02.20.08
Ray Niro’s Latest Mud Fight (and Other Patent Nonesnese)
Why patent for innovation when you can patent just for profit?
To those who do not know, Ray Niro is a man ‘fortunate’ (or rather notorious) enough to have earned the crown bearing the letters “FATHER OF PATENT TROLLING” [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. That is of course one among several factors that rendered the function of the USPTO moot, obsolete and so utterly broken.
Having harassed a blogger (headhunting), Niro now picks another fight with — you’ve guessed it — another fellow troll.
Some interesting developments in the Global Patent Holdings litigation going on in Nevada (against Zappos) and Florida (against Boca Resort). The long sad story is below, but for those with a short attention span, here is the abbreviated version: Essentially, Global Patent Holdings, hurting that Boca Resort called it a patent troll, said “oh yeah, GPH is really an 80-year-old and a 70-year-old in a wheelchair - who you callin’ troll, son of Enron?” Meanwhile, at the same time in Nevada, GPH told the court that it, not the inventors, owned the rights to the patents. Boca Resort replied by saying, “Hey Niro, you started it - you were the one who wrote the article saying you’re a patent troll anyway. And by the way, if the inventors have a stake, then where’s the real party in interest? Dismiss this case, your honor!”
Yes, that’s the crazy life of people who made a fortune by exploiting every loophole in the system, thereby making a complete mockery of it.
Do you want to see some really crazy and outrageous patent? Here is a good new example from Zoobab at Digital Majority. It’s a total ripoff.
Thanks Huwaii and Miao for this great invention and stealing my work. I really appreciate it. I bet Marshall T. Rose will also be delighted.
Zoobab also pointed to an update on the business method patents kerkuffle.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) could reconsider its own landmark decision on business method patents after ordering an en banc hearing in an appeal from the USPTO
Things have never looked worse for the USPTO, but the good news is that more and more people are becoming aware of the problem. This makes a crowd that will have the system put under greater pressure to get its act together and rectify itself.
Many of us were taught that the purpose of patents is to protect ourselves and to spur innovation. These goals must now be met by restoring order. Taking care of the likes of Ray Niro would make a fine start. █
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.