03.30.17
Gemini version available ♊︎Devaluation of European Patents is a Recipe for Institutional Suicide and Immeasurable Harm to Europe’s Economy
Lessons to be learned from China, Battistelli’s apparent role model
Summary: The horrible vision and the enormous cost (not just to the European Patent Office) that Battistelli’s policies will have on an entire continent explained in light of the situation in China, where the biggest patent bubble in human history is currently taking shape
THE EPO‘s vision of 'SIPO Europe' (bottom low of patent quality) is particularly disturbing in light of the USPTO‘s (and KIPO’s and JPO’s) growing leadership in terms of patent scope. The old reputation of European Patents (EPs) persists in some circles and lingers on in the out-of-date literature, but it won't be long before people grasp the severity of the problem, verified by EPO leaks. European Patents are not what they used to be. Examiners know it (some of them bemoan having to grant software patents in Europe), but their management keeps lying about it. The EPO ‘accomplished’ quite a lot; not only did it demolish the reputation of EPs (from which EPs derive their value/fees) but it also destroyed trust in the entire institution. Many people out there already realise that it’s safe to assume the EPO is lying until/unless proven otherwise. They lie so much that it’s not even funny. We catch them lying several times a day and barely find the time to even properly write about (and refute) all the lies. It’s a Dark Age at the EPO.
“They want lots of litigation; only deep-pocketed companies and their lawyers would benefit.”Mark Schweizer, writing for IP Kat after it quit covering EPO scandals (due to medieval sanctions from the EPO), wrote about WIPO’s statistics yesterday, about a fortnight after the supposed news came out. We covered that on multiple occasions earlier this month. Filing of lots and lots of patent applications in China, for instance, led to soaring litigation numbers, not innovation. WIPO et al keep conflating the two, as that’s just what WIPO exists to do. IAM, in the meantime, writing this morning about China, reveals that patent maximalism in China yields nothing but a whole lot of lawsuits. This is the kind of future envisioned by UPC proponents. They want lots of litigation; only deep-pocketed companies and their lawyers would benefit. We shall deal separately with the UPC later today.
With litigation soaring in China (see what we wrote almost two weeks ago and almost three weeks ago), one should take the hint/clue, no? Schweizer has instead repeated the dubious claims from the EPO, as follows: “The EPO has released its annual report 2016 a while ago, see here for key figures. Beware of the “European patent filing” indicator, which grew by 6.2%. European patent applications (i.e. only including PCT applications that entered the regional phase) are down 0.4%. Philips is the largest filer before Huawei and Samsung. Granted patents are up a massive 40%.”
A lot of these applications, insiders tell us, should not be counted at all, but the EPO is lying and cheating, as usual. Yesterday, for example, the EPO recited these numbers. I asked them: “How many of these businesses actually paid the fees? The raw numbers used by EPO are bogus and/or misleading.”
“A lot of these applications, insiders tell us, should not be counted at all, but the EPO is lying and cheating, as usual.”Also mind this partial chart published by the EPO yesterday. The “patent applications at EPO are down,” I told them. “Battistelli did this!”
Less than an hour later Twitter shadowbanned me (again), I suppose quite possibly due to patent maximalists reporting me for “abuse”, with the intent of suppressing criticism.
“Only one company in top 5 is European,” I told the EPO about this tweet from yesterday. Has the public noticed that?
Citing the above from IAM, the author of the article (Schindler) takes note of the devastating effect but dresses it up as desirable. To quote: “A judge has revealed that there are more than 20 standards essential patent (SEP) disputes pending before the Beijing IP Court.”
“Patents on everything! Even mere ideas or thoughts! Not even with a computer to execute any code! That’s where China is heading.”Imagine the same thing happening in Germany, which already attracts a growing number of patent trolls, then invoking/enforcing injunctions in the whole EU. That’s what UPC would accomplish. That’s what EPO management wants. Chinese companies already use the biased courts in Texas to do it in the United States; they would do this in Europe too (if the UPC became a reality), hence the gold rush for EPs. Meanwhile in China, based on this new article, there is a “Green light for business method patents” (to quote the headline).
“11th November is an important date to online consumers in China,” it says. “The socalled “Singles Day”, initially a made-up annual festival as an ‘anti-Valentine’s Day’ celebration for singletons, is now the biggest shopping event in the world, thanks to the marketing ploy of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. Chinese consumers reportedly spent over US$17.8 billion on Singles Day last year on the online shopping sites of Tmall and Taobao, two subsidiaries of Alibaba. The astonishing sales figure has far surpassed the figure of US$14.4 billion in 2015 and eclipsed both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the two biggest shopping days in the US.”
So guess what that means? Yes, patents! Patents on everything! Even mere ideas or thoughts! Not even with a computer to execute any code! That’s where China is heading. Much to our regret, the EPO too seem to have embraced this mentality. Imagine how many patents can be granted on Christmas!
“Imagine what another year of Battistelli would do to the Office, which already loses in ‘demand’ for EPs and will soon run out of work.”“The compulsive patent hoarding disorder” is a new article from the Indian press, sent to us yesterday by a contributor. To quote the core premise: “It takes money to make money. CSIR-Tech, the commercialisation arm of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), realised this the hard way when it had to shut down its operations for lack of funds. CSIR has filed more than 13,000 patents — 4,500 in India and 8,800 abroad — at a cost of ₹50 crore over the last three years. Across years, that’s a lot of taxpayers’ money, which in turn means that the closing of CSIR-Tech is a tacit admission that its work has been an expensive mistake — a mistake that we tax-paying citizens have paid for.”
Get it? Overpatenting is damaging to one’s national interests. Or continental interests. Imagine what another year of Battistelli would do to the Office, which already loses in ‘demand’ for EPs and will soon run out of work. When the bubble finally bursts (it’s definitely going to happen, like it happened in the US), Battistelli and his cronies will have already 'looted' the Office. █
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