Bonum Certa Men Certa

IBM is Acting No Better Than Patent Trolls, Preying on Smaller Companies by Suing Them With Software Patents

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Sep 17, 2024,
updated Sep 17, 2024

Tall office buildings in Tel Aviv, Israel

Zynga Ordered To Pay IBM $45 Million

No Red Hat employee should tolerate this aggression by the employer

Red Hat has been fending off patent trolls lately, essentially by filing lawsuits, but what's the full picture?

Well, the full picture is quite bad because Red Hat/IBM is a big part of the problem and this new verdict is a reminder of that. The following article says "IBM wins $44.9 million patent infringement suit against Zynga," but why was such a lawsuit filed in the first place? The IBM vultures looking for ways to take the money of other companies? Using software patent aggression?

Reuters reports tech company IBM won its lawsuit against mobile developer Zynga, which it sued over patent infringement in 2022.

Two years ago, IBM claimed the Farmville creator was misusing its "foundational" web technology, including data capture and analytics. The two companies had reportedly been negotiating a license since 2014, but those talks repeatedly fell through.

That last sentence suggests that IBM is still doing a patent shakedown - with controversial if not illegal software patents - behind the scenes. So who knows how many firms just quietly settle to be left alone.

IBM behaves no better than a patent troll. It's just a lot bigger.

IBM did this also after buying Red Hat (we covered many examples over the years), so Red Hat employees share buildings with mobsters.

This other report, "Zynga Ordered To Pay IBM $45 Million", repeats the claim that "Zynga said that the patents were invalid" (if they're software parents, then the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) should not have granted these in the first place).

Seeing how IBM lobbies against 35 U.S.C. § 101 and how IBM/Microsoft exercise control over the USPTO (personnel-wise), we have no choice but to treat IBM as "part-time" enemy (only part because they also employ some Linux developers).

To quote:

Zynga, the developer behind games like Farmville, Words with Friends and more, has been ordered to pay IBM $45 million. The verdict comes from a patent infringement lawsuit filed by IBM in 2022.

According to the verdict from a federal jury in Delaware, United States, it was determined that Zynga violated IBM’s patent rights on its “foundational” technology. The verdict states that Zynga violated two IBM patents.

The first patent, the “849 Patent“, involves a “method for presenting advertising in an interactive service provided on a computer network”. The other patent, the “719 Patent”, concerns a dual model-view-control development approach of an application.

For its defense, Zynga said that the patents were invalid. The company is expected to appeal the decision.

Looking at comments in this forum (see this thread for instance), it seems even former IBM workers are disgusted by what the company had become.

IBM is a predatory, greedy entity that cheats and lies. It even attacks its very own workers.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles Published by Bots, Dominating Google News
So a lot of the Web is Microsoft chatbot-generated anti-Linux FUD
 
