Bonum Certa Men Certa

FOSS at Risk From Software Patents, Which Are Still Being Promoted by Bristows, IAM, IBM, and Steve Lundberg (Frequent Villains)

Flipping pages



Summary: Patents on trivial and/or abstract ideas implemented in code still a major barrier to Free/libre software (FOSS) adoption and we look at who's promoting them, alongside the UPC in the case of Europe

VARIOUS patent offices, the EPO and USPTO for example, try hard to grant software patents even when the courts oppose. What do they care as long as they get their money and let the defendants deal with all the chaos and foot the legal bills (an externality to the patent offices)? The EPO's President is totally clueless about it and the former Director of the USPTO is now a lobbyist for software patents, which are verboten in Europe. What a rotten state of affairs. The main problem is, Free/libre software developers (more so than proprietary software developers) have their projects literally killed (shut down) by software patents. We gave many examples of this over the years. This often happens quietly, either because the prospective plaintiff demands silence or because there's fear of retaliation from the plaintiff (sometimes a patent troll and sometimes a real company like Shazam [1, 2, 3]).



"The main problem is, Free/libre software developers (more so than proprietary software developers) have their projects literally killed (shut down) by software patents."FOSS Force has this interesting new article which we need more of. Not many FOSS sites even bother discussing software patents anymore (Groklaw has been inactive for years) and we still deem it the #1 subject when it comes to FOSS domination (not everyone agrees with us), hence we cover it so frequently.

“Ninety-one percent of the votes cast so far indicate our readers think software patents remain a serious issue, even if the situation has somewhat improved over the last several years.”
      -- FOSS Force
"There is no doubt," FOSS Force wrote, "that there have been many developments on the patent front that have been beneficial from a free tech standpoint. There was the 2014 Supreme Court ruling in Alice Corp. vs. CLS Bank, which immediately made a slew of patents unenforceable. This decision invalidated so-called “abstract” software patents, which basically sought patent protection for merely moving established but previously non-computer procedures to a computer (i.e., bookkeeping “on a computer”). Other developments include online retailer Newegg’s decision several years back to take all disputed patent infringement claims against it to court instead of settling. Although the results of this decision have led to a mixed bag of results, with notable wins and losses, it’s undoubtedly caused the trolls to think twice before threatening the company."

Here are some figures that are based on a new poll: "We quietly put the poll up on our front page on Thursday morning. Ninety-one percent of the votes cast so far indicate our readers think software patents remain a serious issue, even if the situation has somewhat improved over the last several years."

There is some perception that things are improving, but where? Maybe in the US, owing to Alice. But what about Europe? Bristows LLP is nowadays promoting UPC (and hence, by extension, software patents) and one of its employees, who habitually defends software patents, has just published an article about the US bill which advocates going after patent trolls (or patent lawsuit venue) instead of patent scope, hence somewhat of a distraction from the core problem. To quote a portion:

Currently, a patentee can commence a patent infringement action in any district where the defendant resides or does business (i.e. where its products or services are available) (see Federal Circuit's 1994 decision in Beverly Hills Fan Company v Royal Sovereign ) and VE Holding v Johnson Gas (Fed Cir 1990). The rules have made it possible for the Eastern District of Texas, for example, to become so popular (for an entertaining 11 minutes, see John Oliver's Last Week Tonight on Patents). The goal of the VENUE Act is to limit the ability for patentees to abusively forum shop (which can be interpreted as stopping patent trolls from targeting patentee friendly courts). Similar legislation was introduced in the Innovation Act (H.R. 9 - see also here), but that has stalled (as has the companion PATENT Act (S.1137) before the Senate). Some commentators consider that the VENUE Act is an attempt to get some form of patent reform through the 114th Congress before everyone loses interest to the election. By dedicating itself to only one issue, instead of several, this may increase its prospects of success.


This might help impede trolls (not altogether stop them or squash their extortion/rackets), but it does nothing whatsoever to tackle issues pertaining to patent scope. Meanwhile, earlier today IAM said "NPE" instead of patent troll (yes, again!) in relation to the far east. To quote: "In Taiwan, companies are watching the US environment as closely as ever - some of the biggest names among them have been frequent targets of NPE litigation. Now, there’s a cautious belief that this threat has already peaked and that aggressive NPE assertion will continue to decline. There’s evidence that some Taiwan companies perceive some of the risk shifting to Europe, with entities from the island upping their applications for European patents by about 12% in the past year. Many others, however, are taking more of a wait-and-see approach, not least because of the considerable cost involved in European filings. With the UPC agreement currently hanging in the balance, that caution may well be warranted."

As a reminder, here's why they can't say "troll" and instead say NPE (editor in chief denies the issue and trolls are a funding source). It sure looks like Asian companies too are worried about US patent trolls. Notice the part at the end there about the UPC, which would open Europe to a lot of litigation by patent trolls (even from abroad). It doesn't seem to be a cause for alarm among patent lawyers, who simply stand to gain from it. Steve Lundberg, a loud proponent of software patents for many years now, is happy to be blessed by IAM (another loud of proponent of software patents, see the right column in this new post) and he now grooms Schecter from IBM (now an aggressor with software patents, as several recent lawsuits show), who is evidently pleased with that. All those lobbyists, think tanks, patent pundits etc. who effortlessly show their strong bias on the topic oughn't be ignored because they profit from it and they try to change the public perception/consensus. IAM is paid by the aggressors and the trolls (even the big and notorious ones like MOSAID); it still promotes software patents in this month's magazine/issue. So does the EPO (see for example the UPC propaganda in page 4 of this newly-advertised EPO publication); when will EPO stop acting like a UPC lobbyist, having already done so for many years?

Shaming of those who are promoting software patents without having written a single line of code in their whole life isn't confrontational or rude. It's necessary because there's a coup going on and unless software developers (not necessarily just FOSS) stand up and fight back they'll pay the price in the long run. Their money will flow to patent lawyers, patent trolls, and software monopolists.

Recent Techrights' Posts

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
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled
Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
We all remember that rather well, don't we?
Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
 
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
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
“Inhumane” and “Disgusting” Mass Layoff Execution, According to Microsoft Staff
The workers are looking for other places to work
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
The freedoms are what's most important
LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
All are run by the same people
Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
Links for the day
New and Old
On Ageism in Tech
Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
Links for the day
Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
Links for the day
Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
Examples of white-collar trolls
Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
"Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
Links for the day