Bonum Certa Men Certa

Obama Administration Goes After Phantom Enemy; Patent Trolls Are a Symptom, Hardly the Only Problem

Money talks, the suggested 'reform' is corporate

A thousand dollars



Summary: More evidence showing that in order to eradicate patent trolls, as well as their large equivalents (patent pools and thickets), we must reconsider patent scope, not size of plaintiffs; President Obama is going only after the small offenders

EARLIER ON we wrote about the racketeering operation known as Intellectual Ventures. It is so vast that it has summoned a legion of lobbyists constantly pressuring the government, seeking to legalise (or keep legal) extortion like its own.



"Acacia uses software parents, which Microsoft habitually passes to trolls."To understand what Intellectual Ventures is about (world's largest patent troll bar none; as IP Troll Tracker points out, it's hard to believe anyone is still unaware of this), think of Goldman Sachs and Mr. Madoff. Both are committing more or less the same crime but at vastly different levels of granularity. One gets a bailout (taxpayers' money), whereas the other gets sent to prison. Why? Well, pyramid schemes are only cracked down on by the government if they are small; if the scale is large, then there are lobbyists and more work is required (with the risk of retribution) to convict and arrest the perpetrators. Ask AG Holder why he doesn't convict large banks. He has already said that, fearing prosecution would have a negative effect on the economy, he would rather just let them be. Astounding!

Some days ago we wrote about Microsoft's friends at Acacia (former Microsoft employees in it) apparently taxing GNU/Linux again. Acacia uses software parents, which Microsoft habitually passes to trolls. As this news shows, Acacia's patents are "abstract" (i.e. on software) and therein lies the problem. The article says: "In a 14-page ruling issued on May 29, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte granted summary judgment to EMC Corporation, NetApp Inc., and Quantum Corp. in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Acacia subsidiary Compression Technology Solutions LLC. Whyte ruled that Acacia's patent, which relates to a process of compressing digital data, is an abstract idea. Abstract ideas are categorically excluded from patent-eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act, along with "laws of nature" and "physical phenomena."

"Another ‘legal’ site uses patent trolls as a distraction again. ""In September 2011, Acacia asserted the patent at issue against seven tech companies -- EMC, NetApp, Quantum, Hewlett-Packard Company, International Business Machines Corporation, and Quest Software Inc. All of the defendants settled except EMC, NetApp, and Quantum, represented by Ropes & Gray, Goodwin Procter, and Durie Tangri, respectively."

Don't expect David Kappos from the USPTO to pay attention to it. Regarding the latest software patents promotion from Kappos (published in Patently O to make some waves) Pamela Jones wrote: "No, the problem really is deeper than just poor quality patents; the problem is that software never should have been patentable. Software patents are destroying innovation, making it simply impossible to do a thing in software without getting sued. And sued multiple times, if you are successful. To pretend otherwise is to represent the interests of those who are already holding patents, not those who are trying to innovate."

Tell this to the EFF too. They seem to be targeting one patent at a time, still, and especially patent trolls. This is a misguided, short-term approach.

"This current patent crisis has nothing to do with patent trolls, it is about patent scope."Several 'legal' sites, ones that we habitually mention for promoting the views of patent lawyers in news feeds, continue to distort the public debate about software patents in the US. Mondaq pushes a couple of such views and Managing IP does so too, summarising with "Court issues seven conflicting opinions" and "USPTO responds" (the USPTO is defending broad scope for patenting, as we showed before), but that is not a court of law, it is a rogue institute seeking to increase revenue. Another 'legal' site uses patent trolls as a distraction again. This current patent crisis has nothing to do with patent trolls, it is about patent scope. As TechDirt noted the other day, even a student who won the Intel Science Fair got "Threatened With Patent Infringement Claims For Patent Not Yet Granted". Or to put it another way: "So it goes in America. No one's immune from the threat of patent litigation, not even 18-year high school students in possession of an award-winning science project in one of the most prestigious science fairs around." (original article at IDG)

When so many horrible patents get granted and then groomed by patent lawyers' sites it is no wonder we're in this sordid mess. "Seems to me that it is Patent Lawyers who mainly endorse patenting. Makes more business for them," wrote "Anti Software Patent" in Twitter the other day, adding that "Maths done on a calculator isn't Patentable but if you type it into a computer it is? A calculator is a computer as it Computes!" (as noted yesterday in this essay).

"Suffice to say, the White House will be addressing the wrong problem, obeying corporate requests rather than public requests to re-assess patent scope. "Watch how opposition to software patents gets smeared by patent boosters like Martin Goetz, whose sole achievement seems to be getting a patent on software.

Suffice to say, the White House will be addressing the wrong problem, obeying corporate requests rather than public requests to re-assess patent scope. That's what all politicians do. According to this, Obama is still going after the symptoms rather than the root cause. The analysis adequately starts by giving this bit of background: "Back in February, we were a bit surprised during President Obama's "Fireside Hangout" when he appeared to speak out against patent trolls. Historically, most politicians had always tiptoed around the issue, in part because the pharma industry seems to view any attack on patent trolls as an existential threat -- and, frankly, because some small time patent holders can also make a lot of noise. However, it's become exceptionally clear that there's political will to take on patent trolls. We've noted five different patent law bills introduced in Congress, all targeting patent trolls in one form or another."

