Bonum Certa Men Certa

Trump's USPTO Nominee is a Supporter of Software Patents

And proponents of software patents seem pleased, as science and technology were put in the hands of people who understand neither

Trump on nukes



Summary: The US patent office is at risk (if Trump gets his way) of being dominated by law firms rather than people with a background in science and technology

THE administration of Donald Trump is becoming a threat to Alice and to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), both of which led to the demise of software patents in the United States. The latest step towards this was the nomination of Iancu, a person from the legal 'industry', not a technical industry. We wrote several articles about him (at least four [1, 2, 3, 4]) because we try to figure out where he stands on key issues. If he becomes USPTO Director, then his personal beliefs (probably tied to his financial interests) can become policies.



"But Iancu does have a high-profile 'industry' background... in his law firm. That too they consider to be an industry, albeit not one which produces anything but paperwork."A proponent of software patents and trolls likes Iancu. He paints him as a blank sheet/slate even though Iancu is not at all new to this area (unlike Battistelli, for instance). "He doesn’t have the high-profile industry background of some recent directors such as David Kappos or Michelle Lee," IAM wrote, "and has not been politically active like other recent post-holders Bruce Lehman, Todd Dickinson, James Rogan or Jon Dudas. What’s more, Iancu eschewed publicly campaigning for the position and has eschewed all public opportunities to outline where he stands on various key topics."

But Iancu does have a high-profile 'industry' background... in his law firm. That too they consider to be an industry, albeit not one which produces anything but paperwork. His positions are not so mysterious/cryptic at all, for he has written all sorts of things over the years, at times "showing support for software patents," (without having written a single computer program) based on this new report from Law 360. To quote what wasn't enveloped behind an impenetrable paywall:

Although he has a relatively low public profile, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director nominee Andrei Iancu has written extensively on issues he could address during his tenure. From showing support for software patents to pushing back against criticism of the Eastern District of Texas, here are some of the views he has expressed in print.

Iancu, the managing partner of Irell & Manella LLP who was nominated Friday to lead the USPTO, has authored numerous articles in legal journals over the years.


We have reasonable doubts and legitimate reasons to worry about Iancu. Although software patents are collapsing in US courts, the USPTO continues granting a lot of them. Even Free/libre software has been targeted, as in the case of Blockchain [1, 2, 3]. What's needed at the USPTO right now is a leader who recognises and accepts Alice, hence stopping further granting of software patents.

Blockchain, based on this new report, is being poisoned yet again by a bunch of USPTO patents. To quote:

Leading cryptocurrency startup Coinbase received in mid-August a patent related to a security system for storing and distributing private keys.

The USPTO approved and published the patent on August 15, reports Econotimes.com. Entitled “Key ceremony of a security system forming part of a host computer for cryptographic transactions’, the patent lists former Coinbase engineers James Hudson and Andrew Alness as inventors, CoinDesk reported. The patent application for “key ceremony” was submitted in 2015. The startup has filed a number of patents related to security of private keys in the past.


These are clearly software patents, patent-ineligible under Alice. Why are these still being granted and when will PTAB get around to invalidating them (probably upon petitions)?

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Mainstream Media Took 4 Days to Realise Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan and Fired Everybody
We estimate that Microsoft has had about 29,000 layoffs since January
“Twibel” Actions Against Comedians (and Why It's a Truly Low Blow)
they try to make up in quantities for a lack of merit or quality
Rewriting Things in Rust
How far would you go?
 
A Short History of Attacks on Techrights (and Boycott Novell Before That)
good opportunity to tell again the story of several (not all) attempts to silence us
Leadership in Free Software
Don't let IBM lead. It's a terrible flag bearer.
Linux Foundation Apparently Flirting With Slop (Marketing by LLM-Generated SPAM)
The Web is in a really bad state!
COVID-19 Sped Up Site Improvements in Techrights
A few months later we created our very own IRC network
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: Negative Questions and 'Touching Grass' (Going Outside)
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Dalai Lama Succession as 90th Birthday Approaches, 40 deg C in China
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Hungary and US Defecting to Russia, "Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: 4th of July 2025 and "Zig Roadmap 2026"
Links for the day
How to Combat the Exploitation and Abuse by Microsoft GitHub
Not to mention corruption and crimes against women
Bryan Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People
"[Lunduke] is actually sending his audience to attack people."
Even The Right Wing is Rejecting Bryan Lunduke
no wonder he became so irrelevant and marginal
Microsoft's MSN Helps Microsoft Spread Lies About the Layoffs' Scale (Well Over 25,000 People Laid Off This Year)
There seem to be monopolies on lies and on truth
The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
X.Org Server is alive and well
In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
Monopolies and Scalping
Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
"August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
LLM slop disguised as news
Links 04/07/2025: Google Replaces the Web With Slop, "AI Might Kill Us All"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: Mindfulness and F1
Links for the day
Weeks After Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia the Company Shuts Down in Pakistan, Too
Last month Windows' share in Pakistan fell to an all-time low
Rob Musial's June 2025 Additions of Malware in Proprietary Software
Via the GNU Web site this week
Links 04/07/2025: Microsoft's H-1B Visa Applications Show Another Crisis Unfolding, Many More Deep Cuts and Shutdowns Revealed, Complete Microsoft Exits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: A Day To Remember and "Stop Killing Games"
Links for the day
Crime and Corruption at Microsoft GitHub Cannot be Covered Up by SLAPPs in Another Continent
We'll write about this for a long time to come
Slop Videos Are Disappointing Garbage, Nothing New, Just Brute Force up on Display or a Pedestal of Slop
Slop videos aren't a new thing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 03, 2025
The War on Local Storage (People Hosting Their Files Locally and Privately)
There's nothing wrong with controlling one's computing
What Digital Independence Means
Independence in the digital realms means abandoning platforms like GitHub, not just rejecting proprietary software
NVidia is a Bubble
they temporarily see fortunes and wrongly assume perpetuity thereof
Fedora Does Not Care About Diversity and Inclusion, It's About Optics (Corporate Image)
any notion of inclusion is superficial and misleading
Don't Buy the Excuses for Microsoft's Mass Layoffs
Back in the 90s, Microsoft bought a lot of companies to get and stay ahead