Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patents Roundup: Metaswitch, GENBAND, Susman, Cisco, Konami, High 5 Games, HTC, and Nintendo

We already know who's always winning: patent lawyers



Summary: A look at existing legal actions, the application of 35 U.S.C. €§ 101, and questionable patents that are being pursued on software (algorithms or "software infrastructure")

In Maxon v Funai, as we've just noted, software patents show weakness at the highest level bar the Supreme Court. This impacts USPTO guidelines.

In relation to the Metaswitch-GENBAND patent dispute, which is a longterm issue, a little more than two years ago we said that "Patent Lawyers and Judges Don't Understand Software Development". It's pretty clear that only lawyers would gain from this dispute. Here is a new article on this subject:

As the communication and collaboration environment grows increasingly competitive, it seems that everyone is trying to innovate. In a quest to be more disruptive, intuitive, and compelling, some companies may even accidentally step on the toes of their competitors. Unfortunately, even the slightest issue can lead to a huge storm of legal problems – particularly when patents are involved.

In January 2016, a jury in the District Court for the United States discovered that Metaswitch was infringing on approximately 7 different GENBAND patents. GENBAND – now Ribbon Communications, obviously responded to this issue quickly, working to ensure that they maintained their position as a 2015 CNBC disruptor, and leader in real-time communications.

[...]

During the trial, GENBAND showed evidence that Metaswitch products were dipping their toes into a selection of patents, including 7,990,984, 7,184,427, 7,047,561, 7,995,589, 6934,279, 6,885,658, and 6,791,971. The products that were found to infringe on GENBAND technology included those in the Integrated Soft switches collection, Session Border Controllers, Call Feature Servers and a range of Universal Media Gateways.


How many millions of dollars have already been spent (wasted) on lawyers? Also consider the longterm Arista-Cisco patent dispute, which severely damaged Arista's business (whereas Cisco is large enough to cope; it even has its own dedicated legal/patent department). Here's a new article about Cisco's latest peril (Susman):

A small inventor-owned software company backed by a powerful law firm are taking on Cisco Systems Inc. over alleged patent infringement. Los Gatos, California-based NetFuel Inc. sued Cisco on Friday,


It's a "software company," so one can imagine that "backed by a powerful law firm" it's just going to try to win the jackpot by asserting software patents against Cisco. Will it win or just go bankrupt trying to win (without success)? Whatever happens, the law firm will gain financially. As we stressed in our previous post, having a software patent is just the first step; defending such a patent inside a courtroom is another matter altogether, especially when fighting against large companies (like Cisco) that can appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) if not the Supreme Court, too.

Case of point?

Konami Gaming, Inc. v High 5 Games, LLC. Covered by Joseph Herndon the other day, he summarised the case as follows: "Slot Machine Patent Invalidated As Being Directed to Ineligible Subject Matter"

In more details:

The '869 patent describes that there is provided a gaming machine arranged to display a matrix of symbols containing elements: each column of the matrix comprising a portion of a simulated rotatable reel of the symbol containing elements, and each of the symbol containing elements of at least one consecutive run of the symbol containing elements of at least one reel is caused to display an identical symbol. Preferably, the identical symbol is selected by a game controller from a subset of available symbols. Figure 1 of the '869 patent, reproduced below, shows a gaming machine with a display having a matrix of elements and symbols comprising portions of simulated rotatable reels.

[...]

Moreover, the Court did not agree that the mere configuration of a consecutive run of symbols in one simulated reel represents something more than changing the rules of the game. A generic slot game, as noted by experts in this case, has ever changing symbols selected at random. Realigning and altering the display of symbols on simulated spinning reels is the very essence of the generic slot game. Changing how often a symbol appears and where it appears in a slot game without more is simply altering the manner of display of random symbols -- i.e., changing the rules of the game. Changes to game rules of a generic slot machine using conventional technology are not patentable.

The Court noted that the '869 patent was allowed inter alia because it disclosed an alleged unique method of random selection -- virtual spinning of a notional non-visible inner reel. However, a review of the specification and asserted claims indicates that the inventor never actually provided the structure or programming for this process. Consequently, Konami cannot establish that this selection process represents an inventive concept or new technology (or selection process) directed to a generic slot game.


