Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Sharks Hope to Regain Control of the US Patent System With Iancu Appointment Likely Just 4 Days Away

Big shark



Summary: The campaign to dethrone Michelle Lee and replace her with someone like Andrei Iancu is almost complete; the objective is to turn the USPTO (US patent office) into a trolls-friendly and PTAB-hostile place

THE USPTO has been headless since Michelle Lee got bullied out (like Ms. Brimelow at the EPO). Her colleague was thereafter the PTO Director (in the interim). He too got mobbed/bullied at times, but not to the same degree. The patent microcosm was eager to replace him with one of its own.



"The patent microcosm was eager to replace him with one of its own."Here is a reminder of why the PTO does not need a person like Andrei Iancu but a technical person. Will they 'get' that? How about Drew Hirshfeld? Do not listen to Koch-funded 'scholars' like Adam Mossoff, who are still pushing for maximalism this week ("Here's just one of many examples of how small biz & individuals need stable & effective #IP protections, contrary to the rhetoric that IP hurts new creators, startups & small biz.") because their aim is to prop up the litigation 'business' and patent trolls. And speaking of which, Watchtroll followed IBM's patent chief Manny Schecter (close to Watchtroll) in noting, based on this publication, that "Senate Schedules Andrei Iancu Confirmation Vote for February 5"; Schecter tweeted: "Says here that the full Senate will take up confirmation of Andrei Iancu as US Patent & Trademark Office Director on Monday, February 5 http://bit.ly/2l2VmjU" ("EXECUTIVE CALENDAR").

These people would love to see a patent microcosm person like Iancu in charge of the PTO. They lobbied towards that.

And lobbying being noted, watch what Dennis Crouch wrote yesterday about Trump's speech. Trump never even mentioned patents, but Dennis Crouch already 'helps' by 'interpolating' and filling the 'blanks', so to speak. For example: "Although, high drug prices are, in many cases, premised upon exclusive rights granted by patents, the Administration has – thus far – not offered any indication that it will be breaking (or bending) pharma patent rights."

"These people would love to see a patent microcosm person like Iancu in charge of the PTO."There are no "patent rights" because patents are not "rights" -- a miconception just repeated again in "Litigation Conduct Evincing Lack of Respect for Patent Rights and Litigation Process Supports Attorney Fees Award" ("Respect for Patent Rights" is very lawyer/liar talk).

What these people generally hope for is a PTO Director who uses nonsensical terms like these. The last thing they want is a person like Lee, herself a former scientist with high qualifications.

A few hours ago (Thursday) Watchtroll was once again defending the Mohawk patent scam, quite frankly as usual. That scam relies on misconceptions such as patents being "property". With anti-PTAB on their agenda, such overt misconceptions too are considered "OK".

Mitchell Feller, partner with Gottlieb, Rackman & Reisman, wrote that "Native American tribes have the same types of sovereign immunity that states do. Absent a waiver, they too are immune from lawsuits asserting infringement of Federal patent, trademark, and copyright laws and subject to the same types of waiver considerations."

"What these people generally hope for is a PTO Director who uses nonsensical terms like these. The last thing they want is a person like Lee, herself a former scientist with high qualifications."But those patents have nothing to do with tribes. It's a major scam. A Federal judge and several politicians have already called it that. "In September," he continued, "2017, the large pharmaceutical company Allergan took steps to employ tribal immunity to protect its patents on the drug Restasis. Allergan assigned its patents to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. The tribe then licensed the patents back for $13.5M and more than that amount in yearly royalties. Immediately afterwards, the Tribe argued that an IPR challenging those patents could not proceed because of tribal immunity. The motion has not been decided."

At the moment, as we pointed out earlier this week, this tribe is just being completely exploited by the patent microcosm as a vector for attacks on PTAB. For a large sum of money the tribe has basically disgraced its name/reputation.

What we have here isn't US interests being served but the profits of few ultra-wealthy individuals being guarded so that they can deny access to medicine (e.g. generics).

