Bonum Certa Men Certa

Largest Patent Offices Try to Leave Courts in a State of Disarray to Enable the Granting of Fake Patents in the US and Europe

Nonsensical patent offices that put the litigation 'industry' ahead of the real industry. They're not representative of the public at all.

French EPO



Summary: Like a monarchy that effectively runs all branches of government the management of the EPO is trying to work around the judiciary; the same is increasingly happening (or at least attempted) in the United States

THE SUBJECT of software patents in Europe goes a long way back. I had written about it before this site even existed, before Brimelow ran the EPO and back in the days another French President (not Battistelli and Campinos) was in charge. He, unlike the latter two, was actually a scientist and one whom the staff generally respected. We wrote a lot about him over the years and showed staff generally respected him (not everyone but many).



The main issue today is that there's no separation of powers; virtually none. Europe's patent system became a monstrosity, only limited in part by a court system that is federated and untouched by the EPO's (and EU's) clout.

"EPO is also not following the rule of law," as Benjamin Henrion put it a couple of days ago, and "it is an administration shielded by diplomatic immunity, and cannot be sued for maladministration. And the Commission is supporting this kind of institution for the Unitary Patent, while not even compatible with the treaties..."

"The main issue today is that there's no separation of powers; virtually none."The European Patent Office (and Organisation) is just some island inside Europe and it does whatever it pleases, irrespective of the interests and opinions of actual Europeans. Who benefits? Law firms. Not necessarily European ones, either.

Recently we've seen lots and lots of 'articles' (ads by law firms) about patents on maths, nature, and life. Here in Lexology one can see Bardehle Pagenberg's Bastian Best continuing his promotion of illegal software patents (as he has done for a decade). Best wrote much more about it a fortnight ago. His employer is probably the loudest proponent of software patents (and has been for quite some time). They even tweeted this before the weekend: "Software patents: How are they examined at the @EPOorg? Here's our patent attorney @bastianbest explaining the legal framework with simple examples."

They just look for loopholes and then promote these.

"They just look for loopholes and then promote these."Kilburn & Strode LLP's Paul Briscoe and Kristina Cornish meanwhile drool over patents on nature and life -- granted illegally or in defiance of the EPC. Kilburn & Strode has also just published this rather crude call to “File! File! File!” So say patent agents who profit from lots of fake patents that are actually worthless but lead to legal bills. File applications, file lawsuits etc. Lexology is full of this nonsense every single day and it says "[t]he clarion call comes from patent attorneys and inventors alike" even though what we have here is lawyers speaking 'for' inventors without naming any.

The EPO has meanwhile retweeted this French front group of patent law firms. This year, for the first time, the EPO has been calling for "MedTech" patents -- an intentionally misleading term. The EPO pretends software patents are "life-saving" and "for SMEs", soon to be parroted by this front group which said "Medtech CII event to raise awareness among SMEs..."

It has nothing to do with SMEs, but the EPO and patent maximalists are nowadays cooperating in their shameless propaganda.

We're meanwhile seeing similar moves in the US. Haynes and Boone LLP's Chad Hammerlind, for example, has chosen a nonsensical and misleading headline by which to twist the reality surrounding the Federal Circuit. 35 U.S.C. €§ 101 continues to be followed by courts (see our daily links for the latest examples) and patent maximalists are desperate to find new ways to bypass the courts, in essence pursuing patents they know to be invalid (as per the law).

"It has nothing to do with SMEs, but the EPO and patent maximalists are nowadays cooperating in their shameless propaganda."Contrary to what these maximalists keep saying in recent days, none of that is changing. The US Congress isn't bringing software patents back; some readers sent us headsups about it (for Techrights to cover). See the comments at the bottom of this post with a misleading headline from Kevin E. Noonan. These are just a handful of bribed politicians, the usual suspects (the same old ones), trying to push through software patents for their sponsors. They tried and failed. Trying again because it's spring? There are several more articles like these, e.g. this from Ropes & Gray LLP's Scott McKeown and several from Watchtroll. Eileen McDermott of Watchtroll says "Change May Be Coming: Members of Congress Release Framework to Fix Patent Eligibility Law," but they have been saying it for years (around the same time). Each time it makes some headlines it only lasts a few days or weeks but nothing happens at the end; it never happens. It dies after summer recess every time. Each year. What we have here is just a handful of people with ties to the litigation industry who cannot quite tell US Congress what to do on software patents and Eileen McDermott is smart enough to know it. They have tried it for years and failed. As a journalist she should know this. She wrote: "Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Chris Coons (D-DE)—respectively, Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property—and Representatives Doug Collins (R-GA-9), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee; Hank Johnson (D-GA-4), Chair of the House Judiciary..."