This is arguably a software patent (we say arguably because it's a game on a machine) and it's one of so many that perish, sometimes even in district courts (Nevada's in this case), not CAFC.

Here's a new example involving HTC (from Taiwan). In Local Intelligence, LLC v HTC America, Inc. the court (a low court, district court in California) said that "refreshing a phone's display" is not abstract, but let's see what CAFC says if it does. From the article:

Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that claims related to refreshing a phone's display are patent eligible under 35 U.S.C. €§ 101.


€§ 101 is being attempted here, but whether it's suitable or not remains (potentially) to be decided by a higher court.

And while on the subject of patents on games, watch what Nintendo is doing. As reported several days ago, "the patent is for the software infrastructure, not for new hardware," so it certainly sounds like software. From the article:

While some have been speculating that this hints at a new console in the vein of the 3DS, there’s nothing in the language to indicate as such — the patent is for the software infrastructure, not for new hardware, so it could just as easily be for a mobile game or some kind of fancy Switch title (or even some sort of interconnectivity between the two, à la Jackbox Party Packs).


Historically, Nintendo found itself on the receiving end of many patent lawsuits in the US. To name some recent examples that we covered:



Let's hope Nintendo only intends to use such patents 'defensively' (in response to patent aggression).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Lies Need to be Corrected
the Court never invited us
 
