Bonum Certa Men Certa

David Kappos (IBM/Microsoft Lobbyist) Reported for Misuse of Authority and Conflict of Interest

Old monopolies and current monopolies want more than just patent monopolies

IBM and Nazi flag
Image sourced from "The Hidden Nazi History of IBM and how they chose profit over morality"



Summary: For a number of decades the USPTO has been discriminating against GNU/Linux users and for a number of years it has been pushing "Microsoft tax" (applicants must pay more if they don't use Microsoft's proprietary formats); some people challenge this culture of vendor capture inside the USPTO

LAST month we wrote about issues associated with past staff of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which now works in the lobbying sector, in effect trying to shape the law for large clients like IBM and Microsoft. Among the objectives: extinguishing 35 U.S.C. €§ 101 and bringing back software patents. Last year we showed that an IBM lobbyist (paid millions by IBM) "Used COVID-19 Lies to Push for Software Patents From the Back Door, Undermining What Courts Have Determined" (even the highest court); not even the EPO had gone that far in promotion of software patents.



"We have many readers who use GNU/Linux, but we’re not sure how many of them interact with patent offices."Earlier this year we mentioned how those same people misused the USPTO to reinforce Microsoft's monopoly. One of our readers has had enough and is taking action [PDF]. Bar complaint against Kappos was submitted the other day. "I filed a bar complaint against Kappos in California," a reader told us, where he's a member of the bar. I'll file complaints in New York and Washington, DC, too - where he is also a member - but it seems to be a little more difficult than in California."

"I will be very surprised if anything is done about my complaint. But, if they go so far as to contact Kappos about the complaint, it will have been worth it.

"The issue I attacked him on is the "Electronic Filing Incentive." You can read about it in the attached pdf.

"I live in rural West Virginia, so I have only been on the internet for 7-8 years, and, before that, I filed my applications through the post. No problem, until Kappos came along, and tried to force everybody to buy Microsoft and Lenovo.

"At first, I used Windows - like everybody - but I bought Windows 8, which was junk, and I discovered Linux, which I've been using for probably about 7 years.

"Most of the people at the USPTO are lawyers, it seems, and they are creating "barriers" - as described in my pdf - against Linux users.

"Maybe somebody could file bar complaints against lawyers in the USPTO because of the barrier against Linux, using the complaint in my pdf as a guide. It would require some research to identify the lawyers, and then find out where their bar membership is: which state(s), and maybe Washington, DC.

"I can't do it. I use Linux, but don't really have the technical knowledge to make a strong complaint. Maybe you know somebody who could do it."

We have many readers who use GNU/Linux, but we're not sure how many of them interact with patent offices. Nevertheless, any action against behaviour such as this can only potentially improve things. We need to make ourselves noticeable/heard. Otherwise, systematic discrimination will carry on, reinforced by people whose top clients are proprietary software giants that pursue loads of software patents.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
 
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually
Participation in Cancel Culture Detrimental to One's Career
A cautionary tale
Passion Wins
we've increased the number of birds we feed to 100+
How Solderpunk and Sean Conner Started Gemini Protocol (and, Collectively, Geminispace) Back in 2019
Based on the "official" history
Arduino is Now a Patent Bully (Qualcomm)
Qualcomm has just bought Arduino
Many Years of Microsoft Cancellations and Faked (Acquired) Revenue "Growth"
XBox is basically the "next Skype"
The Comment TheLayoff.com Has Just Censored for Criticising a Ridiculous Puff Piece of IBM Management
If comments get censored for their "style" rather than their substance, then society will be worse off
The Power of Writing Down Facts
The more we write and publish, the more people will know what happened
Microsoft's Non-Denying Denial About XBox's Death is Already Being Shattered to Pieces
Like Microsoft's 'open' 'hey hi', heralding meaningless non-committing agreements with AMD is little more than vapourware
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Joins the Slopfarms Club
Slopfarms gonna slop
Links 07/10/2025: Privacy at Risk, GAFAM Remains Off the Hook
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Modern Retro Console Idea and Batch vs Bash
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: International Criminal Court (ICC) Convicts Ali Kushayb; Moroccan Imprisoned for 'Offensive' Shirt
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: EU' Chat Control is Back, US Cracks Down on Democracy
Links for the day
Techrights Pursues Justice and Truth Because, Without Those, Society Descends Into Chaos
most people reject dogma and pseudoscience
Upcoming Talks by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Göteborg, and Rome
Join with him and share the software
Something Bad is Happening in the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
The latest OSI blog post is from a Microsoft operative and a few weeks ago the Executive Director left
TLS 1.3 Dominates Geminispace (99% of Known Capsules)
it's nowadays safe to assume almost every capsule can handle TLS 1.3
Why soylentnews.org Has Been Having Technical Difficulties Lately
The network has been going up and down quite a lot this past week
A Statement Against Violence
The facts are on our side
They've Run Out of Things to Rebrand or Label as "AI"
The next few years will be interesting because if Microsoft lays off tens of thousands of workers each year, there won't be much left except mountains of debt and dying brands
The Register MS is Still Being Paid to Participate in the "AI" Ponzi Scheme Which Will Crash the Economy
The Register MS is hoping to get lucky by tricking people into a scam
Richard Stallman Confirms His Talk in Göteborg This Coming Friday
"The hosts say that the list will not be given to the state"
Most of the "Linux" Results This Morning in Google News Are LLM Slop From the Same Slopfarm, Plagiarising Phoronix
The main question is, does Google even care at this point?
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Civil War and "Goodbye Web"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 06, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 06, 2025