She later wrote another piece titled "Reactions Roll in On Congress’s Proposed 101 Framework: ‘The Right Approach’ or ‘A Swing and a Miss’?"

As if the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) sets the rules for Congress or some people who profit from patent maximalism get to decide on the law which governs them.

Surely McDermott can see what's happening here, partly in light of comments such as: "As is evident from these comments, reasonable people can differ. Unfortunately the Supreme Court will have the last word (absent amending the Constitution, which won’t happen over a patent question). The Court is not final because it is infallible but rather it is infallible because it is final. And I don’t ever see getting a bunch of patent lawyers on the Court, which may be the only way to bring sanity to this area of the law."

Dennis Crouch joins the 'fun'. Yesterday he was trying hard (yet again) to promote this software patents' alleged 'revival' in the US. All these patent maximalists never in their entire life wrote a single line of code. And here they are lending a voice to the politicians who suit their agenda (while demonising the rest). To quote Crouch:

Basics of the framework are to create a defined, closed list of subject matter category exclusions: Fundamental scientific principles; Products that exist solely and exclusively in nature; Pure mathematical formulas; Economic or commercial principles; Mental activities. Under the framework, a patent would not be eligible based upon “simply reciting generic technical language or generic functional language.” At the same time, the framework suggests that “practical applications” should be patent eligible. Finally, the framework calls for a divide-and-conquer approach — making clear “that eligibility is determined by considering each and every element of the claim as a whole and without regard to considerations properly addressed by 102, 103 and 112.”


Surely these patent maximalists' 'blogs' know that it isn't "new" or "news" at all. Days ago Crouch's site linked to this article from Malathi Nayak dated March 26th, 2019. It says "Sens. Thom Tillis and Chris Coons have outlined four principles for new patent eligibility legislation in a message to technology and pharmaceutical company representatives and others in advance of a fourth closed-door meeting on their effort."

"They have been doing this for years (especially Coons) and it never got anywhere."Their latest press release is dated April 17th, 2019. It involved nontechnical politicians, funded by corporations, working as fronts for law firms. But they call it "bipartisan" (misdirection).

Suffice to say, the patent trolls' lobby (IAM) participated in this push, but kept it behind paywall (out of critics' sight). To quote the tweet: "At a well-attended meeting in Washington DC on Wednesday attempts to frame legislation for the reform of the Section 101 patent eligibility regime in the US ran into familiar problems."

They have been doing this for years (especially Coons) and it never got anywhere. We've meanwhile noticed that Gene Quinn came back the other day, only to attack PTAB i.e. the usual. Attacking judges. Watchtroll's specialty. That there's a USPTO revolving doors problem isn't surprising and it's a shame that Watchtroll does not disclose who it works for, either. That would kind of give away the hypocrisy ("A Story of Ethics and Optics: Former PTAB Judge Matt Clements Now Works for Apple").

Speaking of nepotism, Iancu has come under fire again.

"Things work a lot better at present than they did before; unless you're a patent lawyer..."United for Patent Reform wrote: "EFF states that @USPTO’s eligibility guidance “effectively instructs examiners on how to narrow the #Alice v. CLS Bank decision instead of how to apply it correctly,” and calls it “contrary to law.” Read their full comments..."

The EFF has moved on since. In the latest "Stupid Patent of the Month" (titled "How Landmark Technology’s Terrible Patent Has Survived" and composed by Joe Mullin because Daniel Nazer left to join Mozilla) the EFF slams circus clown Iancu whom Donald Trump gave a job after his firm had worked for him. To quote Mullin:

There’s an increasing insistence from the highest echelons of the patent world that patent abuse just isn’t a thing anymore. The Director of the U.S. Patent Office, Andre Iancu, has called patent trolls—a term for companies that do nothing but collect patents and sue others—mere “monster stories,” and suggested in a recent oversight hearing that it was simply name-calling.

But whatever you call them—trolls, non-practicing entities, or patent assertion entities—their business model, which involves stockpiling patents to sue productive companies rather than making goods or services, continues to thrive. It’s not hard to find examples of abusive patent litigation that make clear the threat posed by wrongly-issued patents is very real.

Take, for instance, the patents that Lawrence Lockwood owns. These patents have been used to sue companies, large and small, for nearly 20 years now. Through his company Landmark Technologies and his earlier company PanIP, more than 100 lawsuits have been filed against businesses—candy companies, an educational toy maker, and an organic farm, to name a few. Because these companies engage in “sales and distribution via electronic transactions,” or use an automated system “for processing business and financial transactions,” Landmark says they infringe one of its patents.