They Will Never Leave Linus Torvalds Alone, Rust is Just Another Way to Cause Instability and Infighting in Linux
We already identified the Rust "community" as troublemakers more than 5 years ago and we wrote about the evidence
Apple: Social Justice or Social Nationalism?
Remember to buy Apple, folks
Links 14/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Sophos, Chatbots Failing Very Badly, "DOGE as a National Cyberattack"
Links for the day
Moving Away From Certificate Authorities (CAs) Like Let's Encrypt Means Taking Away From the US Government the Power to 'Censor' Sites by Revoking Certificates
Gemini capsule is cheap to run and easy (easier than a Web site) to maintain. More people disillusioned and frustrated with social control media flock to it.
BetaNews' Managing Editor Wayne William Took Charge of GNU/Linux Articles and His Articles Are Real (He Actually Wrote Them)
We are frankly relieved to see that Wayne William recognised the problem and did something about it
Links 14/02/2025: Publicity Rights Violated (ByteDance), Bribes to Trump Passed via Social Control Media 'Settlements' Again
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Constitution, Cosmic DE, and More
Links for the day
Links 14/02/2025: Measles Outbreak in Texas, Zelensky Warns Russia Will Attack a NATO Country
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 13, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 13, 2025
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: gwit and Restart
Links for the day
Links 13/02/2025: Algorithm Bots and 'Teleport' Breakthrough
Links for the day
EPO Staff Representatives Confront the President Who Says 'F--king' in Front of Female Workers Over Measurable Discrimination Against Female Colleagues
Central Staff Committee versus Lukashenko's sponsor
IBM Layoffs in 'RTO' Clothing Reported by Thomas Claburn
This "hey hi" (AI) nonsense is just a go-to excuse that IBM and GAFAM (and many others) use
Still Waiting for the EU to Abolish the Illegal and Unconstitutional Court Linked to EPO Corruption and Lobbyism by the Patent Litigation Industry
Sadly, all the blogs that used to talk about those issues have been infiltrated and then completely hijacked by the very perpetrators of the illegality
Social Engineering of the Free Software Movement is a Corporate Takeover With Code of Conduct (CoC) to Drive Out or Expel Dissent
Richard Stallman (RMS) covered "cancel culture"
Links 13/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Google (Disguised as "Buyouts"), Telecoms Price Hikes as Collusion/Price-Fixing
Links for the day
[Video] Richard Stallman Questions and Answers Session in Google's YouTube or Invidious
From last night
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: Broken Watches and Naming Types
Links for the day
Corrupt Bill Gates Worming His Way Into Richard Stallman Videos in Google's YouTube
Reputation laundering riding other people's names?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Links 12/02/2025: Crytek Layoffs, Security Holes, and Giving Ukraine to Russia
Links for the day
Relaying GAFAM Talking Points and Lies Using GAFAM LLMs, or Slop Pasted in by Brittany Day
linuxsecurity.com is relaying slop, i.e. misinformation
Photos From This Evening's Talk by Dr. Richard Stallman in Torino, Maybe a Video Soon
The talk that Dr. Richard Stallman gave today (a few hours ago) was recorded and streamed
IlSoftware.it Covers Richard Stallman's Visit to Give Talks in Italy
The publication is in Italian, the talk was in English
Macho Patent Office
At the EPO there's always room for women in top roles
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: "Bream Gives Me Hiccups", Making Chinese Tea, and More
Links for the day
This is Why Codeberg Issues an Apology Today
This response was clear and relatively swift
The Register Studies (to Affirm) Reports of IBM Layoffs "at the Finance and Operations business unit"
something about that specific unit
Links 12/02/2025: SSL FUD, DEI Phase-out, Felonies Committed by MElon (Data Breaches)
Links for the day
Italian Media Covers Richard Stallman's English Talk Ahead of Tonight's Public Appearance
article in La Stampa
Destruction and Distortion of Information, Including Facts About Linux (Bonus: This is Destroying the Planet)
All that LLMs have going for them is hype, and moreover media that intentionally misrepresents them and their supposed capabilities
Google Seems to Have Just Killed All Instances of Invidious
YouTube is rapidly becoming just "another Neflix"
Microsoft Skype in a Freefall: About 20% Decrease in Site Traffic in 3 Months (Amid Microsoft Phasing Out Credits)
Microsoft axing more services/features may mean that now they scrape the bottom of the barrel and Skype will simply die, discontinuing service (like ICQ) in a matter of years
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: Depression, Gabbro, WikiTok, and More
Links for the day
Links 12/02/2025: Health, Security, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol is Increasingly Important to the Net
Gemini Protocol will turn 6 this summer
Former EPO Manager Warns That the Illegal 'Court' for "Unitary Patents" Enables “Law Shopping”
Daniel X. Thomas opposed the very existence of the UPC, which any honest person could recognise was both illegal and unconstitutional
Like GAFAM, the EPO is Passing the Financial Pains to Staff
the EPO is operating illegally at this point
Morale at Microsoft Ruined by the Company Labelling Thousands of Workers 'Low Performers', Sacking Them on the Spot and Denying Them Basic Benefits
people laid off as "low performers" go to social control media to bemoan the label
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 11, 2025