Bonum Certa Men Certa

Watchtroll, AIPPI, Bristows and Others Keep Pushing Software Patents Agenda (in Spite of the Ban)

AIPPI



Summary: Pressure groups and front groups of the patent microcosm (e.g. AIPPI) -- sometimes even the patent microcosm acting directly -- are still trying to make software patents legitimate, usually behind closed doors, e.g. in private events where only the patent microcosm can debate the subject (no software developers allowed)

WE are gratified to say that 3.5 years after Alice the USPTO is a lot more reluctant to grant patents on software and PTAB often invalidates software patents regardless. Failing that, the courts eliminate software patents (the higher the court, the more hostile toward software patents). This means that applicants are encouraged by the patent microcosm to find workarounds; Peter Glaser and William Gvoth at Watchtroll offered tips to that effect yesterday. Sadly for their bamboozled clients (or people who might naively follow their advice), courts would closely scrutinise patents and manage to figure out that Alice still applies (Section 101 exclusions applicable). Using tricks with semantics might help fool one single examiner, but that doesn't scale well at PTAB (panels) and courts (judges, juries, expert witnesses, attorneys and so on).



"Using tricks with semantics might help fool one single examiner, but that doesn't scale well at PTAB (panels) and courts (judges, juries, expert witnesses, attorneys and so on)."Basically, software patents are bunk. They're finished. Sure, the patent microcosm will attempt to claim otherwise (in order to attract business) and also lobby politicians, but so far these people have not been successful. They also know they're being watched and some of them like to heckle Techrights.

All these patents on blockchain (we wrote several articles about these) are quite likely worthless and merely a bubble, yet we still see articles like this one from yesterday. "Major financial and software institutions (and even some national governments)," it said, "are pouring money into blockchain-related research. This work has generated a crowded landscape of papers, patents and other references..."

"In reality, patents on financial methods (investment/payment/accounting) are some of the most feeble out there."A lot of these patents come from the old banking industry. It's trying to guard its territory and fend off disruptive technologies by claiming monopolies on these (in the form of patents). In reality, patents on financial methods (investment/payment/accounting) are some of the most feeble out there. They're probably the most sensitive/fragile among all software patents, as various sites of the patent microcosm cared to admit.

It's not just the case in the US by the way. Fisher Adams Kelly Callinans's Ernest Graf, for example, has just remarked on the changes in Australia, which is formally ending software patents among other things. "The proposal that patent claims identify an invention's technical features," Graf wrote, "is part of the Government's intention to better define what is appropriate “patentable subject matter”."

Algorithms are not patentable in Australia. They're very clear about that.

"AIPPI does not represent software developers; in fact, it's an enemy of software developers. It represents people and firms like Bristows, who merely prey on software developers."What about Europe? Well, the EPO is creating a massive bubble of patents which we already know to be invalid based on the EPC and Parliament. This bubble is waiting to explode. Two years ago AIPPI expressed concerns about the situation and the rapid deterioration of the EPO. Bristows' new report from AIPPI Congress suggests that software patents are still a subject of discussion there. Benjamin Henrion sarcastically wrote this morning that what we have here is "Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions, written by the patent community for the goodness of software developers..."

It's more like a coup. To quote Bristows' staff which has been pushing hard for software patents for many years (in Europe the EPO likes to say "computer-implemented inventions" in order to dodge the term "software patents"):

But as this year’s resolution recited, that application has in fact been scattered, to the point that none of the US, European, Japanese, Chinese, or Korean patent offices even use the same terminology to describe computer-implemented inventions.

After reaffirming the principle that patents should be available for inventions in all fields of technology, and that computer-implemented inventions should not be excluded per se, the key tenets of AIPPI’s resolution were as follows:

(a) The eligibility of a computer-implemented invention for patent protection should not depend on the prior art or any assessment of novelty or inventive step. In other words, subject matter eligibility should assessed independently of these other requirements.

(b) A claim to a computer-implemented invention should pass the eligibility requirement if it defines an invention in at least one field of technology. Whether a claim does so should be assessed on a claim by claim basis, in relation to each claim as a whole.
The references to a “field of technology” adopt the language of Article 27 of TRIPS and Article 52 of the European Patent Convention. A mooted statement to the effect that a claim should be considered to define an invention in a field of technology only if it makes a novel and inventive contribution to that field of technology was debated, but not adopted in the final resolution. The resolution says nothing further about what it means, in AIPPI’s view, to “define an invention in a field of technology”.


