Bonum Certa Men Certa

Ray Niro's Troll Firm Has Collapsed, the Patent Microcosm Scrambles to Stop Patent Reform and Even Attacks Michelle Lee (USPTO Director)

Make Watchtroll great again?

Watchtroll great againSummary: Progress is being made to the point where the father of patent trolling and his firm are both gone; The 'Watchtroll clan' and other circles that are sympathetic to patent trolls continue to attack the system which attempts to stop the trolls (in order to make litigation great again, and make lawyers richer)

LAST night I was approached by journalists and interviewed for an hour over the telephone because of attacks on my free speech (details in [1, 2]) and in the process it turned out that one of them, Mr. Mullin, wrote that Ray Niro's troll firm is finally as dead as him. For the uninitiated, Niro was the father of patent trolling and he was connected to the world's biggest troll, Intellectual Ventures. Here is what Mullin wrote a few days ago:



The Chicago law firm that became synonymous with "patent troll"-type litigation is shutting down, following the death of founding partner Raymond Niro.

The remaining partners of the Niro Law Firm are shuttering the firm, according to a report in Crain's Chicago Business. A core group, including Niro's son Dean Niro, will launch a new firm called Vitale Vickrey Niro & Gasey.


These are inconvenient truths (e.g. to IAM), so we're not exactly surprised that nobody but Mullin properly covered this major news (as far as we can tell). The market for patent trolling in the US is nosediving, yet yesterday all that IAM was able to say is: "growing confidence in the US patent market" (right there in the headline!).

"What about the collapse of patent trolls? Has IAM been paid enough by patent trolls to refrain from reporting that?"Really? So taking 12 staff on board (maybe after bankruptcy/liquidation) is "sign of growing confidence in the US patent market"? That is hilarious a misinterpretation, maybe misreporting too. To quote: "Last week it was announced that investment bank Houlihan Lokey had acquired Black Stone IP in another sign that financial giants are taking a closer look at the patent space. The deal will see Black Stone’s US-based staff of 12 join Houlihan, including CEO Elvir Causevic and managing director Edmund Fish who will co-head the group at their new home. A Bosnian-based operation is not part of the deal, but will retain connections with Houlihan."

What about the collapse of patent trolls? Has IAM been paid enough by patent trolls to refrain from reporting that?

In other news, the Director of the USPTO will reportedly remain Michelle Lee, but Watchtroll and similar bullies are attacking the Trump administration or trying to shame it into canning her. Neal Solomon, for example, writing in Watchtroll yesterday, chose a very dramatic headline: "The Disintegration of the American Patent System"

Wow. So fixing the system is "Disintegration"?

This is, by our count, the third (if not fourth [1, 2, 3]) attack in a week by Watchtroll against the patent system and Lee in particular, personally. So much for diplomacy and professionalism... they already attack her for her past employment at Google. What next? Attack her for her Asian heritage, claiming it introduces some sort of conflict or corruption? They already use the word "swamp" too, thereby flirting with the racist Alt-Right crowd.

According to this letter shown by Patently-O yesterday, there are even more attacks on Lee, courtesy of the patent microcosm. It calls Lee a "swamp". How impolite. Prof. Dennis Crouch wrote: "If I were a patentee, I would certainly have great concern that the next director may be far worse."

More from his post:

With conflicting media reports and no statement from the USPTO or Department of Commerce, we are left guessing as to whether Michelle Lee continues-on as USPTO Director and Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. The Commerce Department leadership has been substantially filled – but the IP position remains blank. My request for clarification from the office have also been denied. I have also submitted a FOIA request, but that process tends to be slow. We will likely have to wait for the Confirmation of Wilbur Ross as Commerce Secretary before stakeholders are informed of the state-of-affairs.


We certainly hope that Lee's tenure will be confirmed some time soon and that aggressive lobbying by the patent microcosm will backfire badly. We need trolls like Niro to go away (he himself, along with his firm, are already dead) and denying software patents will certainly contribute to that.