Those lawsuits don’t account for the other companies that have received licensing demands, but have not been sued in court. The numerous threats made with Lockwood’s patents are made clear both by news accounts of Lockwood’s activity, as well as the several small business owners that have reached out to EFF after being targeted by Lockwood’s patents.


If the patent microcosm thinks that a handful of not-so-familiar politicians will miraculously change patent law, then the patent microcosm refused to learn from the past. Technical people will stand in their way and 2019 will be yet another year of failed 'reform' attempts. Things work a lot better at present than they did before; unless you're a patent lawyer...

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why We Support Richard Stallman and You Probably Should Too
It's not about being "Richard Stallman fan", it is about maintaining the right to hold positions (on technology) like his
Some Large German Media Covers Richard Stallman's Talks in Germany Earlier This Week
LLM-based chatbots are just "bullshit generators" (as he has long called them)
Trouble in Red Hat/IBM and a Retreat to Ponzi Economics in Search of Wall Street Market Heist
Would you invest your life savings in this kind of crap?
Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses)
The IRS does not reveal who or what's tied to this refund (or the cause/reason)
 
Slopwatch: Google News and Slopfarms That Relay Nonsense From LLMs
Google News, which once prioritised or used to care about provenance and quality, is feeding slopfarms
Links 23/10/2025: More Health Concerns Over Dumb Chatbots (LLMs) and "Talking Cars" as Latest Buzz
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Daylight Savings Time and Duration Shorthand
Links for the day
Links 23/10/2025: LLM 'Hallucinations' (Defects) in Practical Code 'Generation', China Becomes More Economically and Technologically Independent
Links for the day
Linux Foundation Uses LLM Slop to Promote Microsoft in Linux.com (Again), Rendering It a Linux-Hostile Slopfarm
Openwashing with slop by "Linux.com Editorial Staff", which basically seems to be a bot
Links 23/10/2025: Windows TCO Galore and "The Internet Is Going to Break Again"
Links for the day
Social engineering attack: Debian voted to trick you on binary blobs
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Will Always Stand for Women's Rights
We even invest money - personal savings that it - in our principles
Certified Lawyers Should Know Better (Than to Intimidate Us With Man Who Drives on Motorcycle Through a Really Bad Storm Between Distant Cities, Then Collects Photos of Our Home)
Mentioning someone was in prison for bad things isn't a crime, it's a public service
The "AI" (Slop) Bubble is Already Imploding
"ChatGPT Usage Has Peaked and Is Now Declining, New Data Finds"
The So-called "Sexy" Buckets (AI, Quantum) Cannot Save IBM From Reality, Shares Tank
"No matter how much financial hocus-pocus they use to reclassify revenues to land in the "sexy" buckets (AI, Quantum), it still smells old and musty - just like this company."
Paul Krugman is Wrong About the Scope of Mass Layoffs in the United States
A few years ago society was accelerating its journey towards feudalism, boosted by COVID-19
Links 23/10/2025: Proprietary Blunders and CISA's Latest Disclosure of Holes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Fast Past (F1), 99.9% Uptime
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Slopwatch: Google News is Promoting Fake 'Articles' About Fake Xubuntu, Fake Articles About Replacing Windows With GNU/Linux
The quality of the Web deteriorates and unless someone cleans up the mess, real sites will lose an incentive to produce anything
When "AI Layoffs" Mean Layoffs Due to the "AI" Bubble Popping
many people that are laid off by Microsoft claim to be specialists in "AI"
Mysterious grant forfeited, $100,000 from Software in the Public Interest accounts 2023
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: bullying, student union behaviour: Armijn Hemel's FSFE resignation
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: psychological abuse, stalking, Galia Mancheva, Susanne Eiswirt ignored by FSFE judgment for Matthias Kirschner
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Helping FSFE scam victims and conference organisers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Nigerian fraud in FSFE constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Worrying and Amusing Stories of "Clown Computing" Gone Awry
Many of these disasters could be avoided
Links 22/10/2025: Amazon Plans to Replace Workers With Robotics, AWS and Clown Computing in General Ridiculed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/10/2025: Niri Completely Changes Multitasking and Overview of Diff-ers
Links for the day
Links 22/10/2025: Study on Misinformation by Slop and Heavily Debt-Sabbled Microsoft OpenAI (ClosedSlop) Uses "Browser" as Gimmick/Distraction
Links for the day
They've Already Spent Close to a Million Dollars on Lawyers and Sent Us About 50 KG of Legal Papers (Sponsored by Mysterious Third Party) to Try to Censor Techrights, Without Success
