Bonum Certa Men Certa

Lobbyists for Software Patents in 'Journalism' and 'Reform' Clothing (With Microsoft Connections)

One big happy family with lots of money in circulation and pro-software patents agenda

David Kappos PAI



Summary: The latest examples of unequivocal pushes for software patents, under the guise of 'reporting' (poor-shaming) or patent 'reform' (nothing to do with reform), courtesy of IAM 'magazine' and David Kappos, respectively

PATENT quality at the David Kappos-led USPTO has been poor and declining. This was apparently the goal, or an obvious (predictable) consequence of the strategy. It leaves the United States in a state of total mess, where a lot of startups are forced to cough out 'protection money' or go out of business. Not only patent trolls are causing this havoc but also large patent aggressors, such as Microsoft and IBM. Imagine what this kind of mess would mean to India, where a lot of software is being developed and the budget of local firms is relatively tight (hiring lawyers in another country is extremely expensive).



"Not only patent trolls are causing this havoc but also large patent aggressors, such as Microsoft and IBM."Taking stock of the latest propaganda from IAM 'magazine', Techrights cannot help but berate and ridicule this so-called 'magazine' (more like a lobbying pamphlet). It's not even a magazine, it's Kool-Aid in paper form and a paywalled Web site (to keep only the choir in the know, no dissenting voices allowed). Here is today's IAM brainwash about US patent 'quality' (the number of granted patents doubling in just a few years is evidently an indication of declining quality) and even worse brainwash that misrepresents the views of Indians, composed by an Anglo-Saxon who is employed to write such tripe. No Indian is even quoted in this article, except a law firm (obviously no bias there!).

Even after Alice, which challenges software patents in their home country, IAM continues to bat for software patents. IAM is London-based, which makes it even more outrageous, until one checks where IAM's funds actually come from...

"Techrights cannot help but berate and ridicule this so-called ‘magazine’ (more like a lobbying pamphlet). It’s not even a magazine, it’s Kool-Aid in paper form and a paywalled Web site (to keep only the choir in the know, no dissenting voice allowed)."Robert R. Sachs from Bilski Blog (shrewdly named after the famous Bilski case) is preparing a paper (and a series of articles derived from it) about why software patents are just mental processes, hence abstract. In many ways, software patents a major deception, exploiting people's misunderstanding of how software actually works (it's not hard to scam or bamboozle patent judges who never wrote a single line of code).

Earlier today I confronted the editor in chief at IAM, who is a trolls denialist (he still pretends that no such problem exists, just like people who deny human-caused global warning or climate change). This editor and his guys (the only woman there is clerical) are not reporting. They're pushing for software patents in India today, using distortion of facts and outright lies. Shame on IAM for doing this. As I put it earlier today, in response to the editor: "As long as you guys do reputation laundering for patent trolls and software patents while they PAY you, you're fake news. PR."

"They're pushing for software patents in India today, using distortion of facts and outright lies."It's increasingly important to shed light on what IAM really is and who's funding it (and what for).

As I put it earlier today, IAM "continues to demonstrate that it's not a real newspaper/magazine but just paid lobbying pretending to be reporting. Disgusting."

IAM is full of patent maximalists (look at the authors' background) who want more patents in more places, more domains, more companies, and so on. IAM is funded by those interests. What does that say about IAM? It's like a magazine about energy which is funded by oil and coal companies, in order to suppress any coverage of alternative forms of energy. Bias by omission at the very least. This villainous, trolls- and EPO-connected IAM 'magazine' now shames India over India's very tactful decision to block software patents, in the same way it repeatedly shamed Germany for not doing enough (much to the editor's displeasure) to openly promote UPC, which incidentally IAM got paid to promote (even by the EPO's PR firm). It doesn't take a genius to see what's going on here, who pays, and cui bono etc. IAM dedicated their latest issue to the world's largest patent troll [EN|ES] -- an issue which apparently included this article, whose whole premise (and headline) is a big lie. The title says "India’s tough new line on software patents could hamper plans for boosting its digital start-ups" (no kidding!).

