Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patents Roundup: Google, Patent Reform, and “The Eco-Patent Commons”

Patently effective in elbowing Free software

Google's patent cases have been covered here quite a few times recently (e.g. [1, 2]). Like several other large companies, Google seems to have gotten a big target painted on its behind. In the latest round in court it denies infringing on the claimant's patents. [via digitalmajority.org]

The plaintiffs say that Google uses this system to run its search engine, and that the system was invented by Kenneth Baclawski, an associate professor at Northeastern and one of Jarg's founders. Northeastern was awarded a patent for the system, which it has licensed exclusively to Jarg.


You can find out more about Google's take on these issue in this video of Eric Schmidt.

In another case: Court Reverses Jury Decision in eSpeed-Trading Technologies Patent Case [via digitalmajority.org]

The judge also denied TT's motion for enhanced damages, which had been premised upon proof of willful infringement. It is expected the judge will issue a subsequent ruling with respect to whether the amount of the damage award, which the jury had assessed to be $3.5 million, should be reduced.


As pointed out days ago, some patent systems are said to have reached an all-time low (barrier), which can be indicated by a sharply rising number of patents that are accepted.

For the past year or so, many have spoken about the urgent need for a reform. The New York Times even published an article about this yesterday. The article isn't for or against the reform; it merely presents the views of both sides.

AS the Senate prepares to tinker with the nation’s patent laws this spring, it’s worth recalling the law of unintended consequences.


More interesting perhaps is the analysis of this article, which comes from the anonymous TrollTracker.

To be sure, there's more to the current patent reform bill than damages apportionment and venue reform. Some of it I support, some of it, well, I could live without it (first-to-file!). And I'm sure there will be many changes ahead. But I sure hope that the individual inventor community does better than "damages apportionment will lead to the end of innovation as we know it" and "let the Supreme Court fix it, and don't touch the laws, Congress."


Moving on a bit, in what appears like the 'OIN of the environment' you will find some details about a new sharing initiative that involves IBM.

Today IBM and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, together with Nokia, Pitney Bowes, and Sony, are announcing the creation of “The Eco-Patent Commons,” a new collaborative effort focused on shared use of intellectual property to help the environment.


How does Mother Nature feel about the fact that helping save it is something that gets restricted by what RIchard Stallman calls "a government-imposed monopoly"? Don't these alliances pretty much beat the whole purpose of filing piles of papers and then cross-licensing or signing peace treaties? Wouldn't a permanent truce be archived by elimination of spurious patents that are an abomination in the legal system? Moreover, why does Bob Sutor refer to this as "intellectual property", which is a confusing propaganda term? Such terms need to be buried quickly in order for trademarks and copyrights to be honoured for what they really are. These should also be distinguishable from terrible ideas such as granting somebody ownership of mathematics. Bob Sutor has a strong background in mathematics, so he can hopefully agree and relate to this.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
 
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October