Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Dodges Patent Law Again, Moblin and Patents Revisited

Emergency exit



Summary: Microsoft shows that patent law continues to be a single-edged sword hurting the small inventor; what software patents mean to Intel and Moblin

AS we found out some weeks ago, software patents do not apply to Microsoft. The monopolist has so many strings to pull, even in the Australian government as we showed an hour ago. So, it was hardly surprising to see this Australian chap having his verdict against Microsoft overturned.



An Australian inventor, who was set to reap the lion's share of a mammoth $US388 million ($445 million) damages award from Microsoft, is now set to get nothing after the US judge hearing the case decided to ignore the jury's decision and hand victory to Microsoft.


What Microsoft wants Microsoft gets.

This is covered in other places which like Microsoft and Lora Bentley's roundup connects it to the i4i case [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10].

A few days ago we wrote about the Obama administration filing an amicus brief regarding Bilski. This administration is generally favourable towards intellectual monopolies and secrecy [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13], but here is Patently-O's short analysis of the impact -- if any -- on software patentability:

Bilski Briefing: Government Argues that Section 101 'Processes' are limited to 'technological and industrial processes.



[...]

Although Bilski's claim does not relate directly to software, the machine-or-transformation could be seen to limit the patentability of software processes acting on a general purpose computer (as opposed to a "particular machine").


It brings us to the next item in this roundup. Earlier on we tried to discover whether Moblin is submissive to Microsoft's software patents routine [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. We've looked around to unravel Intel's stance on software patents and found only this:

Intel Statement on Software Patents



[..]

Now, to protect and encourage this kind of vast U.S. investment, and I'm referring to both the technical as well as the financial aspects, and, to promote the development of new and improved products, we at Intel believe that software-related technology should continue to be afforded the opportunity to obtain patent protection.


So Intel was in favour of software patents.

When it comes to Moblin, our reader Oiaohm insists that "Intel does not want anything with patent questions. Intel does not want anything disrupting their sales of hardware. Software patents could block their sales... So [this a]ffects Intel's bottom line. Remember Intel does not produce software, so software patents are no advantage to Intel."

The above statement from Intel is very old. "Time has moved a lot for Intel since 1994," writes Oiaohm. "[In] 1993-1994 Intel had a profitable complier business. icc is Intel's [and] Intel is slowly fusing the tech from their complier into gcc. Intel still sells it, but it's not a major profit arm. Basically, if Microsoft provides Silverlight and .NET for Linux in a patent-safe way, Intel would not get in [the] way. Now, the stuff Novell has Intel is not going to touch with a 10-foot pole. Intel is not stupid, they don't want the headaches."

But the main issue remains one of proprietary media, not patents. From the comments in another piece of coverage comes this:

Does Silverlight on Linux matter?



[...]

Are you seriously saying, that when Microsoft is making the field of on-line video more fragmented with one more proprietary format that is aimed at nothing else but give more control to Microsoft, we should applaud the company for doing this? This has nothing to do with choice for the users. If the use of Silverlight spreads wider in the future, the users are guaranteed not to have more choice and control of their computing experience.


Silverlight/Moonlight -- like .NET/Mono -- are not just patent issues, they are issues of control over developers, broadcasters, and users.

