04.06.17
Gemini version available ♊︎Like EPO ‘Grants’ (up 40% in a Year), Patent Trolls in Europe Are Growing at Double-Digit Rates (Now 20% of All German Lawsuits)
Rendition by Dutch cartoonist and illustrator KrewinkelKrijst [Web site], inspired by Animal Office
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Summary: As Battistelli keeps crushing quality control at the EPO, in order to maximise supposed output (by compelling workers to hurry, doing a shoddy job under pressure), the level of abusive litigation soars in Germany — the very same nation that generously hosts Battistelli’s endless abuses of German law
THE EPO has certainly become a sham — so much so that it now flagrantly violates the very treaty that brought it into existence (EPC). The EPO is like an animal farm, where people are treated like animals (in industrial farming) and production is paramount irrespective of quality, health of workers, health/welfare of animals etc.
Thanks to the EPO’s management (at least in part, for we recognise Germany has its own patent office), Germany is now attracting a lot of patent trolls, with promise to do the same in the rest of Europe if this patent lunacy/frenzy isn’t stopped soon. This has already spread to London, as we first noted at the end of 2015 (Ericsson’s patent troll has just gotten its way there).
“They must be emboldened by plenty of terrible patents and terrible precedence — like that set by the EPO with controversial policies.”Yesterday, Florian Müller told me about this new report of his. As a team manager dealing with app development (he too is a programmer), he must be worried about patent trolls in Germany (he famously campaigned against software patents in Europe for this reason) and he is certainly worried about what goes on at the EPO these days. “Horacio,” he told me, the man who led Microsoft's trolling campaign for nearly a decade, “has now joined an anti-troll advocacy group whose other members include, for example, Google…”
“New IP advocacy group warns,” says the headline, that “trolls [are] now accounting for 20% of German patent suits…”
They must be emboldened by plenty of terrible patents and terrible precedence — like that set by the EPO with controversial policies. EPO examiners repeatedly tell us that they feel compelled to grant software patents even if they are against them (as per the EPC, European directives, common sense, industry and so on).
Müller has mentioned the UPC as well:
In mid-December, a new Brussels-based advocacy group named IP2Innovate (Intellectual Property 2 Innovate) made its first announcement. Its members include Google, Intel, Daimler, Spotify, Bull, adidas, Proximus, Wiko, and two other associations (the European Semiconductor Industry Association and the Syndicat de l’industrie des technologies de l’information). The new industry body is primarily concerned about the impact of patent trolls on innovative companies in Europe and believes that the situation will exacerbate dramatically if and when the Unified Patent Court is put in place.
Yes, this is exactly what we have warned about for years. Even some large companies openly admitted this (HP for example). It’s not hard to see who would benefit if UPC became a reality. Will companies care enough to undermine the UPC and oust Team Battistelli? The damage already done is enormous and the toll is far higher than the EPO’s annual budget. To Battistelli it’s all just an externality, or the cost of doing ‘business’ (or making a killing, sometimes literally).
Watch what happens with patent trolls in China right now (we wrote a lot about it). Or in Singapore…
“There are truly massive economic ratifications, especially where there is no indemnification, to the marginalisation of examination — just what Battistelli is doing right now.”“As it branches out,” IAM wrote today, “Razer [in Singapore] has faced its share of NPE [troll] litigation. Gaming-oriented smart watches, tablets and over-the-top streaming boxes have triggered US infringement suits from the likes of Blue Spike and Sportbrain. Razer will hope that audio and smartphone-related assets from THX and Nextbit complement its own modest portfolio, much of which names Tan as a co-inventor, to put it on stronger footing as it continues to come out with new devices.”
Patent maximalism tends to lead to more litigation and trolls find that economically attractive. There are truly massive economic ratifications, especially where there is no indemnification, to the marginalisation of examination — just what Battistelli is doing right now.
Battistelli is crushing Europe and crippling people while sipping drinks at his new bar. █
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