"It's increasingly important to shed light on what IAM really is and who's funding it (and what for)."In reality, the very opposite is true as software patents would hamper India's plans for boosting its digital start-ups. Ask these start-ups and they will say so. Ask Microsoft or IBM (or their patent lawyers in India) and they will say 'on behalf' of these start-ups just a bunch of lies. Ask lobbyists of big companies and patent lawyers (like those that pay IAM) and they too will tell lots of lies. It's the same scenario we saw in New Zealand and in Europe, where Microsoft even pays lobbyists to pretend to represent small businesses and actually say the very opposite of what European SMEs think and believe in. IAM now demonstrates that it's no better than these lobbyists. The difference is the way they publicly characterise themselves.

Indian startups need code, not patents, which are priced out of reach anyway, never mind cost of litigation. IAM wrote: "It seems to me that this could cause some big problems for the digital start-ups that the government is so keen to support. Many of them will have computer-related innovations at the heart of their business models; if it becomes much more difficult for them to obtain patent protection on these, then the reasons for them to consider relocating outside of India could well become even more compelling."

"Indian startups need code, not patents, which are priced out of reach anyway, never mind cost of litigation."This is nonsense. Where is the evidence that without software patents those start-ups would move out of India and given that the software market is an international market (definitely not local), what difference would relocation make anyway? It might make a difference for multinational corporations such as IBM or Microsoft, no doubt about that...

Speaking of Microsoft, last night we discovered (not too shockingly) that Microsoft is putting money on Debian's table (conference). It becomes -- gasp -- a sponsor. Yes, it's E.E.E., but does Debian understand that? As we noted some days ago and last weekend, Microsoft still sponsors patent maximalism conferences (with Microsoft-funded lobbyists who promote software patents), wherein it can further influence the EPO (its partner in crime, so to speak) and European politicians. Can Microsoft be trusted at all while it's extorting and blackmailing Debian-based device manufacturers using software patents? That's a rhetorical question.

"Can Microsoft be trusted at all while it's extorting and blackmailing Debian-based device manufacturers using software patents?"Incidentally, having mentioned David Kappos earlier, he too is now acting more as a lobbyist (official-turned-lobbyist a classic way of turning influence into money), funded by Microsoft and others in order to promote software patents. Remember that Horacio Gutierrez and his Microsoft chums once (or more than once) paid Florian Müller to do the same thing. Here is a recent article which a reader sent to us last night. It neglects to mention the special role of Kappos there. It just says that "Apple is taking a bigger role in pushing for patent reform in the United States by teaming up with IBM, Microsoft, and other companies as part of the Partnership for American Innovation. The organization's goal is to lobby the Federal government to adopt the changes it wants to improve the country's patent system."

No, it wants to promote software patents. When Microsoft says patent "reform" it means software patents lobbying (same for Apple and IBM). They hijack the word reform and their chief lobbyist at PAI is David Kappos himself.

"Microsoft is now in the Kappos-led group that pushes for software patents.""By the way," told us one reader, "we've been wondering here about why Microsoft is so quiet and not attacking FOSS deployments and legislations. We figured that they must be working on something that can do an end-run around both. Digging a bit, it might be that they are confident that TTIP, TISA, and CETA will ban FOSS. There's been no coverage of that to speak of in the mainstream press. In the same digging, I see that I've underestimated the importance of Wikileaks as well as the motives for Microsoft and its government stooges to crush it. As far as I know, TISA or TTIP is also pushing software patents, but I've read almost nothing yet and am about to start."

Microsoft is now in the Kappos-led group that pushes for software patents. as our reader put it, "reform turns out to be one of their weasel words."

The same goes for "loving" Linux. Watch out, Debian. You're already fractured and fragmented due to systemd. Now you let the patent bully enter your events? Will buttons that say "Microsoft loves Linux" be distributed to put people off, as usual? It perfectly fits the latest E.E.E. pattern.

