Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Says Crushing Patent Neutrality is a Good Thing€® Because Authenticity of Self-Incriminating EPO Document Cannot be Denied

A two-tiered society for large corporations and for little people

Manchester



Summary: The EPO's 'damage control' is so weak that it almost resembles satire and staff protests are having a strong effect, with people threatening to take their exceptional skills elsewhere

ENGLISH-SPEAKING media is starting to catch up with news about EPO leaks.



Recall the special role Microsoft plays in all this. Microsoft's role is prominent for reasons explained in this new article. "According to the memos," it says, "the idea for the scheme was prompted by alleged complaints by both Microsoft and Canon that a number of their applications had been excessively delayed." Neither Microsoft nor Canon is European. Why are they driving European policy?

"Florian Müller," continues the reporter, "author of the FOSS Patents blog, said the memos are “incontrovertible evidence of the EPO’s institutionalised unfairness”. Roy Schestowitz, author of the Techrights blog, said they show that the EPO is acting like a business."

Well, guess what? EPO hides the evidence. They are now blocking both sites which speak about this, the Techrights blog and also the FOSS Patents blog, based on this morning's revelations.

The EPO tried to tell us on Twitter that our leak is "wrong", as if just putting an EPO document up there on the Web makes us "wrong" (as in incorrect). This is just hilarious in a sense. They don't know what to do as they cannot deny the authenticity of the document (shown to journalists by several independent sources, maybe because EPO tried claiming -- to journalists -- that the document had been forged). With the accuracy having been verified, they now go right into spin mode (not denial).

"The EPO tried to tell us on Twitter that our leak is "wrong", as if just putting an EPO document up there on the Web makes us "wrong" (as in incorrect)."It is hard to read the new article with a straight face. Consider excuses like this one: "The EPO spokesperson said the net effect is that smaller applicants will benefit because RAEX will not be flooded with requests from the biggest filers."

That's like saying that having a 'fast lane' for First Class and Business Class (for rich people) is a Good Thing™ for the rest of the passengers because it helps shrink the queues of Economy Class. There's no logic there. In fact, this is so illogical that it's hard to think where to begin refutation. It's almost self-refuting.

Well, they also try to frame this as a temporary thing even though, based on our sources, this may just be an afterthought/spin/revisionism because of the negative publicity.

There is a staff protest right at this moment and there is another new article about today's protest. It starts as follows:

EPO labelled ‘totalitarian state’ as controversy and demo hit



The president of the European Patent Office (EPO), Benoît Battistelli, has reportedly urged the Administrative Council (AC) to dismiss a member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) despite that body not recommending such action.

It comes amid separate allegations of harassment and as workers demonstrate today, October 14.

Battistelli’s request was allegedly outlined in a message sent to the AC ahead of its meeting this week, according to the IPKat blog yesterday, October 13.

Under article 23 of the European Patent Convention, a member of the EBA cannot be dismissed without the body lodging an official request with the AC, a supervisory organisation of the EPO.

Article 23 is in place to guarantee the independence of the EBA from the AC and EPO president.

So far, the EBA has not made such a request and in fact last month rejected a request by the AC to dismiss the member.



One person who is apparently attending the protest told us s/he "just saw appeal board members demanding he is fired. Poor sign."

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
 
Links 11/06/2025: More Vulnerabilities Found in 'Smart' Phones, China Extends Reach in the Pacific
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/06/2025: Grain and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Links 11/06/2025: "Quantum" Hype From IBM, US Closer to Martial Law, and “The Nation” Celebrates Milestone
Links for the day
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Links 10/06/2025: Apple Hype and Physical Attacks on Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/06/2025: Loon Lake, Farming, and Forth
Links for the day
Links 10/06/2025: Jaws at 50 and US Democracy Crushed Very Rapidly (Martial Law Seems Imminent)
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VII: Washing Their Hands After Corruption and Abuse
"Tragedy or comedy?"
Culling Bad RSS Feeds of Bad Sites
Not throwing out the baby with the bathwater
If 'Microsoft v Techrights' is Dealt With by a 'Microsoft Court' (or a Court Outsourced to Microsoft)
More on that later
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 09, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 09, 2025
Gemini Protocol Turns Six in 10 Days From Now
If you haven't tried it yet, then give it a go today
Live as You Preach
technology is fast becoming dysphoric
Gemini Links 09/06/2025: Addition Addiction and Nitride
Links for the day
Links 09/06/2025: Science, Hardware Projects, and Democracy Receding
Links for the day
Computers Got Smaller, So GNU/Linux Got Bigger
Many people here recognise the lack of urgency (or need) to get expensive new laptops
BetaNews is a Plagiarism and LLM Slop Hub, the Chief Editor Isn't Addressing This Problem Anymore
SS Fagioli is basically a parasite leeching off or exploiting other people's work
Links 09/06/2025: Chaos in Los Angeles and Hurricane Season
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Grows at Windows' Expense and Microsoft Trolls Infest and Maliciously Target Articles About It
Microsoft is - and has long been - organised crime
They Say I'm Mr. Bombastic
They didn't take good lawyers
Links 09/06/2025: Windows TCO and Many Data Breaches
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VI: Political Stunts by Former President Edyta Demby-Siwek and the Connection to Profound Corruption at EUIPO
it's like a money-laundering operation where one politician rewards another at taxpayers' expense
Gemini Links 09/06/2025: Pipelines and Splitgate
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 08, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 08, 2025