Recent Techrights' Posts

If Matthias Kirschner Loves Free Software, He'll Change the Name of the Microsoft-Sponsored Organisation He Governs (in Order to Avoid Confusion)
The FSF-EEE does not really like Software Freedom, it just loves money (including Microsoft's)
EPO's Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in The Hague: Workers Are Getting Sicker, Conditions in Which to Assess Patent Applications Deteriorate
"According to the Office statistics the total number of days of absence has gone up from 12.4 to 13.1 total number of sick days per Full Time Equivalent (FTE) from 2023 to 2024."
The Standard Needs to Improve Its Standards for Fact-Checking, Aaron Swartz Had Nothing to Do With Reddit and He Detested the Company That Created It
The Web is already bad enough as it is
New Paper From the EPO Highlights Large-Scale Discrimination at the Office, Where People Are Rewarded for Granting More and More Illegal Patents
Even the Kremlin is probably more competent than this
 
Gemini Links 11/02/2025: NeoVim and Deploying Other People's Code
Links for the day
BetaNews is Still Publishing LLM Slop/SPAM About "Linux"
Assuming it is indeed LLM slop, it seems clear BetaNews has no intention of improving or is simply unable/unwilling to improve
IBM Layoff Rumours, Large-Scale Implementations Weeks Ahead (in March 2025)
There are some people corroborating
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 10, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 10, 2025
Scheduled Maintenance Tomorrow and on Valentines
If the site (or Gemini capsule) is offline for a bit, the maintenance windows are likely the root cause
Soylent News Lessens the Scope of Discussion Due to Persistent Trolling and Online Abuse
if they make it a lot harder for new people to participate, then they limit the "general appeal" and reach
When the Livestream of Richard Stallman is Apparently Bury-Brigaded Offline You Finally Learn to Avoid Google/YouTube for Streaming
Please, people, stop uploading to Google/YouTube
Links 10/02/2025: Ban on D.E.I. Language, Listeria Risk/Outbreak
Links for the day
Links 10/02/2025: Announcing "Stringless" and Mental Health Improvement
Links for the day
Links 10/02/2025: Facebook Mass Layoffs, "Meta" Did What Aaron Swartz Had Done But to the Tune of 81.7 Terabytes
Links for the day
Microsoft Tarnishing the Brand of Arch
Of course Arch can do whatever it wants, but being associated with Microsoft is a badge of shame
The Ultimate and Inevitable Fall of OpenAI (Even Brave is 'Bigger' Now)
"When you advertise at the Super Bowl, you’ve reached just about every consumer in America. It’s the last stop. If you’re not profitable yet, you never will be."
Adding Slop to Your Blog Only Makes One Assume All the Text is LLM Slop
Simon Coter from Oracle has turned to slop
Macao is Leaving Microsoft Behind
Windows is falling to new all-time lows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 09, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, February 09, 2025
Microsoft's WSL (LSW) Shows That It Can Never Love Linux, Only Windows
that's just how Microsoft rolls
Activism in Times of War and a Coup
'Linux' Foundation works for fascism
What the Silencing of Neatnik Tells Us About Linus Torvalds Inside a Microsoft-Dominated 'Linux' Foundation
Is Linus Torvalds free to express his mind as he wishes about every topic, even just any technical topic?
Windows Down to 11.35% in Senegal, as Measured by statCounter
Another all-time low (Windows was at 99% in 2009)
"Latest Technology News" in BetaNews is LLM Slop Promoting OOXML and Proprietary Software at the Expense of LibreOffice and OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Remember that "open-source" and Open Source aren't the same; the former is fake
Links 09/02/2025: Coffee, Toxic Productivity, and Programming
Links for the day
Debian's Human Rights violations & Swiss women Nazi symbolism
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 09/02/2025: Software Patents on MP3 and Another Scam Dressed Up as "Crypto"
Links for the day
Links 09/02/2025: Russian Energy Cut Off, LLM Pushers Show Signs of Desperation
Links for the day
Richard Stallman (RMS) Does Not Have Media Companies and Lobbyists on His Side, But His Message Spreads Regardless
The message of RMS is spreading in spite of all the smears
GNU/Linux Rises to All-Time High in Chile
sharp rise for GNU/Linux in Chile
Links 09/02/2025: Hottest January on Record, Panama Blackmailed
Links for the day
Why We Still Love Gemini Protocol
Gemini Protocol may seem like something "old" (it's actually very new) and something "nobody would use", but many people use it
Gemini Links 09/02/2025: "Died as a Mineral" and Game Interface for a Non-Game
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 08, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 08, 2025