"I’ve killed at least two Mac conferences. [...] by injecting Microsoft content into the conference, the conference got shut down. The guy who ran it said, why am I doing this?"

--Microsoft's chief evangelist



Recent Techrights' Posts

The Media Helps Microsoft, Amazon and Others (GAFAM and Beyond) Lie About Mass Layoffs Amid Valuation Bubble
The media, instead of saying that there's an "AI bubble" crashing the economy might instead choose the narrative of "jobs replaced by AI"
Bad Tempered? You Might Have Just Given Away That You're Losing the Argument
Brett Wilson LLP is fully aware that it is being investigated
 
Security is Desirable, But Not When the Term Security is Misused to Imply Centralisation of "Trust" (Whose?)
'Security' is not an excuse for vendor lock-in
Links 17/10/2025: Fentanylware (CheeTok) Causing Problems, Japanese Government Blasts Slop
Links for the day
The Linux Foundation Seems to Have Turned Linux.com Not Only Into a Spamfarm But Also LLM Slopfarm
it's polluting the Web, even important domains like Linux.com, with spam and LLM slop
Links 17/10/2025: UK’s Largest Breach Penalty and Windows TCO Examples
Links for the day
Go Watch Video About Librephone, Get Microsoft Ads
Very ethical company...
Campaign of Defamation Against the People Who Built NixOS (and Are Now Pushed Out From Their Own Project)
We've already grown familiar with - and resistant to - such tactics
Links 17/10/2025: Nestlé Crisis, Canada Post Versus 'Gig Economy' [sic] and Vista 11 Breaks Itself
Links for the day
Tux Machines Has Helped Separate Opinions/Analysis From News
In September 2023 we decided to split things apart and not repeat links in both sites
Tux Machines Has Improved Navigation of GNU/Linux and BSD News
Some more 'wiring' work
What a World Would Look Like If Everyone Used Free Software Only
Freedom is what matters, not "Open".
Richard Stallman (RMS) is a Target of Defamation Campaigns Because of His Views on Software (But Politics Are the Excuse for Defaming Him)
Here in this site we try to refrain from politics, except in Daily Links
End of Vista 10 and Rise of GNU/Linux as Client Side Operating System
It seems certain GNU/Linux will grow in popularity over time
Taking Stock of a Week's Worth of EPO Leaks
We remain committed to exposing EPO corruption as long as it keeps happening
Mathieu Parreaux claims FINMA knew since day one
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Calumny, Libel, Joerg Jaspert & debian-private untouchable cyberbullies
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 16, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 16, 2025
Techrights Turns 19 in 3 Weeks
coverage of suppressed topics and protecting all sources/whistleblowers
International E-Waste Day Same Day as End of Vista 10
message from Akira Urushibata
The EPO's Central Staff Committee Presents Evidence That Staff Compensation Lowered While the Office Increases Income by Illegally Granting Invalid Patents
These people become millionaires by doing illegal things
Second or Third Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in October 2025, This Time Portugal
Those are just the ones we know about, there may be several more
'Help Net Security' (helpnetsecurity.com) May Have Become a Slopfarm as Well
Zeljka Zorz, Editor-in-Chief at Help Net Security, was reported to us
Gemini Links 17/10/2025: Rant About Network Solutions, Strange Anomaly on Lagrange
Links for the day
EPO Staff Representation Lacks Social Dialogue With Relevant Management, Controversial and Sometimes Illegal Policies Implemented Without Necessary Input
"In this open letter, the CSC requests that the President submits an agenda item in the next available General Consultative Committee (GCC) meeting on setting up regular meetings between the CSC and the higher management of DG1."
Links 16/10/2025: Political Leftovers and Gemini Protocol Links
Links for the day
Lies Need to be Corrected
the Court never invited us
Slopwatch: Guardian Digital (linuxsecurity.com), Slashdot, Google News, and More
Maybe one day, once the bubble pops completely, Google News will just outright delist all slopfarms
