Summary: Patent news of relevance with emphasis on the USPTO

EARLIER this month we wrote about CarrierIQ, noting that it provides an example of why proprietary software is often malicious. We now read that the FBI made use of this malicious software. We now realise that software patents too were part of this bundle. Excellent example of everything going wrong under the same package, eh?

The patent industry is posting a load of rubbish about these malicious things and contests are being set up to help make things worse for everyone (except patent lawyers). Here is more of this theme:

Glastonbury software developer TopCoder Inc. has opened a $50,000 contest for code writers to create by mid-January new algorithms that will help the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office conduct patent review.

We mentioned this before. While patents boosters are hiring hostile pro-patent people [1, 2] we cannot help feeling cynical about where the USPTO is headed. Here is the story of one real company (or a set of them) which feel the pinch:

The developers behind the next evolution of the Internet -- linked, immersive, 3D environments -- are trying to think of ways to minimize the adverse impact of software patents on their industry.

Software patents are for a meta-industry, not the real industry which makes stuff. There is no good faith in patent monopolies. We'll provide more evidence in the coming days. ⬆