Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Patent Maximalists Already Pressure USPTO Director Andrei Iancu to Say the 'Right' Things

Make Patents Great Again



Summary: The efforts to incite Iancu against the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) carry on unabated and his words are being distorted by patent maximalists to say what they want him to say

The patent trolls' lobby (IAM) is still pressuring Andrei Iancu to hate PTAB and make the USPTO more open to abstract patents, such as software patents. The IAM interview even warped his words somewhat (in the headline especially), so it's rather sickening that these people even call themselves "journalists" or "news". it's also frustrating to see the extent of coordinated pressure, not only that he accepted a speech invitation from IAM.



Richard Lloyd does it again, citing a newer appearance of Iancu and saying: "If you were looking for a sense of the industrial complex that has sprung up around the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in the five and a half years since it was created, then this week’s PTAB Bar Association annual conference was a good place to be. With around 500 delegates crammed into a ballroom in the Ritz Carlton in Washington DC - a stone’s throw from the lawyers and lobbyists of K street - the association, in just a couple of years, has quickly established itself in patent circles."

"The patent trolls' lobby (IAM) is still pressuring Andrei Iancu to hate PTAB and make the USPTO more open to abstract patents, such as software patents"The patent maximalists already project their own desires (business agenda) onto him. One patent maximalist said that "Dir. Iancu Calls for Paradigm Shift in USPTO Prior Art Searching and Forward Thinking wrt 101 Eligibility," in effect distorting the actual headline he links to. "USPTO Head Stresses Need For Predictability In IP System" is the real headline and it's an article behind paywall in which Matthew Bultman (Law 360) says nothing critical (there's no lack of possible criticism) and instead summarises as follows outside the paywall:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Andrei Iancu emphasized the need for predictability in the intellectual property system on Thursday, while suggesting various ways the agency might help to bolster certainty in patent rights.

Speaking at the PTAB Bar Association Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., Ianucu [sic], who was sworn in as director late last month, said innovation was important to the U.S. and its economy.


The rest is behind paywall/s. Benjamin Henrion quoted/said: "The patent office has issued some guidance on Section 101, typically in reaction to court rulings. Iancu suggested there may be room for more forward-thinking guidance from the agency about where it thinks the lines of patent eligibility should be drawn" (this is what was actually said).

"Once upon a time an "attack" was some patent troll blackmailing a lot of businesses with threats; but the narratives are being inverted by some -- to the point where the attacker carrying on with blackmail/lawsuit is "survival" and the defendant found innocent of infringement is actually an "attack". Now we see Iancu accused of "attacking patents" simply by maintaining the status quo. "Then came maximalists' propaganda sites such as Watchtroll, which say that "USPTO to Clarify Guidance on Written Description of Antibodies" (different but related) and two days earlier carried on characterising concern for patent quality as an "attack". They said (with our emphasis added): "But the first major ruling under the new Director of the USPTO Andrei Iancu fell back to attacking patents. On February 23, three administrative patent judges of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a sweeping opinion that sovereign immunity does not apply to PTAB proceedings and that the agency can revoke a patent right without consent or participation of the patent owner. This is the latest and possibly most extreme example of agency overreach in the 7 year history of the PTAB under the American Invents Act."

Why is it that such patent aggressors compare justice to "death squads" and attacks? Is justice itself an aggression? Is Iancu "attacking patents" by choosing to preserve improved patent quality? That "attack" narrative goes even further; we see it almost every day. Here's a new tweet from a patent maximlaist: "US Pat 8311945, System and method for processing checks; Survived 101 Attack; Asserted Against US Bank; $3.3M Verdict for Infringing..."

"The patent extremists have already bullied Michelle Lee out of her job. Are they trying to threaten Iancu with the same fate unless he does their biddings?"And then again: "Checking Patent that Survived 101 Attack Was Successfully Asserted Against US Bank; $3.3M Verdict..."

Once upon a time an "attack" was some patent troll blackmailing a lot of businesses with threats; but the narratives are being inverted by some -- to the point where the attacker carrying on with blackmail/lawsuit is "survival" and the defendant found innocent of infringement is actually an "attack". Now we see Iancu accused of "attacking patents" simply by maintaining the status quo.

The patent extremists have already bullied Michelle Lee out of her job. Are they trying to threaten Iancu with the same fate unless he does their biddings?

