05.29.15

Propaganda Mode for UPC Agreement Whilst EPO Increasingly Grants Patents on Software

Posted in Europe, Patents at 6:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“They [EPO examiners] claim that the organisation is decentralising and focusing on granting as many patents as possible to gain financially from fees generated.” —Expatica, European Patent Office staff on strike

Summary: In order to make the Unitary Patent a reality (towards a ‘no place to hide’ patent approach) misleading claims are being made

THE EPO is getting away with a lot of misdeeds and corruption, never mind a globalisation effort that removes Europe’s sovereignty in favour of multinational corporations.

There has been some opposition to the UPC Agreement from several large European member states, such as Spain and Italy. Lawyers’ sites are seemingly happy that Italy is giving up after initial opposition about four years ago and it sure looks like UPC is only a matter of time now.

The UPC takes us a step closer to what we call "Global Patent System", as explained here before. This, in due course, may mean software patents in Europe. The UPC Web site rejects that claim by stating:

No, the UPC Agreement doesn’t touch upon the patentability criteria. This will also in the future be governed by the European Patent Convention. According to Article 52 (c) of the EPC software as such are not patentable.

The unitary character of the UPC will make it easier to revoke a patent on software if such a patent is granted by mistake and there will be no need for parallel litigation. A third party will not have to wait for the outcome of opposition procedures at the EPO before bringing a revocation action before the UPC.

That is nonsense because it works the other way around, too. If a software patent is granted or defended, then it becomes a weapon in the whole of Europe. We already know that the EPO is increasingly open to software patents, predating Benoît Battistelli and going all the way back to Alison Brimelow, as we explained at the time (around 2009).

The UPC Web site continues to discredit Spain’s opposition to the UPC. They’ll just say anything to pass the UPC, even if it’s a half-truth and borderline lie. █

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

Looking for Explanations About Samsung's DeX and Other FOSS Initiatives Being Canned

DeX was primarily a threat to the desktop/laptop monopoly of Microsoft, so its sudden abandonment — without even an explanation — continues to attract speculations
EPO Will Need a Lot More Than Photo Ops and Hoax 'Studies' to Restore the Perception of Lawfulness

Battistelli‘s illegal attacks on European Patent Office (EPO) judges have tarnished any impression that the EPO serves justice and the current regime torpedoes an assessment of these attacks; EPO workers understand that to follow guidelines from the management may be a breach of the EPC
Links 21/10/2019: More on DeX, Disney DRM and Linux 5.4 RC4

Links for the day
GNU/Linux is Bigger Than Ever (Used More Than Ever Before), But Communication Means and Brands Have Changed

The GNU/Linux market is alive and healthy; it's how we measure its health that ought to adapt because things are constantly changing, more rapidly in the realm of technology than anywhere else
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 20, 2019

IRC logs for Sunday, October 20, 2019
Samsung Does Not Say Why It's Dropping DeX, But the ASUS EEE Story Might Offer Clues

It's not at all outlandish or unreasonable to suggest that Microsoft used patents or bribes or kickbacks as incentives for Samsung to abandon GNU/Linux as a desktop platform
EPO: It's Only Getting Worse

Inhaling Seagull meme for EPO presidents
It Has Begun: EPO Staff Protests Against António Campinos (Starting Wednesday)

Wednesday marks the resumption of EPO protests; it’s happening for the first time under Campinos and only a year after he took Office. Even Battistelli, the notorious thug, lasted longer before such escalations/actions or — put another way — he did better than that (if one checks the timeline of his presidency)
Links 20/10/2019: GNU/Linux at Penn Manor School District, Wine-Staging 4.18, Xfce 4.16 Development, FreeBSD 12.1 RC2

Links for the day
Guest Post: Understanding Autism for More Complete Inclusion

"...assuming that autistic people are all the same isn't only technically wrong, it is misleading and leads to harmful and needless misunderstandings."
Guest Post: Free Software Freedom is Not a Freedom of Choice

The concept of "Freedom of Choice" and how the ruling class uses it to give a false impression of "Freedom"
Guest Post: Free Software Developers and Pursuing 'Market Share'

"The only people interested in software freedom are (almost always) free software developers. And users are interested in freedom to a very limited extent: the "free beer" side. Even many free software developers are only interested in the "free beer" part of free software."
The Assertion That Microsoft Uses Communist Tactics Against GNU/Linux and Free/Libre Software

A study of Taistoism might help understand how Free/libre software is being undermined
European Patent Office and US Patent and Trademark Office Cranks Discovered Buzzwords, Stopped Worrying, Started Granting Patents They Know to be Fake

The world's patent repositories are being saturated with loads of junk patents or patents that have no legal bearing but can still be leveraged for extortion purposes; the EPO is resorting to lies and artificially-elevated buzzwords to justify granting such fake (yet ruinous) patents
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 19, 2019

IRC logs for Saturday, October 19, 2019
“The True Hypocrite is the One Who Ceases to Perceive His Deception, the One Who Lies With Sincerity,” Said André Paul Guillaume Gide (Nobel Prize in Literature)

Lies flow like water in the realm of EPO and its publishers, whose sole role is dissemination of deliberate falsehoods, misnomers and misinformation
The EPO Cannot Guard Fake European Patents From Scrutiny (in the Long Run)

Legal certainty associated with newly-granted European Patents is already pretty low and as long as the EPO refuses to acknowledge that its courts (or boards) lack autonomy the EPO merely brushes a growing problem under the rug
Links 19/10/2019: DeX Discontinued, DXVK 1.4.3 and Wine 4.18 Released

Links for the day
'Corporate Linux' Will Not Protect Software Freedom

The corporate model is inherently not compatible with software that users themselves fully control (or Software Freedom in general), so we must rely on another model of sovereignty over code and compiled code (binaries)
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 18, 2019

IRC logs for Friday, October 18, 2019
26,000 Posts

We want to thank those who help spread the word; it gives us moral support and morale.
The Myth of 'Analysts'

People with exaggerated roles (exaggerated by corporate media and corporations that control them) distort public perceptions about their clients; they're in effect just elevated marketing or Public Relations (PR) operatives
The FSF Has Two Acting Presidents Now

Alexandre Oliva, who acted as a sort of deputy of Richard Stallman in recent weeks, sheds some much-needed light on the current situation
Should Anybody Dictate the Free Software Movement?

"There's a great myth, as Jagadees reminds us, that advocacy doesn't produce software. That myth is corporate, and proper advocacy has at times produced the greatest software in the history of computing. If we want great Free software to continue, we need advocacy more than ever."
Links 18/10/2019: More KDE Events and OpenBSD 6.6

Links for the day
We Don't Know Who Will Run the Free Software Foundation, But We Know Who Will Run the GNU Project

Software Freedom is under a heavy and perhaps unprecedented attack; some people out there are paid by the attackers to celebrate this attack and defame people (cheering for corporate takeover under the blanket of “Open Source”), but the founder of the Free software movement remains alive, well, and very much active
New EPO Meme: Who Wants to Make Billions From a 'Public' Monopoly?

What was supposed to be a cash-balanced patent office became a money-making monster that fakes ‘crises’ to attack hard-working examiners
EmacsConf Without Richard Stallman

Now that emacs is being 'rebranded' this kind of meme seems apt
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 17, 2019

IRC logs for Thursday, October 17, 2019
Guest Article: In the Absence of Richard Stallman OEM Source Software ('Open Source') is Trying to Hijack Even Emacs

"Now they have to create some fictional history. No need to worry."