They try to overcompensate with sheer volume for a lack of solid, clear arguments (we are the victims here)
12 Months Ago the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Officially Went 'Tag-Team'
We're actually sort of flattered or proud that such despicable people are so desperate to censor us
"Cloud Computing" Was Always a Joke, But This Week Was the Punchline
Maybe stop following tech trends and fashions
"Cloud Computing" Does Not Mean Safety
Fault tolerance is related to the notion of software freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Fall of Windows: From Something to Nothing
Of course Microsoft will pretend everything is fine and "just trust the hey hi" (AI)
Sounds Like Fedora is Ready to Become Less of a Slave of Microsoft (GitHub)
This seems like a belated move in a positive direction
XBox is a Dead Microsoft Product in a Dying Industry
It's probable that another wave of XBox layoffs is just over the horizon (maybe even before month's end)
Progress on Techrights Site Search
Fun times
IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Means the Layoffs Are Silent, Barely Reported
Don't wait to hear about "Red Hat layoffs"
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Happy Disconnection, AWS Falling Apart, Closing of Gemlog Blue
Links for the day
Full Audio of Today's Richard Stallman Talk in the Technical University of Munich
Free/Libre software and freedom in the digital society
Microsoft XBox is Just Vapourware (Promises of Hardware That Doesn't Exist), Real Products Perish
just as developers lose interest in developing for XBox Microsoft is increasing the costs imposed upon them
Slopwatch: Fake Articles (Slop) in "Linux" Clothing in Google News (Noise)
all about what Google does
Links 21/10/2025: Even "Inventor of Vibe Coding" Rejects Vibe Coding, USPTO Experiments With Slop in Examination
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Talk Now Available for Viewing (Archived Copy, Not Live-streamed)
This recording is over 2 hours old
Links 21/10/2025: AWS-Induced Chaos and Social Control Media Curbs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Programming, StarGrid, Brand-New Palm OS Strategy Game in 2025, and Chatbot as Addiction Mechanisms
Links for the day
The African Lion and the American Cowards
Safaris exist for people to watch and enjoy animals
Amazon Web Shenanigans Perfectly Timed for Today's Talk by Richard Stallman
Maybe listen to him instead of looking for excuses to ridicule the messenger
Mission:Libre Has Taken Off (Project by Carmen Maris)
there will be a lot more to report on next month (after the event)
Techrights to Publish More EPO Leaks Next Week
We're meanwhile also doing lots of work on search, whose interface now looks better
Links 21/10/2025: 'The Lost Art' of Neon Signs and Twitter (X) to Enable Identity Theft (or Handle Theft) as a Service
Links for the day
Plagiarism With LLM Slop: Hindustan Times (HT Digital Streams Limited) Has Become a Slop Factory/Hub
What a disgrace
A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe, by Richard Stallman
"The surveillance imposed on us today is worse than in the Soviet Union. We need laws to stop this data being collected in the first place"
Next Week We Launch Search at Techrights
We're planning to launch it some time next week. Maybe Tuesday, maybe Thursday.
Talk by Richard Stallman Will be Live-streamed in Less Than 10 Hours
Happy hacking
"No Kings" in the Software World (GAFAM Should Not Exist, Either)
"No Kings" is a good slogan. Let's start by ridding ourselves of masters, not only those who reside in DC or visit DC
Every Morning
Bugs/edge cases combined with automation can spell disaster
Insane, Deliberately Dishonest, or Just Another Bigot?
very intellectually-dishonest human being
A Lot of Techrights is Built on Perl
Perl also runs the sister site
The Register MS Selling Slop for Microsoft (Vapourware, Ponzi Scheme, False Claims)
What will be left of The Register MS if it keeps repeating falsehoods and looking to profit from Ponzi schemes?
analytics.usa.gov Says Less Than 14% of Web Requests (to Government Sites) Come From Vista 11
Vista 11 was released more than 4 years ago!
People Who Attempt to Take Down Correct Information Need a Doctor a Day
“Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” ― George Orwell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 20, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 20, 2025
Vista 11 is Sinking While Microsoft is PIPing (Mass Layoffs But Silent Layoffs)
We're witnessing a shift in platform dominance
Richard Stallman is Having a Good Week Already (Stallman Was Right About 'Clown Computing')
That alone is worth bringing up in his talk
An Update About Soylent News, With Jan Rinok "Back in the Saddle"
Burnout or "near burnout" a possibility when having to curate abuse
When Prominent GNU/Linux Distros Are Run by Spies
What has Microsoft Canonical become?
More Publishers and Companies Nowadays Say "GNU/Linux", Not "Linux"
It's not to see InstallAware saying GNU/Linux this week