"The issue with patent thickets is showing that trolls are not the real problem. "Yes, it's all about trolls to them. The article carries on as follows: "And now, it's been reported that President Obama is going to come out strongly against patent trolling, directing the USPTO and others to fix certain issues, while also asking Congress to pass further laws to deal with patent trolling. The President will flat out note that patent trolls represent a "drain on the American economy." The announcement will directly say that "patent trolls" (yes, they use the phrase) are a problem, while also talking about the problem of patent thickets like the infamous "smartphone wars.""

The issue with patent thickets is showing that trolls are not the real problem. There is a more fundamental problem and that is what Obama should be tackling. The press coverage only concentrates on trolls [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] (FOSS-friendly sites aside [1, 2]), which re-affirmes our position that President Obama will only crack down on small abusers while ignoring the massive extortion rackets. "The White House Hates Patent Trolls," says this alternative news site, but it sure doesn't hate software patents. Not yet anyway...

The biggest patent abusers are, in the White House's view, perhaps too big to jail, let alone speak about.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Links 25/07/2025: NOAA Cuts Endanger Lives, "Europe's Self Inflicted Cloud Crisis"
Links for the day
 
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol
New US Editor in The Register is 84% Microsoft/Windows Booster
It'll be worrying if it carries on like this
Links 25/07/2025: Slop Blunders and China Has Code of Conduct for Lawmakers in HK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Some Books and Babies and Capital
Links for the day
They Try to Lecture Us on Ethics
They even removed "master" from Microsoft GitHub
The Future of the Web is One Rendering Engine or 'Flavours' of Chrome
The future of the Web does not look bright at all
Best Sites Are Not Optimised for Any Browser, They Work Equally Well With All of Them
Red Hat (IBM) is making rubbish sites
YouTube is a Spamfarm, Slopfarm, and Clickfarm (a Lot of Numbers There Are Fake)
Those who don't fake look unpopular and unimportant
We Don't Do JavaScript and Pages Are Small
Thankfully Gemini Protocol has nothing like JavaScript
'Tech' is Not Technology
Some people use terms like 'Old Tech'
IBM's Debt Rose by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in the Past 6 Months Alone
The "hey hi" circus is coming to an end
Yes, Master
Gaslighting by actual racists
Microsoft Bribes and Buys Politicians to Tell Europe What to Do About Free Software (Which It's Attacking)
Microsoft: we speak for the thing that we are attacking! Follow the money...
Making Backups Quickly and Reliably
Backups are imperative, more so in an age of uncertainty, unpredictable weather, and worsening standards (quality of products going down while prices go up)
Techrights Investigation: Estimating the Point in Time LinuxIac Turned Into LLM Slop (Part of the Time)
Bobby Borisov got lazy
10th Month, Ten Weeks From Now, at Ten AM
In Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 24, 2025
A Nadella Memo Distracts From Microsoft's Cheapening Of the Workforce
Right now the "MSM" (mainstream media) is flooded/overwhelmed by garbage pieces that relay lies for Nadella
Vanishing Faces of GNU/Linux
Free software projects do not depend on any one person or company to still exist
Microsoft Says It Lost 400 Million Windows Users, Now It's Waiting for GNU/Linux to Stop Booting on 'Old' PCs
When it comes to Windows, Microsoft is fully aware of the issue and statements it made earlier this summer suggest it lost 400 million Windows users
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, linuxsecurity.com, LinuxIac, and More
Also: The Register's Microsoft agenda (new editor)
Gemini Links 25/07/2025: Gemtext Aware Titan Editor and Gemini Protocol Comeback
Links for the day
Links 24/07/2025: Convicted Felon Quits UNESCO, "Vibe Coding Goes Wrong", and Signalgate Gets Worse
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/07/2025: Forgejo Woes and Smolnet Directory Week
Links for the day
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
Links 24/07/2025: Storage Tapes Still Kicking, Windows TCO 'on Steroids' (Microsoft-Induced Catastrophes)
Links for the day
Bobby Borisov (LinuxIac) Has Apparently Begun Experimenting With LLM Slop, So We Cannot Trust LinuxIac Anymore
So did LinuxIac become a slopfarm? Maybe not yet, but it's getting there
Informa TechTarget's ITProToday is Becoming a Slopfarm Generated by Microsoft Chatbots
Busted.
'Tech' Gimmicks Are for Advertising, Not for Usability
In the case of Microsoft, they latched onto slop
BetaNews Sacked Brian Fagioli and Deleted His Comments, But He Still Tries to Use the "BetaNews" Brand for Self-Affirmation
Fagioli takes the work of other people
[Meme] Hard to Be a Better Person?
Sooner or later they'll realise that for each pound I spend they need to spend about 1,000 times more
The LLM Con Artists Are Highly Destructive
Who will ever be held accountable for this scam?
Too Bribed by Microsoft to Move to Free Software?
Microsoft lies and Microsoft bribery (in politics)
New US Editor for The Register is a Microsoft Booster
"Avram Piltch has served as US editor for The Register since July 2025."
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled