Bonum Certa Men Certa

Obama Administration Misuses the 'T Word' (Troll) to Dodge Serious Issues

Perpetual siege: Only the large corporations always get their way

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney



Summary: Failing to see how patents themselves actually distort the market for everyone (not just some large corporations), Obama wants to wash his hands with legislation that will resolve nothing and legitimise the notoriously unsupervised patent regime

The debate about privacy notwithstanding (it's not quite a partisan/political issue, as the policy was actually put in place by Bush/Republicans, then expanded by Obama/Democrats), we must focus on the ongoing progress when it comes to patent monopolies. Just before the whole press got flooded by PRISM coverage the White House said it would target patent trolls [1, 2, 3].



Patent trolls are a bit of a phantom enemy, or an enemy to large corporations. Well, this is why they are being tackled by the government which is funded and run by large corporations, directly or by proxy (lobbyists).

According to this recent post, a troll is targeting some large corporations again -- the hallmark of a true troll. To quote:

On June 4, a patent holding company named PatentMarks Communications LLC filed patent infringement lawsuits in the District of Delaware against a slew of electronics companies. The companies accused of infringement include at least Dell, Futurewei, HTC, Kyocera, LG, Motorola Mobility, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and ZTE. (The complaint against HTC [LINK here] is exemplary). PatentMarks — who is the assignee of six U.S. patents, according the USPTO — accuses these companies of infringing U.S. Patent No. 8,400,926, which is titled “Multi-Protocol Telecommunications Routing Optimization” — and which just issued as a patent on March 19, 2013. The ’926 patent generally claims an optimized method and system for transferring files over a telecommunications network.


A lot of the companies above are Android vendors. It's hard to miss that. Pamela Jones asked: "Now do you see why the President wants to retrain patent examiners on the topic of making sure claims are specific to the invention and not as broad as a Nebraska sky? This patent just issued in March."

What about the targets of litigation?

Anyway, trolls are not the main issue, never mind the support for Obama from large corporations and their lobbies. Expectedly, patent lawyers are trying to get their views in sites syndicated by news aggregators, contributing to a mixed debate where both 'sides' do not speak for the public at large, just for minority interests in business. Here is another example of the Android leader (Motorola/Google) getting sued and extorted massively over software patents. Therein lies the issue: patenting scope.

At the same time we find lawyers bickering over sales of patents as if that's a good idea when we see companies like Microsoft arming trolls like Vringo and MOSAID. One lawyers' site reveals this:

New Patent Exchange Hopes to Be Nasdaq for IP



Are companies ready to buy and sell patent rights the way investors buy shares of stock?

That's the idea behind a new financial exchange, Intellectual Property Exchange International Inc., that launched Wednesday with the aim of creating a standard marketplace for patent licenses.

The Chicago-based IPXI is structuring the licensing process like a public equity offering, bringing familiar financial principles and standards to the murkier world of patent licensing by assigning values that are market-driven and transparent.