AIPPI does not represent software developers; in fact, it's an enemy of software developers. It represents people and firms like Bristows, who merely prey on software developers.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft is Disloyal Towards Its Most Loyal Employees
Against its most faithful enablers
Following the Line of Cocaine All the Way to the Top
Even a million denials and spin-doctoring won't distract from the core issue
Thankfully We've Made Copies of More Interesting Data From statCounter
If statCounter (the Web site or the 'webapp') vanished overnight, we'd still have something left of it
More Silent Layoffs at IBM/Red Hat
when the media counts such layoffs or presents tallies the numbers are very incomplete
 
Techrights' 19th Anniversary: Bronze
Time to go back to preparing for this anniversary
Our Latest European Patent Office (EPO) Series Will Last Several Weeks, Will Ask the EPO Management and the European Union (EU) Very Difficult Questions
If nobody loses a job (or jobs) over this, then the EU basically became no better than Colombia or Nicaragua
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, Brian Fagioli, and Google News
We focus on stories that are fake or LLM slop that disguises itself as "news" about Linux
Links 27/10/2025: Wikipedia Vandalism, Bruce Perens Opens up on Childhood
Links for the day
This Site Could Not be Done by LLMs Even If It Wanted to (Because It's Not a Parrot of What Other Sites Say)
LLMs have no knowledge or deep understanding
19 Years, No Censorship
No factual information is ever going to be removed, more so if it is in the public interest
We Are Not a Conventional Site, That's Why They Hate (or Love) Us
Throughout the week this week we'll be focusing on the EPO
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part I: António Campinos Brought Corruption and Nepotism to the EPO, Then Came the Cocaine
High-level manager at the European Patent Office (EPO) caught in public with cocaine, the Office has some answering to do
Purchasing/Possessing Computers Isn't the Same as Controlling Computers
Let's strive to put computers back under the control of their users, no matter who purchased these (usually the users)
Gemini Links 27/10/2025: Alhena 5.4.3 and Fixing Bash
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 26, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 26, 2025
Links 26/10/2025: Microsoft Spies on Gamers, Open Transport Community Conference
Links for the day
Links 26/10/2025: LLM Slop / Plagiarism Programs Continue to Disappoint, CISA Layoffs Threaten Systems
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/10/2025: Gemsync and Joining the Small Web
Links for the day
India.com a Click-baiting, SEO-Spamming, Slopfarming Heap
They do this almost every day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 25, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 25, 2025
Without XBox Consoles, XBox is No More, It's Just a Brand (More Rumours of Microsoft Ending XBox, Then Laying Off Lots of Staff)
All signs indicate that Microsoft wants to "exit" the XBox business (not brand), but it does not want to publicly admit this as it would alarm staff and shareholders
Gemini Links 25/10/2025: Portugal, Midnightpub, and "Tech Right Admins"
Links for the day
Almost 2026 Already (When We Turn Twenty)
In just over a year the site will turn 20
When "Sponsored Feature" in The Register MS Means Ponzi Scheme Promotion From the Communist Party of China (CPC)
the promotion of a financial scam
Week of EPO Leaks: Workers of the EPO Are Getting a Pay Cut While Prices Rise Fast
More to come in the next few days
Microsoft is Finally Giving Up on XBox, The Chief Says the Grapes Are Sour Anyway
Microsoft loses hundreds of dollars on each XBox that it sells
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Various Slopfarms Propped up by Google News
Why can't Google News do better than this?
Links 25/10/2025: Two New Smokescreens for Scam Altman and ‘TikTok USA’ Remains in Limbo
Links for the day
Bad faith: can't change Debian Social Contract (DSC) without unanimous consent of every joint author
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Confirmed: Very Close Friend of Bill Gates and Microsoft's Biggest Patent Troll Nathan Myhrvold Flew the Lolita Express (a Gateway to Pedophilia), According to Bill Gates-Sponsored Seattle Times
There is no speculation or any "conspiracy theories" here;' those are verified facts
Gemini Links 25/10/2025: "The Highest Leader of The Global Civil Society Community", SSL Certificates Causing Bitrot
Links for the day
Links 25/10/2025: Target Layoffs and "Shutdown Sparks 85% Increase in US Government Cyberattacks"
Links for the day
"Big Data" Was a Big Lie
Remember "Big Data"? Remember "Data Scientists"...?
statCounter Has Been Broken for a Long Time
Considering the huge proportion of Web requests that come from LLM bots (more so this past year or two), statCounter may struggle to justify the operating costs
Techrights Anniversary Party on November 7th
Let us know if you need any accommodation-related arrangements
Trends That Must Alarm Microsoft and Mozilla
Expect Firefox to no longer be supported by various sites in the US
Why Microsoft Became the Layoffs Leader
The corporate media is projecting or signalling its own dishonesty when it tells us that Microsoft is a very "valuable" company while the data shows Microsoft is also a "market leader" in layoffs
Speaking for Ourselves and Letting the Facts Speak for Themselves
we've already published over 50,000 pages
For Second Time in a Day The Register MS Takes Money From Private Companies to Sell a Ponzi Scheme
Do not have empathy for those who have zero empathy towards you
IBM is Misleading IBM Shareholders
IBM is still all about vapourware and buzzwords
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 24, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 24, 2025