04.06.17
Gemini version available ♊︎The EPO’s Management is Silencing Its Critics by Sheer Intimidation
Related: After EPO Sanctions Against IP Kat (Censorship of More Than 10,000 Articles) Even Merpel Throws in the Towel (“Merpel” is a collective name for several IP Kat writers)
Summary: The regime of the EPO is ruining the European economy and those who dare criticise the EPO for it are being greeted with multiple legal threats if not dismissals, emotional torture and even harassment of spouses
WITH over 3 UPC puff piece in less than a week and nothing about EPO scandals anymore, IP Kat helps Battistelli more than it harms Battistelli's agenda these days. Readers are noticing this. Not only that; former insiders/Kats are aware of this issue, which is why perhaps some of them left (including those who used the pseudonym “Merpel”, shared by several people, including Jeremy who left). We don’t intend to unmask anyone but rather to point out that there seems to be a mild form of “turf war” inside the blog (competing interests) and Battistelli’s side has been securing a foothold. We predict that a lot more nonsense about the UPC will come from firms like Bristows inside IP Kat, even if they lie.
Here is a comment we spotted last night:
As I see it, the reason why many people turn away from the IPkat is not so much related to “old boys”, but rather to the blog’s apparent transformation from an academic, open-minded forum valuing free speech into a marketing tool for the interests of those in charge after Jeremy’s departure and for their firms, apparently aiming at influencing public opinion on certain topics.
This has been re-emphasized recently by the blog’s sudden refusal to cover the situation at the EPO any longer, but it is obvious for quite some now also in relation to the UPC topic, on which comments expressing a certain, probably undesired opinion seem to go missing on an unusually regular basis.
“We don’t think that IP Kat necessarily preaches to the converted. In fact, Team UPC is finding some “tough crowd” (or hostile audience) there.”At the end of the day, every blog boils down to the people who run it and their views/agenda. The same goes for corporate media and its owners, which we suspect explains why German media mostly ignores the EPO scandals.
We don’t think that IP Kat necessarily preaches to the converted. In fact, Team UPC is finding some “tough crowd” (or hostile audience) there. These people are not stupid. A lot of the latest comments in this thread show that commenters are not tolerating the latest UPC propaganda. “The UPC is new, big, fast, powerful and expensive like the Titanic,” one person wrote about the UPC, which has just been sunk by Brexit. SUEPO, linking to this thread, added: “Please note that the comments are also worth reading.”
“UPC is a coup. It’s a bunch of firms hijacking the law of the land.”That’s like saying that the comments are better than the article. “The problem,” one person wrote, “irrespective of Brexit, is that this is a lawyer-led white elephant.”
UPC is a coup. It’s a bunch of firms hijacking the law of the land. As someone recently put it: “What we see here is a perfect example of what lobbying can achieve!”
It “may be correct to say that the UPC was started by lawyers,” said another new comment. They are eager to destroy legitimate businesses in their countries if that means they can make a buck (or a shilling) out of it.
“It’s clear that people are not tolerating the UPC and some who are sufficiently informed have signed a petition.”“I also find it unfathomable quite why CIPA have lobbied so hard for the UPC,” another new comment said. Well, that pretty much sums up what sort of forces and interests are propelling the UPC and trying to force its ratification in defiance of constitutions, laws, common sense, and public interests.
“Let’s call for a demonstration against UPC in the UK,” one person suggested yesterday, “what would be the best place in London to do this? I can’t find an address for Mr Johnson office. Otherwise Westminster?”
It’s clear that people are not tolerating the UPC and some who are sufficiently informed have signed a petition. “We can already fix a date in advance in like a month,” said this person about a demonstration, “there is Easter in the middle, and make it public when we have enough companies supporting it. Another idea is to call for a strike and ask people to take a day off for this. Problem is the 29 May Council in Brussels, where UPC guys want to have it done in the UK.”
“The EPO not only destroys its own workforce; right now, with the UPC among other things, the EPO is wrecking Europe’s economy.”We don’t suppose that, in defense of their jobs (which UPC would be making growingly redundant), EPO workers too would wish to initiate another strike. About SUEPO, one source told us, “[t]hey are so scared of management retribution now, that [...] SUEPO seems broken by what has been done to them by the EPO management. It is a disgraceful situation. Where this goes from here, who knows? But any organisation that has tried to destroy union representation has suffered in the end.”
The EPO not only destroys its own workforce; right now, with the UPC among other things, the EPO is wrecking Europe’s economy. It flagrantly disregards the EPC, which is like its Constitution. Some people openly speak about this, but a lot insist that not much can be done because the EPO is accountable to nobody and vehemently insists that it’s immune from any law enforcement. We have got ourselves another Ankara right in the middle of Bavaria and we certainly hope that Bavarian Parliament will come up with a plan today. We eagerly await readers’ input on what happens/happened in today's hearings. █
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