EPO Staff Representation Lacks Social Dialogue With Relevant Management, Controversial and Sometimes Illegal Policies Implemented Without Necessary Input
"In this open letter, the CSC requests that the President submits an agenda item in the next available General Consultative Committee (GCC) meeting on setting up regular meetings between the CSC and the higher management of DG1."
Links 16/10/2025: Political Leftovers and Gemini Protocol Links
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Guardian Digital (linuxsecurity.com), Slashdot, Google News, and More
Maybe one day, once the bubble pops completely, Google News will just outright delist all slopfarms
Lufthansa Modern Slavery, Joerg Jaspert (ganneff) & Debian NSB Softwareentwicklung charade
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/10/2025: US Starting More Trade Wars With China, CIA War on Venezuela
Links for the day
SUSE Blog is Still LLM Slop, Marketing Manager at SUSE Cannot Write
Would you buy from a company or seek support from a company that cannot even write (or fakes writing)?
Pretend You're Not Dead: Microsoft Spent Almost Two Decades Rebranding Things as "Cloud, Then "AI", Now "XBox" and "Quantum"
"AI" bubble pops, Microsoft harping about "quantum" already
IBM Allegedly Found New Tricks for Silent Layoffs: LPI, Then MIS (Not PIP)
Remember that "Red Hat layoffs" won't be reported after the bluewashing
Links 16/10/2025: Red Lines and Feeding of Microsoft Trolls
Links for the day
MIT as a Propaganda Mill of GAFAM, Paid by GAFAM
"the news" today
Links 16/10/2025: Lies Euphemised as ‘Dueling Versions of Reality’ and Microsoft "Open" "Hey Hi" Resorts to Porn as No Business Model Was Found
Links for the day
The Local Staff Committee Munich (Representation of the EPO's Staff) Explains When Cluster of Pregnancies May Result in Reduced Pay
"...even one week of part-time working is sufficient to reduce the salary you perceive during the entirety of your maternity leave."
Another Black Eye for 'Secure Boot', Microsoft Media Tries to Blame "Linux"
It enables Microsoft to remotely control computers, even computers that don't run Windows and never had any Microsoft software installed
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT, linuxsecurity.com, and Various Slopfarms in Google News Attacking "Linux"
A new survey of the Web said that the majority of the Web is now slop (that's being said in the news this week)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Links 16/10/2025: Increased Use of Social Control Media Surveillance in US, French Rage Over Pensions
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Qantas Airways Loses Control of Sensitive Data and Software Patents Are Being Thrown Out
Links for the day
Vista 10 is 'Dead', Here's Why People Should Move to GNU/Linux (or the BSDs)
Today we try to make an outline of reasons move away from Windows to GNU/Linux
Our Sites Continue to Improve
LLM slop has had no noticeable impact on us
Gemini Links 15/10/2025: Neovim, Helix Compared and Gemlog.blue Now Closed
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Mass Layoffs at Amazon, OneDrive Spyware Revved Up, More 'Gen Z Protests'
Links for the day
The EPO's Staff Engagement Survey 2025 is Already Tainted by Intimidation by EPO Management (Trying to Influence Outcomes by Scaring Genuine, Honest Critics)
"[W]e have received reports that, following the previous survey, teams with negative responses were reproached or questioned about their answers..."
The DDoS Attacks by Microsoft's Scam Altman and Other Slop Charlatans and Frauds is Hurting the FSF, Delinking It From Copyleft Projects
This impacts a lot more than access to the licences
Microsoft Scanning Faces in Photos People Upload to Microsoft (Even Unconsciously), Slashdot Turns Report About It Into "Microsoft Sez" (Says)
Or "let's repeat the lies from a PR person/Microsoft's publicist"
[Teaser] Angel Aledo Lopez the Manipulator (Nepotism, Poll Rigging, and Other EPO Corruption)
We'll discuss this later today or tomorrow, based on internal EPO material
Attacks on Techrights Are Only Making Techrights Bigger and Even More Popular
A week ago they offered to settle with us
Epic Metaphor for End of IBM: "The IBM Demolition is Down to the Last Shards!"
Nothing lasts forever
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Proprietary and DRM Prisons Spiralling Down the Sinkhole? Not Just Yet.
Let's hope that more people will flee to GNU/Linux
The European Patent Office (EPO), the Second-Largest Institution in Europe, is Cracking Down on Recreational Activities
Without AMICALE activities, and as staff already says it's pressured to work more for less, how can the EPO recruit bright people?
Transparency: FSFE financial reports exclude speaker fees and expenses
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Many Developers Have Many Political Views, They'll Never Agree on Everything
It's an effort to divide and destroy, not build
Gemini Links 14/10/2025: An Opportunity to Consider GNU/Linux and Another Simple IRC Client
Links for the day
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT, LinuxSecurity, Google News, and the Serial Slopper Brian Fagioli
Nothing of merit here, just more slop
Links 14/10/2025: Lack of Trust in Slop and "Retirement Challenges"
Links for the day
EPO Staff Can Go Listen to Richard Stallman Next Week in Munich (Technical University of Munich, Rudolf-Diesel Hörsaal (MW2001) on Campus Garching at 18:00)
"The talk is open to the public and attendance is free. Registration is not required."
Rhonda D'Vine, Gerfried Fuchs, Pronouns & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
At IBM, Relocation Means Layoffs (Downsizing)
Silent or 'invisible' layoffs?
Central Staff Committee of the European Patent Office (EPO) Warns That EPO Management is Robbing or Manipulating Pension Funds Again
Faking "growth" is just about as bad as forgery
Probably a Lot Worse Than LLM Slop: GNOME Tying Itself to Divisive Politics, Even Where It's Clearly Not Relevant
Something has gone terribly wrong in GNOME
Links 14/10/2025: Microsoft OneDrive Scanning Faces in Photos (Without Asking First), "OpenAI Says It Will Move to Allow Smut"
Links for the day
They Generally Don't Like Scholars, as They're Less Compelled or Pressured to Repeat What Corporations and Oligarchs Say
People who loathe scholars have an agenda in mind that, unlike that of reasonable people, revolves around controlling people
Dystopian Trends in Technology Make Richard Stallman More Relevant Than Ever
It's good to see him attracting vast audiences
Belated New Article About Last Thursday's Lecture by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
there are good reasons to pay with cash, not limited to privacy
Attacking Richard Stallman Has Become 'Career Suicide'
If you're going to viciously attack somebody, make sure your arguments are rock-solid
Microsoft's Failing XBox Business Has Turned Games Into Funerals
How does it feel to depend on Microsoft?
Yesterday's "Distinguished Lecture" by Richard Stallman Possibly Attended by Close to 1,000 People
The capacity of the place is about 900
Slop Poisons Everything
Imagine wanting to find what Torvalds has just said or what has just been released
Taking Software Freedom 'Mainstream'
interest in Software Freedom must have grown
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 13, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 13, 2025
Gemini Links 14/10/2025: Ada Lovelace Day, Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 Review, Why to Avoid Network Solutions
Links for the day
Richard Stallman (RMS) Announced His Talk Less Than 24 Hours Before It Took Place and Still Filled Up the Auditorium at Sapienza Università di Roma
Photos from yesterday evening [...] It looks like it was a very successful event