03.05.17
Gemini version available ♊︎The Very Thought of UPC in the UK “is a Perfect Example of What Lobbying Can Achieve!”
Is Jo Johnson just a lobbyists’ politician, or a Battistelli lapdog like his predecessor?
Summary: Only the endlessly-repeated myth of the UPC being ratifiable in the UK makes it conceivable that it will happen this month (Jo Johnson ignoring his own common sense), but what would happen after Brexit?
THE NUMBER of fake news articles about UPC keeps increasing, especially in the United Kingdom (British press is known for its PR tendencies, not the best of fact-checking). We have already highlighted some very recent examples of UPC fake news [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. It’s misleading coverage that’s ‘weaponised’ for lobbying purposes, e.g. by CIPA.
“We have already highlighted some very recent examples of UPC fake news.”The seminal lies originate not only from blogs of Team UPC but also co-opted blogs like IP Kat (which they hogged for extra audience until recently, when IP Kat stopped being a UPC mouthpiece of Bristows). The EPO adds to the lies by sending Margot Fröhlinger [1, 2, 3] to all sorts of echo chamber-like events, where pretty much all the attendees are of a particular profession and lobby-able politicians/officials are their target audience.
“We are going to respond to all that lobbying in the coming week.”The “UK cannot participate in the UPC after Brexit,” points out this new comment in IP Kat. “What we see here is a perfect example of what lobbying can achieve!”
Yes, even Jo Johnson knows it cannot be done, but will he do it anyway? We are going to respond to all that lobbying in the coming week. Here is the full comment:
It is amazing to see how happily the whole profession, or at least the high proponents of the UPC in UK, are going into the wall.
That even the new responsible for IP in the UK government acknowledges that UK cannot participate in the UPC after Brexit, is revealing. And yet, that ratification should take place is flabbergasting.
How can a professional representative in all honesty advise his client not to opt out whilst the situation of UK post Brexit is so unclear as far as the UPC is concerned. He can, but only if he thinks of his purse and not of the interest of his client.
What we see here is a perfect example of what lobbying can achieve!
“An article in Austrian press criticises EPO,” one reader told us this afternoon in relation to “Prost auf das Monopol” [link].
“Unfortunately no translation available,” the reader said. So we hereby ask for help from anyone whose German is strong enough to produce a translation worthy of publication. █