Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Lawyers Continue to Spin Grim News About Patents (UPC, Lawsuits Peak, Patent Raids) as Good News

Good for lawyers and their super-affluent clients, bad for everyone else...

The trickle-down Patent trickle-down effect: large corporations at the top, their patent lawyers at the bottom, and the public just gets flooded (with lawsuits, embargoes/injunctions, and raids)



Summary: A roundup of misleading coverage from patent lawyers, to whom any kind of corporate landgrab or monopoly (by means of patenting) is seen as a win

THE mouths of the EPO and of patent trolls just can't stop moving. And when they move (talk) they lie. Our collective jaws were on the floor (not just mine) when we saw IAM saying: "The headline is that US patent suits are at record highs. The reality is it's never been tougher to be a plaintiff."



Cry us a river. "Plaintiff" just means patent aggressor, and in many cases these aggressors are patent trolls, like those that are paying IAM (it cost us to say this*). Figures from Unified Patents and Lex Machina are being cited by IAM (both sources and their findings were mentioned here earlier on) and IAM is not denying the growth in litigation, just finding some yardsticks by which to spin these figures in favour of greedy patent lawyers who receive money from patent trolls. Remember that IAM is literally funded (e.g. through events) by the world's worst patent trolls (it's stated openly in the list of sponsors). We covered this before. The patent propagandists from IAM are willing to go as far as trying to spin news about patent wars as a positive news (in full-length articles).

People might think we're being cruel and merciless when it comes to IAM, but these people are dangerous, they are talking to Manny Schechter, who promotes software patents for IBM [1, 2], and influential people like Wouter Pors (occasionally an EPO critic) uses IAM to promote the unitary patent (UPC). Days ago he wrote: "The German ratification of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement will most likely be postponed until September 2016 and be decisive for the Unitary Patent (UP) system to go live. Wouter Pors, partner of law firm Bird & Bird, has said this in an interview with Kluwer IP Law. Thirteen ratifications are needed for the new European patent system to start functioning, including those of France, the UK and Germany. So far eight countries, including France, have ratified."

He was then citing the EPO's mouthpiece, IAM 'magazine', as follows: "In a recent IAM report, it was pointed out that so far there have been no signs from Germany when it will ratify the UPC Agreement."

IAM just keeps shaming Germany into it (at least thrice that we've noticed it so far). At the bottom it says: "Wouter Pors is one of the speakers at the Unitary Patent Package conference, 4 & 5 February 2016 in Amsterdam."

This is a pro-UPC event sponsored by patent lawyers, notably NLO, "one of the larger European firms providing specialist advice in the field of intellectual property in all its aspects for more than 125 years," according to the backers' page.

It's said to be costing about €1000 to attend, ensuring that all those in attendance will basically make it an echo chamber with no real diversity of views. It's an event by lawyers, for lawyers, and for their richest clients (companies like IBM or Microsoft).

Remember that another pro-UPC event is sponsored by EPO through FTI Consulting, in addition to patent lawyers. IAM is organising this. They're all working together to get more money for themselves and their rich clients (large multinational corporations) at the expense of everybody else. The patent system has a red tape or ribbon ensuring that everyone who interacts with it is pressured to pay a lawyer (as told by a recent SME story that we shared here).

As told yesterday by a patent lawyers' site (linking to a recent paper), the patent bar (in the legal sense) has become a necessity for many. The abstract says that "the vast majority of lawyers cannot represent clients in the Patent Office. The paucity of critical debate regarding the size and structure of the Patent Bar is surprising given that innovators spend billions of dollars each year on legal services in the Patent Office."

To quote from the paper (a few weeks old now): "many companies only hire patent attorneys with relevant experience in the appropriate technological area and don’t simply rely upon the “patent attorney” status as a total qualifier."

All that patent mess and the altercations in court (or with examiners) is big business for non-producing actors, not inventors. The inventors are just the ones losing money. Who is this system really for? Seriously, speak to SMEs about their negative experiences with the EPO...

Watch what happened in this week's CES tech show in Las Vegas, based on this new BBC report. To quote the reporter: "The officials confiscated all the company's one-wheeled vehicles and took down its signs after a Silicon Valley-based rival filed a patent infringement claim."

Yay, innovation!

It's just like the Sisvel patent mafia situation [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13], only in the US this time around. They work for large corporations. Watch IAM defending this! They frame this as helping the 'little guy' or inventors, when obviously enough it's exactly the opposite (the only ones agreeing with IAM are in the same business, e.g. Jeremy Phillips).

