Bonum Certa Men Certa

Many Thanks to Free Software, the Demise of Software Patents (in Europe and the US), and So Much More

Thank you



Summary: On a positive note we're heading into the end of November, one month before Boxing Day; we take stock of patent affairs that impact software developers

ACROSS the United States people celebrate a holiday that we do not have here in 'Englandia'. Except of course the shopping-related offshoots (cyber Mondays and black Fridays -- whatever they even have to do with holidays when we're still in national/nationwide lock-down).



"Enjoy the long weekend, don't shop ("consume") too much, and don't believe anything Team UPC says."This coming (long) weekend we'll be doing some site housekeeping, having 'earned' some rest after 29,000+ blog posts. We're motivated, not tired. Exhilarated, not demoralised.

What happened today in Germany was not a surprise; neither to me nor to Benjamin Henrion, among many others (we correctly predicted this outcome). Daily Links have some coverage from Team UPC, but we will write about the latest on the subject when the constitutional complaint comes (we're rather certain it'll arrive soon). Team UPC is, as usual, using Trump-style hype and premature victory laps in an effort to gaslight and demoralise otherwise rational people. António Campinos of the EPO did the same in the afternoon, but even his own workers don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth.

FFII is crowd-sourcing and crowd-funding a complaint and we also expect the famous Düsseldorf attorney/lawyer to say something. People expect a complaint from him, not just from FFII, and various other parties will likely step in (at some level or capacity). We expect to see some frustrating times for Team UPC ahead of us, e.g. get ready for the FCC... actually dealing with the actual substance this time around (a key Justice already publicly insinuated it would likely come next).

Benoît Battistelli is thankful to lobbyists (CEIPI has long wanted and attempted to profit from UPC courses, even if UPC does not exist) and those who think legislation can be magically retrofitted to bypass Brexit are in for a surprise. Also, those who think they can introduce a new court system to authorise software patents in Europe (without the highest court in the EU getting involved) are simply dreaming.

Thank youIt was almost 24 months ago (2 years) that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) attempted to crush/bypass 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101. Not only will Biden replace the current USPTO leadership (it seems inevitable); in the meantime the Federal Circuit only doubled down on 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101/Alice. Coons and his friends made no progress with a Congressional bypass and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) continues to handle inter partes reviews (IPRs), habitually crushing American software patents. So we're generally still in a good position. Not perfect, but not too bad, either.

Enjoy the long weekend, don't shop ("consume") too much, and don't believe anything Team UPC says. They've been lying to us all for well over a decade; it's not like this week their lies miraculously stopped.

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