Recent Techrights' Posts

GAFAM is a National and International Threat to Everybody
GAFAM is just a tentacle in service of imperialism
Don't Cry for Gaslighting Media in a Country Which Loathes the Press
my wife and I received threats for merely writing about Americans
IBM Paying the Price for Treating Workers Badly and Discarding Real Talent (Because It's "Expensive")
IBM is dead man walking
Projection Tactics - Part III: Silencing Inconvenient Voices Online
If X gets banned in the UK, it'll be hard to see what the spouse says in public
 
Coming Soon: Impact With EPO Cocainegate
Will Campinos survive 2026?
The Last 'Dilberts' or Some of the Last Salvaged (Comic Strips Which Disappeared Shortly After They Had Been Published)
Around the time the creator of Dilbert went silent he published some strips mocking TikTok and usage of it
Linuxiac May Have Reverted Back to LLM Slop
Is he back on the wagon?
The Creator of Git Probably Doesn't Know How to Install and Deploy Git
Nobody disputes this: Mr. Torvalds created Git
Slop is a Liability
Slopfarms too will become extinct because people aren't interested in them
EPO People Power - Part XXXVI - In Conclusion and Taking Things Up Another Notch
They often say that the law won't deter or stop criminals because it's hard to enforce laws against people who reject the law
Running Techrights is Fun, Rewarding, and Gratifying
In Geminispace we are already quite dominant
Red Hat is Connected to the Military, Its Chief Comes From Military Family (From Both Sides)
The founder of Red Hat's parent company literally saluted Hitler himself (yes, a Nazi salute)
Red Hat (IBM) is Driving Away Remaining Fedora Users
I've not used Fedora since Moonshine
Robert X. Cringely Has Already Explained IBM's Bullying Culture (Towards Its Own Staff)
IBM is a fairly nasty company
Proton Mail compromise, Hannah Natanson (Washington Post) police raid & Debian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 14, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Gemini Links 15/01/2026: "Ode to elinks", envs.net Pubnix and Downtime at geminiprotocol.net
Links for the day
Still Condoning Child Labour and Exploiting Unpaid Children Developers as PR Props (to Raise Monopoly Money)
These people lack morals. So they project.
"Security, AI or Quantum" on "the IBM Titanic"
Who's RMS?
Hours Ago The Register MS Published Microsoft Windows SPAM "Sponsored by Intel." The Fake 'Article' Says "AI" 34 Times.
The Register MS isn't a serious online newspaper
EPO People Power - Part XXXV - Where Else Will Corruption and Substance Abuse be Tolerated?
We need to raise standards
Status and Capital
People who do a lot are too busy to boast about it and wear fancy garments
Turbulence Ahead
I last rebooted my laptop in 2023
Google News Rewards Plagiarism With LLMs (About Linux, Too)
Google is in the slop business now
Links 14/01/2026: Failing Economy and Conquest Abroad as a Distraction From Domestic Woes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/01/2026: The Ephemerality of Our Digital Lives and "Summer of Upgrades"
Links for the day
Outsourcing on Microsoft's Agenda, Offshoring Also
"In some cases, India hiring is poised to replace certain roles previously based in the U.S."
Links 13/01/2026: 'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams Passes Away With Cancer, Ban on X/Twitter Considered for CSAM Profiteering
Links for the day
The Goal is Software Freedom for All
Anything to do with "Linux Foundation" is timewasting
Reminder That Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Is Not Free, And It's Because of IBM
software freedom just 'gets in the way'
Under IBM, in Order to Game the Stock Market, Red Hat Resorted to Boosting the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in Human History
This is what IBM turned Red Hat into
Revision handed Microsoft the keys to the distortion of the past/history
This isn't the first time The Register MS rewrites computing history in Microsoft's favour, as we pointed out several times in past years
What Will Happen to GAFAM After the US Defaults Rather Than Bails Out the Market?
Or tries to topple every government that doesn't play by its rules?
EPO People Power - Part XXXIV - Bad Optics for the European Union (for Failing to Act and Tolerating Cocaine Use in Europe's Second-Largest Institution)
There are principles in laws which tie awareness with complicity