It's not tactless and it's not rude to point out who stands where. Florian Müller, for instance, appears to have officially flip-flopped back to truly opposing software patents and those who use these against Linux. Irrespective of his past (including payments from Microsoft), we should all welcome him back to the fight against software patents in Europe and elsewhere. ________ * After blocking many people who don't agree with them, IAM decided it was an exercise in futility (it cannot just magically halt public criticism) and is now unblocking all those who were banned, supposedly for the "new year" [1, 2, 3].

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM Misleads and Gaslights Investors With Slop Sold as "AI" (the Business is Waning, Mass Layoffs Continue)
People who do this are dishonest. They should not be put in charge.
Submit Your Suggestions for EU's Embrace of Software Freedom by Tomorrow
Time to leave GAFAM (US) hegemony behind
Slopless Weekend
This is not sustainable
 
Chatbots Didn't Do Any Good for Microsoft
Google "AI" = search + copypasta
Links 02/02/2026: Cultural Cleansing by China and 'Living Behind Firewalls" in Iran
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Measured at More Than 4% in Russia
growing adoption of GNU/Linux in Russia
Gemini Links 02/02/2026: Stages of Age, Workflows, and Counting Capsules
Links for the day
Oracle's Debt Rose Over 20 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months
Is "hey hi" becoming a synonym for debt?
Oligarchs' 'Speech Zones' Are Not the "Public Square"
The apologists of social control media, including press that got "addicted" to such fake "media", are helping dictators and oligarchs grab the public attention away from the real press
Links 02/02/2026: 'Melania' a Horror Movie "Will They Inherit Our Blogs?"
Links for the day
Doing More Detailed Series (Long-Form Works)
Long readings or book-like reading binges are only possible when parts are suitably labeled (name and numbers) if not interlinked
Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part II - Racism, Cocaine Use and White-Collar Corruption
When you hire people illegally, to work for cocaine users and keep quite about the cocaine use, what will be the impact on the reputation of an institution?
A Can of WORMS - Part II - Darkening the Name of RMS, Associating It With Crime
Beware projection tactics
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 01, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, February 01, 2026
Gemini Links 01/02/2026: Fossil Heating Installations and Some FOSDEM Coverage
Links for the day
The State of Memory Leaks in GNU/Linux
The issue won't be solved by adding more memory
Links 01/02/2026: Nvidia's Jensen Talks Down Microsoft 'Open' 'Hey Hi' and Britain's Starmer Makes Friends With China, Japan
Links for the day
Why Microsoft Accenture Has So Many Layoffs in Recent Years
The debt of Accenture doubled a year ago
Links 01/02/2026: Public TV Gutted by Cheeto, Billionaires Fund a Cheeto Propaganda Movie in 'Documentary' Clothing
Links for the day
The New Site ("New Techrights", SSG Since 2023) Exceeds the Old Site in Requests
The "New Techrights" gets about twice as many requests as the "old" (WordPress) "Techrights", the site of 2006-2023
20 Years Ago
Some time soon all this slop frenzy will become like yesterday's "blockchain" or "metaverse"
Gemini Links 01/02/2026: Zdzisław Beksiński and Disconnected Git Workflow
Links for the day
Talks About Nadella's Microsoft Exit After Chatter About Tim Crook Leaving Apple (Years Ahead of Retirement Age)
Mass layoffs and record debt do not represent a company's health.
We Still Cover the Same Problems We Spoke of 20 Years Ago
We're not easily seduced by "novelty" (new things), we try to judge them critically
Patents Standing in the Way
They also cause environmental harm
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 31, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, January 31, 2026
IBM, a Microsoft Company
Microsoft and IBM as a pair go a long way back
A Lot Less GAFAM in Scandinavia
Are they reacting to geopolitics and risks from the US?
IBM Kills Companies It Bought (Neudesic Seems Like Latest Casualty)
Why isn't even a single publisher investigating those things?
Fake "Linux" Articles
Just because some platform has "Linux" in the domain name and/or site name does not imply that it is a news/Linux site
Gemini Links 31/01/2026: "Proof Without Content" and "Technology Connections"
Links for the day
Links 31/01/2026: Microsoft "OpenAI Representatives Are Going to Critics’ Houses With Threats and Demands", Its Proprietary Chaffbot Faces More Lawsuits
Links for the day
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"