Lufthansa Modern Slavery, Joerg Jaspert (ganneff) & Debian NSB Softwareentwicklung charade
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/10/2025: US Starting More Trade Wars With China, CIA War on Venezuela
Links for the day
SUSE Blog is Still LLM Slop, Marketing Manager at SUSE Cannot Write
Would you buy from a company or seek support from a company that cannot even write (or fakes writing)?
Pretend You're Not Dead: Microsoft Spent Almost Two Decades Rebranding Things as "Cloud, Then "AI", Now "XBox" and "Quantum"
"AI" bubble pops, Microsoft harping about "quantum" already
IBM Allegedly Found New Tricks for Silent Layoffs: LPI, Then MIS (Not PIP)
Remember that "Red Hat layoffs" won't be reported after the bluewashing
Links 16/10/2025: Red Lines and Feeding of Microsoft Trolls
Links for the day
MIT as a Propaganda Mill of GAFAM, Paid by GAFAM
"the news" today
Links 16/10/2025: Lies Euphemised as ‘Dueling Versions of Reality’ and Microsoft "Open" "Hey Hi" Resorts to Porn as No Business Model Was Found
Links for the day
The Local Staff Committee Munich (Representation of the EPO's Staff) Explains When Cluster of Pregnancies May Result in Reduced Pay
"...even one week of part-time working is sufficient to reduce the salary you perceive during the entirety of your maternity leave."
Another Black Eye for 'Secure Boot', Microsoft Media Tries to Blame "Linux"
It enables Microsoft to remotely control computers, even computers that don't run Windows and never had any Microsoft software installed
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT, linuxsecurity.com, and Various Slopfarms in Google News Attacking "Linux"
A new survey of the Web said that the majority of the Web is now slop (that's being said in the news this week)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Links 16/10/2025: Increased Use of Social Control Media Surveillance in US, French Rage Over Pensions
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Qantas Airways Loses Control of Sensitive Data and Software Patents Are Being Thrown Out
Links for the day
Vista 10 is 'Dead', Here's Why People Should Move to GNU/Linux (or the BSDs)
Today we try to make an outline of reasons move away from Windows to GNU/Linux
Our Sites Continue to Improve
LLM slop has had no noticeable impact on us
Gemini Links 15/10/2025: Neovim, Helix Compared and Gemlog.blue Now Closed
Links for the day
Links 15/10/2025: Mass Layoffs at Amazon, OneDrive Spyware Revved Up, More 'Gen Z Protests'
Links for the day
The EPO's Staff Engagement Survey 2025 is Already Tainted by Intimidation by EPO Management (Trying to Influence Outcomes by Scaring Genuine, Honest Critics)
"[W]e have received reports that, following the previous survey, teams with negative responses were reproached or questioned about their answers..."
The DDoS Attacks by Microsoft's Scam Altman and Other Slop Charlatans and Frauds is Hurting the FSF, Delinking It From Copyleft Projects
This impacts a lot more than access to the licences
Microsoft Scanning Faces in Photos People Upload to Microsoft (Even Unconsciously), Slashdot Turns Report About It Into "Microsoft Sez" (Says)
Or "let's repeat the lies from a PR person/Microsoft's publicist"
[Teaser] Angel Aledo Lopez the Manipulator (Nepotism, Poll Rigging, and Other EPO Corruption)
We'll discuss this later today or tomorrow, based on internal EPO material
Attacks on Techrights Are Only Making Techrights Bigger and Even More Popular
A week ago they offered to settle with us
Epic Metaphor for End of IBM: "The IBM Demolition is Down to the Last Shards!"
Nothing lasts forever
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Proprietary and DRM Prisons Spiralling Down the Sinkhole? Not Just Yet.
Let's hope that more people will flee to GNU/Linux
The European Patent Office (EPO), the Second-Largest Institution in Europe, is Cracking Down on Recreational Activities
Without AMICALE activities, and as staff already says it's pressured to work more for less, how can the EPO recruit bright people?
Transparency: FSFE financial reports exclude speaker fees and expenses
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock