged to put on a happy face and issue a press release to that effect. We have seen that since the 2006 Microsoft/Novell deal. We saw that in 2016 with Xiaomi (patent settlement over Android and maybe Chrome OS too).

Focusing on Watchtroll for a moment, never forget its many attacks on Michelle Lee — attacks which were largely based on ‘conspiracy theories’ they had come up with and all sorts of ‘fake news’ intended to make her look bad. She eventually resigned. The USPTO is without a leader now.

“What has the patent microcosm succumbed to?”IBM, we must add, should be utterly shamed of itself for associating with this site — a supposedly ‘informed’ site that has called techies “idiots”, even in the headlines. Malicious firms like IBM (GNU/Linux-hostile now) would resort to supporting Watchtroll because all they have left now is patents (and lawsuits).

Yesterday, Watchtroll outdid itself (having already attacked judges); it now goes on the attack against PRACTICING firms and techies who dare warn about software patents, trolls etc.

It’s almost purely ad hominem, e.g.:

Tom Lee, a software engineer at geodata firm Mapbox, took time during his testimony to voice his concerns on “bad patents” and “patent trolls,” adding that it was “particularly galling to see efforts to weaken the inter partes review (IPR) system.”

Why does Mapbox’s viewpoint on patent litigation echo in the halls of Congress given the fact that it doesn’t appear that it has faced abusive patent litigation? In fact, it almost looks like there is no merit to Lee’s statement that “Mapbox has had multiple experiences with patent trolls: non-practicing entities who file meritless lawsuits that are cheaper to settle than to defend.” Mapbox certainly hasn’t had multiple experiences with lawsuits; going back to January 1st, 2000, Mapbox has been sued just once in a patent case according to data collected from Lex Machina’s legal data analytics service.

The comments are even ruder. They are linking to previous attacks from Watchtroll, e.g. attacks on Mark Cuban (calling him an “idiot” right there in the headline).

What has the patent microcosm succumbed to?

They only alienate themselves and make themselves new enemies (except IBM, which seems perfectly alright with such behaviour).

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.

DecorWhat Else is New


  1. IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 31, 2023

    IRC logs for Friday, March 31, 2023



  2. Linus Tech (Illiteracy) Tips, LTT, Buys Phoronix Media

    Phoronix Media is being acquired by a larger company; the site will not change though



  3. Decided to Quit Debian and Use WSL Instead (Best of Both Worlds)

    Today starts a journey to a “better” experience, which lets Microsoft audit the kernel and leverage telemetry to improve my Debian experience



  4. Microsoft Has Laid Off Lennart Poettering and Hired Elon Musk

    Poettering gets rehired by IBM; IBM and Microsoft announce merger, putting Poettering back into his former position



  5. Links 31/03/2023: Ruby 3.2.2 and Linux Lite 6.4

    Links for the day



  6. Links 31/03/2023: Devices and Games, Mostly Leftovers

    Links for the day



  7. IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 30, 2023

    IRC logs for Thursday, March 30, 2023



  8. Links 31/03/2023: Ubuntu 23.04 Beta, Donald Trump Indicted, and Finland’s NATO Bid Progresses

    Links for the day



  9. Translating the Lies of António Campinos (EPO)

    António Campinos has read a lousy script full of holes and some of the more notorious EPO talking points; we respond below



  10. [Meme] Too Many Fake European Patents? So Start Fake European Courts for Patents.

    António Campinos, who sent EPO money to Belarus, insists that the EPO is doing well; nothing could be further from the truth and EPO corruption is actively threatening the EU (or its legitimacy)



  11. Thomas Magenheim-Hörmann in RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland About Declining Quality and Declining Validity of European Patents (for EPO and Illegal Kangaroo Courts)

    Companies are not celebrating the “production line” culture fostered by EPO management, which is neither qualified for the job nor wants to adhere to the law (it's intentionally inflating a bubble)



  12. Links 30/03/2023: HowTos and Political News

    Links for the day



  13. Links 30/03/2023: LibreOffice 7.5.2 and Linux 6.2.9

    Links for the day



  14. Links 30/03/2023: WordPress 6.2 “Dolphy” and OpenMandriva ROME 23.03

    Links for the day



  15. Sirius is Britain’s Most Respected and Best Established Open Source Business, According to Sirius Itself, So Why Defraud the Staff?

    Following today's part about the crimes of Sirius ‘Open Source’ another video seemed to be well overdue (those installments used to be daily); the video above explains to relevance to Techrights and how workers feel about being cheated by a company that presents itself as “Open Source” even to some of the highest and most prestigious public institutions in the UK



  16. IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 29, 2023

    IRC logs for Wednesday, March 29, 2023



  17. [Meme] Waiting for Standard Life to Deal With Pension Fraud

    The crimes of Sirius ‘Open Source’ were concealed with the authoritative name of Standard Life, combined with official papers from Standard Life itself; why does Standard Life drag its heels when questioned about this matter since the start of this year?



  18. Former Staff of Sirius Open Source Responds to Revelations About the Company's Crimes

    Crimes committed by the company that I left months ago are coming to light; today we share some reactions from other former staff (without naming anybody)



  19. Among Users in the World's Largest Population, Microsoft is the 1%

    A sobering look at India shows that Microsoft lost control of the country (Windows slipped to 16% market share while GNU/Linux grew a lot; Bing is minuscule; Edge fell to 1.01% and now approaches “decimal point” territories)



  20. In One City Alone Microsoft Fired Almost 3,000 Workers This Year (We're Still in March)

    You can tell a company isn’t doing well when amid mass layoffs it pays endless money to the media — not to actual workers — in order for this media to go crazy over buzzwords, chaffbots, and other vapourware (as if the company is a market leader and has a future for shareholders to look forward to, even if claims are exaggerated and there’s no business model)



  21. Links 29/03/2023: InfluxDB FDW 2.0.0 and Erosion of Human Rights

    Links for the day



  22. Links 29/03/2023: Parted 3.5.28 and Blender 3.5

    Links for the day



  23. Links 29/03/2023: New Finnix and EasyOS Kirkstone 5.2

    Links for the day



  24. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 28, 2023

    IRC logs for Tuesday, March 28, 2023



  25. [Meme] Fraud Seems Standard to Standard Life

    Sirius ‘Open Source’ has embezzled and defrauded staff; now it is being protected (delaying and stonewalling tactics) by those who helped facilitate the robbery



  26. 3 Months to Progress Pension Fraud Investigations in the United Kingdom

    Based on our experiences and findings, one simply cannot rely on pension providers to take fraud seriously (we’ve been working as a group on this); all they want is the money and risk does not seem to bother them, even when there’s an actual crime associated with pension-related activities



  27. 36,000 Soon

    Techrights is still growing; in WordPress alone (not the entire site) we’re fast approaching 36,000 posts; in Gemini it’s almost 45,500 pages and our IRC community turns 15 soon



  28. Contrary to What Bribed (by Microsoft) Media Keeps Saying, Bing is in a Freefall and Bing Staff is Being Laid Off (No, Chatbots Are Not Search and Do Not Substitute Web Pages!)

    Chatbots/chaffbot media noise (chaff) needs to be disregarded; Microsoft has no solid search strategy, just lots and lots of layoffs that never end this year (Microsoft distracts shareholders with chaffbot hype/vapourware each time a wave of layoffs starts, giving financial incentives for publishers to not even mention these; right now it’s GitHub again, with NDAs signed to hide that it is happening)



  29. Full RMS Talk ('A Tour of Malicious Software') Uploaded 10 Hours Ago

    The talk is entitled "A tour of malicious software, with a typical cell phone as example." Richard Stallman is speaking about the free software movement and your freedom. His speech is nontechnical. The talk was given on March 17, 2023 in Somerville, MA.



  30. Links 28/03/2023: KPhotoAlbum 5.10.0 and QSoas 3.2

    Links for the day


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