"What the US needs is a technology-centric PTO; what it might soon get, however, is a legal 'industry'-centric PTO, promising to further exacerbate things for the benefit of patent trolls (not technologists but litigators)."The notion that patent maximalism is somehow "great" for the US is a false one; it's promoted by people who profit from litigation activity. Depending on what the highest court has to say (if anything) about design patents [1, 2], we may soon see more setbacks like this one for Apple. Apple uses patents against a Korean giant that now yields more chips than the US-based Intel (as per new reports). As sales of "iPhone" fall (many reports about this throughout this week) the patent case too seems to be falling apart. 2 days ago in Law.com:

Apple will soon return to court to continue its legal battle with Samsung over Samsung’s infringement of Apple’s iPhone design. The latest chapter of this saga concerns the proper methodology for calculating damages that Samsung must pay to Apple for infringing Apple’s design patents.

As background to this case, a jury trial in the Northern District Court of California back in 2012 resulted in a verdict ordering Samsung to pay Apple more than $1 billion for willfully infringing Apple’s design patents. The damage calculation was based upon 35 U.S.C. 289 of the Patent Act. Section 289 includes a special profit-disgorgement provision for design infringement damages requiring that “Whoever during the term of a patent for a design … sells or exposes for sale any article of manufacture to which such design or colorable imitation has been applied shall be liable to the owner to the extent of his total profit.”


What the US needs is a technology-centric PTO; what it might soon get, however, is a legal 'industry'-centric PTO, promising to further exacerbate things for the benefit of patent trolls (not technologists but litigators).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why the Microsoft People Who Started SLAPPs Against Techrights Could Very Well be Sent Back to Prison
White-collar crime is also a crime
 