This is what we find in Intellectual Ventures, Microsoft's biggest patent troll. Will Obama tackle the real issues based on market realities rather than broad generalisations and simplified classifications? Trolls are a symptom, not the problem. The President of the OSI agrees on this and I might be meeting him tomorrow.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 31/01/2026: "Introducing Encrypt It Already" and "Huge Cache of Epstein"
Links for the day
A Can of WORMS - Part I - Trying to Throw RMS Under the Bus at MIT and Everywhere Else
This series won't give air to online 'trolls'
Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part I - An Introduction
When the series ends, some time around the second or third EPO strike of this year, we'll contact the relevant authorities and plead for intervention
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Delusion - Part I - Who Regulates This Regulator? (Only Itself!)
We won't self-censor or prematurely terminate this series
Norway Almost Trusts Russia More Than the Bill Gates (Sleeping With Young Russian Girls) Company, Microsoft
Microsoft represents crime
Riddle Us This... (Jim Zemlin and Bill Gates)
Do these people even understand the literal meaning of "safe space"?
Is "Nobel Prize for Peace" a Sick Person's 'Code Word' for Gangbanging Now? Ask Bill Gates.
Watch all the Gates apologists getting all silenced/silent
BBC Gaslights Women Sexually Exploited (Many Under Legal Age) for Its Rich Sponsor, Bill Epsteingate (Gates)
Is this a national broadcaster or a propaganda tool "For Rent"?
Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' Reportedly About to Become Bankrupt, Seeking Emergency Cash Infusion (Loans)
the money promised to Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' failed to arrive
Gemini Links 31/01/2026: Deep Ice and Slide Rules
Links for the day
Writing About Abuse
Never ever allow misogynists to get their way if you strive to live in a decent society
MIT DEDP MicroMasters online learner's blog post about cover-up linked to resignation of Swiss financial regulator
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Salary Erosion Procedure (SAP) as the Primary Reason for EPO Strikes
They focus on financials, as the corruption aspects are un-sayable or unspeakable, except in private
IBM Bluewashing: Feels Like IBM is Scuttling Neudesic (and Some of Red Hat)
We recently saw some Red Hat staff joining a Microsoft proxy
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 30, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, January 30, 2026
Microsoft Stock Collapsing Due to the Slop Bubble and Microsoft is Hiding Budget 'Black Holes'
Microsoft does not perform like it tells "the media" and "the market"
Gemini Links 30/01/2026: Love and Cultivation, Gemtext Anchors
Links for the day
Will Jim Zemlin Also Sell His Daughter or Only the "Linux" Brand (and Linux Foundation) to Bill Epsteingate?
Torvalds "ate a bug"
The Epstein Files Don't Say the Ages of Those "Russian Girls" Bill Epsteingate Exploited
This E-mail was sent around the time an arrest was made for pedophilia
Only One in 33 EPO Staff Voting on the Strike Opposed It
Kudos to all those who participated in the strike
Still Hoping for "Slop Zero" in 2026
We've also noticed that linuxiac.com shows a glimmer of hope this week
Links 30/01/2026: Waymo Crashing Into 'Small People' (Children), Microsoft at Risk Due to Slop Debt
Links for the day
Amutable’s Management and Founders Are 100% Microsoft!
It'll be focused on promoting Microsoft's agenda in everything it does
IBM Tries to Get Rid of Workers Without Paying Them (and It Appears to be Working)
be sure to speak to people who actually work there
He Has No Money, But He Has Power, He Has a Voice
That's why they envy and attack him
Free Software in Swiss Media This Week
RMS is still going places with his Migros bag (Swiss retail giant)
TV Programs Disseminate False Numbers of Microsoft Layoffs (About 31,000 Laid Off Last Year, Not Including PIPs, Contractors and so on)
large-scale layoffs are inevitable, no matter how long Microsoft delays or procrastinates
Links 30/01/2026: Microsoft's "OpenAI Is Headed For Bankruptcy" and Bitcoin Crashes
Links for the day
Why Would Anybody be Afraid of Talking to Richard Stallman?
We need to get rid of the baseless stigma
Amutable is a Microsoft Proxy Like Xamarin, With Some IBM/Red Hat Staff Added for Good Measure
Amutable chasing money and trying to impose TPM etc. on everybody
The Letter Sent to the Ringleader of the Alicante Mafia This Week
Call for industrial actions to stop the salary erosion of EPO staff
EPO on Strike
organisation operating outside the Rule of Law
Oracle's Debt Exploded by 22 Billion Dollars in 6 Months, the Ponzi Scheme With Scam Altman Was Classic 'Pump and Dump'
The founder of Oracle now uses his wealth for right-wing ideological reasons, nothing else
Facebook ('Meta') is Dead Meat, This GAFAM Company's Debt Exploded by Almost 33 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months (11 Billion Per Month)
we can expect many sales/contracts to get canceled
Australia's top nurse takes on Musk, Zuckerberg & rogue health influencers, birthkeepers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Affirming What We Already Know: Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is Profoundly Incompetent
"SRA ordered to pay solicitor £50k in costs after failed prosecution"
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part XVI - The Associates of Mr. Cocainegate Don't Want to Talk About Cocainegate (Right of Reply)
Nobody wanted to talk about cocaine at the EPO
The "Open Source" (Corporate Openwashing) Fake Community Rejects Democracy, Open Source Initiative is in Effect Dead
This is basically the end of the OSI
Cracks and Holes in Microsoft's Slop Bubble (Also, Windows is Declining)
"More Bad News For Xbox As Microsoft Blames Gaming For An Annual Decline In Its PC Business"
Microsoft's Debt Exploded by More Than 20 Billion Dollars This Past Year, Says Microsoft
Expect more mass layoffs
Strike at the EPO Today
Next month we'll start a new EPO series
State of the Slop and The Register MS Runs Ads as 'Articles'
Yesterday we could not find much slop about "Linux"
Gemini Links 30/01/2026: Announcing Crossyword and SYN Attack
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 29, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, January 29, 2026
Gemini Links 29/01/2026: Naps, Letting Go, and Terribly Cold Weather
Links for the day
Links 29/01/2026: Kennedy Center Officials Resigning and Amazon to Cut 16,000 Jobs
Links for the day
Goodbyes to Red Hat and IBM
PIPs let them do the same with less "wasted" on severance or with obscene narrative-shaping
RMS Was Right 35 Years Ago
Stallman’s viewpoints have remained the same
The Need to Understand the Projection Tactics Against RMS
There's an old and common saying (or "wisdom") about who's guilty when there's a fart in elevators (lifts)
Links 29/01/2026: Neocities Is Blocked by Microsoft, “Intellectual Freedom Centers” as the New "Intelligent Design"
Links for the day
Microsoft XBox Dying Not Only as a Console, Reveals Microsoft
Microsoft is trying to rebrand or repurpose the brand
Don't be Mistaken, Microsoft Boasts About Money That Does Not Exist and Revenue (Buying From Oneself!) Is Not Income
the company's debt grew
Fedora is IBM and There's Hardly Any Community Left
It's more like an onboarding mechanism for unpaid labour at (and for) IBM
IBM's Financial Performance in IBM's Own Words: Money Down, Debt Up Sharply
IBM isn't a healthy company
In Dominica, GNU/Linux Has Risen to All-Time High in 2026
a lot of America is moving to Free software this year
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part XV - EPO is on Strike Tomorrow, Lots to be Angry About (Except Money)
We'll soon finish the series
Gemini Links 29/01/2026: "Lady Audley's Secret" and "The Value Of Our Fear" (Carney's Speech)
Links for the day
Emmanuel Macron on Europe's GAFAM Addiction/Dependence: "There is No Such Thing as Happy Vassalage"
Microsoft has long worked to prevent commodification
It's Official, Mass Layoffs at IBM Again (2026)
In a matter of days we'll just see how much IBM's debt has grown
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 28, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 28, 2026