EPO's Central Staff Committee is Now Redacting (Self-Censoring) Due to Threats From the EPO "Mafia"
"On the agenda: salary adjustment procedure for 2025 (as of January 2026)"
"AI" (Slop) 'Demand' Isn't Growing, It's Fake, It's a Pyramid Scheme
They try to resort to 'creative' accounting (fraudulent schemes like circular financing)
Difficult Times at IBM and Microsoft Ahead of Mass Layoffs (Probably Before This Month's Results Unless Postponed to 'Prove' Rumours 'Wrong')
IBM and Microsoft used to be tech giants. Nowadays they mostly pretend by pumping up their stock and buying back their own shares.
Canonical: Make Ubuntu Bloated (Debian With Snaps), Then Sell the 'Debloated' Version for a Fee
If people want a light distro, then they ought not pay Canonical but instead choose a light (by design) GNU/Linux distro
People Don't Want "Just Enough", They'll Look for Quality
That's why slopfarms will go away or become inactive
Gemini Links 14/01/2026: 3D and Tiny Traffic Lights Pack
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 13, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Slop Waning Whilst Originals Perish
Slop is way past its "prime"
XBox's 'Major Nelson' Loses His Job Again, This Time in a Microsoft Mono Pusher
Microsoft hasn't much of a future in gaming. XBox's business is in rapid decline and people who push Mono to game developers are the same
Links 13/01/2026: Russia Weaponises Weather Against Civilians, Beijing-Controlled HK Attacks Legal Team of Besieged Critics
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/01/2026: Loss of Desire to Produce, Individual Consumption
Links for the day
Shobhit Varshney From IBM Pushing Slop at Large Bank, Another McDonald's Waiting to Happen?
How long can they get away with phony narratives like "replaced by AI"?
Links 13/01/2026: Ubisoft Layoffs, "India IT In Shambles", and Microsoft Chatbot Killing People
Links for the day
IBM is Not a Leftist Company, the "I" Stands for Imperialism, and Poo Floats to the Top
Remember that AK is military from both sides of his family
Links 13/01/2026: More Mass Layoffs in GAFAM, Catching Up With Political News of Early January
Links for the day
Freedom of Speech in the UK (or Freedom of the Press/Expression) and Protection From Adversaries
undressing people without consent and in very bad taste is not "speech"
Ending the Status Quo at the European Patent Office (EPO) This Year
Things will continue to get worse as long as the "Digital Majority" stays silent and/or passive
Greenland Ought to Move to GNU/Linux, Not Apple
GNU/Linux at 4%
So When Will British Politicians, Police, Government Departments Quit Twitter (X.com)?
They sure bring constituents there (by being there)
If You Care About Freedom, Don't Follow IBM Red Hat (Like Microsoft Novell 20 Years Ago)
IBM Red Hat and Microsoft don't seem to compete
IBM Red Hat Does Not Compete With Microsoft, It's a Microsoft Reseller
even if employees of Red Hat dislike and distrust Microsoft
Red Hat Layoffs, Even of "AI" Staff in India
This is how companies die
LLM Slop Isn't Replacing Online News, It's Just a Pest That's Gradually Going Away as Money for Slop Runs Out
Slop likes to talk about itself (like some kind of 'web-cancer')
Not Journalism: Almost 80% of the 'Articles' We Saw About Torvalds and 'Vibe Coding' Are LLM Slop (Sometimes Slop Images)
The real issue is, Torvalds who created Git as a solution to proprietary prison is entertaining Microsoft's own proprietary prison
EPO People Power - Part XXXIII - Interest From Some European Media, For a Change
Without it, we'll become another Russian Federation
Just Another Reminder That Microsoft Didn't Deny Mass Layoffs
Remember that Microsoft never denied this
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Réunion This Year
Population sizes like a million people are nothing to sneeze at
Dr. Andy Farnell on Marketing Bad Things Like Slop Using FOMO (Fear of "Being Left Behind")
many of the same themes we often cover here
IBM Stock Compared to Bitcoin, Fake Articles About IBM Promote Myths About IBM
The stock moves based on false marketing
Bluewashing Continues, Red Hat Onboarding Interns in Low-Paid Regions
It's the end of the second Monday of 2026
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 12, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, January 12, 2026
Gemini Links 13/01/2026: ScottoRang and Outage
Links for the day