Will Microsoft Once Again Choose Its Favourite Liar to Spread Lies About Today's Layoffs, Quickly to be Replicated and Spread by Slopfarms?
What lies is Microsoft briefing its media moles to tell today?
"OSS Fetishism" Wins After Ferenc Zsolt Szabó Ousted (Microsoft Mole From Capgemini)
Many people said 2025 would be the "year of Linux on the desktop"
There is Nothing That LLMs Can Offer Honest People
LLMs are a passing fad; they're expensive and offer poor "value" for energy; they usually offer no value at all unless you are a cheater, spammer, and liar
What statCounter Shows Today Helps Explain Microsoft's Helplessness, Mass Layoffs
Since many US journalists are already away on holiday almost nobody will dare ask the difficult questions or give a voice to whistleblowers
Microsoft Gets the Chop in South America
The notion of digital sovereignty gained a lot of popularity
Europe Has an 'Exit'
Let's see what happens the rest of this year
El Presidente Talks, Canada Walks (Away From Windows)
GNU/Linux rising
Cities in France and Germany Move to GNU/Linux and statCounter Detects Big Differences
Will governments lead by example?
Microsoft Lost Its Foothold in Africa
How many of these are "old" Windows machines converted to GNU/Linux? Probably a lot.
Led by Europe, GNU/Linux Makes Big Gains This Month
statCounter started showing new/fresh stats
Links 02/07/2025: Massive Microsoft Layoffs About to Commence, "Tesla's Robotaxi Program Is Failing"
Links for the day
The Company Run by Former (and Last Proper) Red Hat CEO, Promoting Microsoft Mono, Faces Shock as Senior Partner Jailed for 33 Sexual Offenses Including Pedophilia
"As reported by The Oxford Mail in April 2025, the offenses include rape, sexual assault, engaging in non-penetrative activity with a child, and more."
Microsoft Lost 29% of Windows Users, Based on Microsoft, Now Come Massive Layoffs
Microsoft collapse is today
Slopwatch: Google Serves to People Linux Slop and Linux FUD (Made by Bots)
"Slopwatch" finds it difficult to ignore Google's role in encouraging LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 01, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 01, 2025
"Wayland People" Behave Like the Googles and Microsofts of This World
Published yesterday by Igor Ljubuncic
Gemini Links 02/07/2025: Arch Linux and Fulfillment in Gemini
Links for the day
Links 01/07/2025: "Independence Day in Taiwan", Bounties on Software Patents
Links for the day
What Happens When Your Law Firm is Preoccupied With Harassing and Trying to Extort a Humble Couple in Manchester, Even on Behalf of Violent Microsoft Staff From Another Continent
It's good to see that law firms which operate in bad faith are perishing
Lawyer X, Law Firm X and Elon Musk's X: scandals linked by Old Xaverian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 01/07/2025: Distraction-Free Writing and Hytale Mismanagement
Links for the day
Links 01/07/2025: "Beauty of Blogging" and "Etiquette of Collapse"
Links for the day
Microsoft Uses LLM Slop to Defraud (or Rob) Shareholders
Microsoft is basically defrauding its shareholders by LLM slop
The Web is a Dead End
We need to adopt alternatives
When Words Lose Their Intended Meaning
examples of words that, at least in the technical spheres, don't mean what they sound like
People Who Disagree With You on Technical Matters May or May Not Agree With You on Political Things (But Usually They Do)
What bothers me a great deal is seeing left-leaning people accusing other left-leaning people of being "nazis"
"Too Much Choice" and "Too Many Programming Languages"
What IBM and its apologists aim for was attempted in the 1930s and it failed
Microsoft Lost 400,000,000 Windows Users, According to Microsoft
more people adopt smaller computers and many people replace Windows with GNU/Linux, as they don't really need a new computer
The "Davos Effect": Tarnishing the Reputation of Places Not by Overtourism But by Oligarch Infestation
The last Venice needs is an affiliation with Venetian oligarchs
Half a Year Gone, What's to Come Next
In the second half of 2025 we expect to be done with the Microsoft SLAPPs
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 30, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 30, 2025
People at the Very Top of Microsoft Know How Bad Things Really Are
There's no product that can replace the former profitability of Windows licensing and stuff that went on top of Windows
Gemini Links 01/07/2025: Mid Year and a Tour of Old Languages
Links for the day
EPO Presentation Bemoans Misuse of Slop in Decision-Making on Patents and in Classification (Which is Likely Illegal Too)
We habitually mention failed use cases of LLMs on the Web
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Confirmed, "XBox Hardware Is Dead"
It's possible that over 20% of the staff will be laid off
Links 30/06/2025: Kyrgyzstan vs Media Freedom, Dalai Lama Succession
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/06/2025: Backend Programs in Gemini and Dynamic Content Without The Scripting
Links for the day
Links 30/06/2025: Zuckerberg’s Tax-Evading Scheme Harms Kids, US Copyright Office Lacks Leadership
Links for the day
Microsoft Isn't Laying Off Tens of Thousands to 'Invest' in Slop ('Hey Hi'), It's Laying Off Tens of Thousands Because It's Running Out of Money (and Willing Lenders)
the layoffs are a sign of the business failing, not "hey hi" (whatever that is) replacing staff
Intel Lays Off 20% of Its Workforce, Microsoft is Doing the Same This Year
Like a yoyo, whatever goes up will come back down
Microsoft XBox Layoffs: Almost 2,000 Layoffs Became "Over 2,000"? (Over 20% of the Staff)
over 20% of staff will be let go, not counting staff that leaves voluntarily
GNU/Linux Rises to New Highs in Angola, Africa in General is Abandoning Windows
Western media barely covers Microsoft layoffs in Africa, but in recent years Microsoft culled the workforce and even shut down entire operations
Summer Plans in Techrights and Elsewhere
massive layoffs at Microsoft
Destination Geminispace (in the Age of LLM Slop and Slop Images That Infest the Web and Social Control Media)
Geminispace isn't vast, but at least it is - on average - a lot "cleaner"
GNU/Linux Growing in Sierra Leone This Year
Based on what statCounter is seeing, this year there are more and more people there who adopt GNU/Linux
Serial Sloppers Gonna Slop
More sites out there ought to call out the cheaters
Quartz (qz.com) is Spam and a Slopfarm
It used to be OK. Then they fired the staff.
Links 30/06/2025: US Economic Woes, Extreme Heat
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 29, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 29, 2025
Gemini Links 30/06/2025: "The AI Hype" and New AuraGem Ask
Links for the day