Recent Techrights' Posts

[Meme] The Ponzi Scheme That Eats Rivals (by Paying Them to Stop Competing)
Why compete when you can bribe and defang antitrust authorities?
In 2006 We Had a Novell Problem and Now We Have Several Novells
Microsoft thorns inside the community
Richard M. Stallman (RMS) Debunks Misconceptions About What Free Software Means and Explains How It Works
Free software means people (including users and developers) exercise control over the program, not the programmers
Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Has Fallen From 12% in Geminispace to Just 1.2% in Two Years (Capsules Usually Self-Sign Their Certificates)
Don't ask the imposters about security
Dispelling the Notion That Microsoft is Political Left
Microsoft not only got bailed out (several times) by Donald Trump but also approached him to take over TikTok without paying for it
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 11, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Gemini Links 12/09/2024: Clean Island and VCFMW19
Links for the day
Links 11/09/2024: EPO Patents Tossed Out by Courts, Software Patent Reveals Ford "Tech That Listens to Driver Conversations to Serve Ads"
Links for the day
More "Linux" SEO SPAM, Wrapped Up as Clown Computing, Composed by a "Bullshit Generator" (LLM)
linuxsecurity.com at it again this week
"Linux" and Linux.com Diploma Mill
The front page of Linux.com right now is the usual nonsense
Links 11/09/2024: ROOPHLOCH Report, Small Web Experiences, and Cohost Effectively Dead
Links for the day
Links 11/09/2024: Russia Enters Latvia With Drone, Truth Social Stock Crashes
Links for the day
The "IT Industry" is Full of Imposters (It's a Growing Crisis)
They often manage the companies
Richard Stallman Explains Stochastic Parrots (LLMs)
From his latest talk
The Toys of Today's Kids and Coordination Woes, Not to Mention a Lack of Social Skills
Too much time indoors, too much screen time
Linus Torvalds, the Son of a Politician, Tries to Stay Out of Politics (or Political Topics)
"I'm just a geek" has its limits in practice
Richard Stallman Still Deals With Politics
Stallman's gonna Stallman
GAFAM Not Invincible
The US has an election very soon and Microsoft is already bribing candidates for deregulation and favours, based on press reports
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 10, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 10, 2024
The Greatest Show on Earth (Buzzwords Circus)
What next? Being denied medical service because you don't have a Facebook account?
Gemini Links 11/09/2024: Happiness, Improvised Nebuliser, and olden Age of Palm OS
Links for the day
Julian Assange's Father Turns 80 and They Show Themselves in Melbourne
Will he be active in Wikileaks soon?
Slow But Ongoing Mass Layoffs at EPO, Estimates That Nearly Half of the FOs Will be Made Redundant Soon
When you cease to care about validity and quality of patents you're granting why bother with humans at all?
[Teaser] EPO Tightening Its Belt
who didn't see this coming?
Are Lawsuits Over EPO Corruption Next?
Why does the mainstream media not cover it?
Europe's Second Largest Institution, the EPO, Exploits Lack of Oversight to Commit Crimes Every Day
Immunity begets impunity, which in turn begets crime
[Video] Richard Stallman's New Talk in Germany Covers What Free Software Means, Why LLMs are "Bullshit", and Lots More (Web3 Summit 2024 Berlin)
Closing Keynote Day 3 - Dr. Richard Stallman - Web3 Summit 2024 Berlin
Transcript of Latest Public Talk by Dr. Richard M. Stallman (RMS), Delivered Last Month at Web3 Summit 2024 Berlin
quick-and-dirty transcription
Links 10/09/2024: Big Brother Awards Germany 2024 and Telling the Unemployed to 'Drive Uber'
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/09/2024: DUIs and Useless Analytics
Links for the day
The Peril of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Illuminates the Dangers of Founders Leaving or Being Forced Out
Whatever you may think they stand for, you risk being fixated on what they originally were and perhaps what their Web sites still say
Difficult Times at Soylent News
We hope that Soylent News will recover from this
New Article in redhat.com: How to Install Microsoft Windows
That's just about as bad as that sounds...
Crimes of the EPO Are Costing Everybody in Europe
Since virtually everyone in Europe is a user of software (almost nobody is a forest dweller like in countries near the equator), this impacts everybody
OSI's Blog is Still 100% Microsoft-Sponsored Attacks on Free/Open Source Software
OSI is a compromised, defunct body. It exists to serve the enemies of its original mission.
A Decade Ago Things Became So Bad at the European Patent Office (EPO) That Staff Jumped Out the Window During Working Hours
Colleagues saw the suicide; the EPO's response wasn't to tackle the causes but to bolt down the windows (like factories in China installing controversial 'suicide nets')
Red Hat is Suing to Protect From Patent Trolls
Why doesn't Red Hat (IBM) also lobby to eliminate all software patents once and for all?
COVID-19 Ushered in Attacks on Human Rights and Things They Said They Had Introduced Temporarily Are Still in Effect/Operation Today
COVID-19 changed a lot of things
Quitting Academia When Its IT Systems Are Dominated by Clowns Who Outsource
It seems like a common trajectory
Why the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Owning or Renting Office Space Mattered
"In the long term, the FSF needs to own its future office space, but then the deadly risk is that the property ownership becomes the end goal rather than software freedom."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 09, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, September 09, 2024
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Probably Has No Choice But to Shut Down Its Office
Net Income -$686,366
Nearly Two Years After Quitting My Job
My colleagues and I were bullied by managers (grievance complaint got filed) who didn't even know what "Linux" was
Terms of Service (TOS) Under Scrutiny - Part XVIII - In Conclusion
Many activities can be done offline without having to sign anything