11.02.17
University College London (UCL) Becomes Part of the Patent Fanatics Lobby, Supported by the EPO’s PR Firm FTI Consulting
Toxic to academia, not just to media
Summary: An ongoing pattern of stacked panels, echo chambers, distorted (paid or threatened) media and endless lobbying for aggressors’ agenda even when they come from another continent and look to cause trouble
THE EPO‘s management — for those who forgot or simply don’t know — paid over a million euros to a US-based PR firm called FTI Consulting. We leaked the details a couple of years back. FTI Consulting had already earned notoriety for all sorts of reasons. Its clients are evil. It does reputation laundering for evil people.
This firm quickly thereafter helped set up a UPC lobbying event in the US, sponsored and supported by the EPO, with IAM getting all the money.
“This firm quickly thereafter helped set up a UPC lobbying event in the US, sponsored and supported by the EPO, with IAM getting all the money.”It’s like one big club and stakeholders are unwittingly paying for all the champagne. Battistelli takes them for fools and treats his staff like dunces.
An hour ago we became aware of this upcoming event in University College London (UCL), which I used to work with. The title of this event is “Patents in Telecoms and the Internet of Things,” but Dennis Crouch dubbed it “British Invasion in DC”. It’s actually quite the opposite as DC lobbyists ‘invade’ London to push US corporations’ agenda, maybe meet some public officials on the way in order to lie to them about UPC etc.
“It’s notably supported/sponsored by the EPO’s PR firm, FTI Consulting, and David Kappos with his employer.”So lobbyists are now coming from the US to London, with a software patents agenda, UPC, patent trolls, and just about all the toxic things. It’s all right there and they’re even disclosing this nefarious agenda. They also disclose who’s behind this. A key participant is Microsoft’s arsenal for patent trolls, Nokia. They will be speaking about “Update on The Unitary Patent Court” and “Injunctions – Europe and the rest of the world” (pretty much overlaps UPC). It’s all about multinational corporations banning small rivals, typically European SMEs. They even have lobbyists for software patents in there and Qualcomm, a FRAND [sic] abuser, is a key participant. They’re looking to gain something from it. Also participating are lawyers who represent a lot of patent trolls. We know their track record. It’s notably supported/sponsored by the EPO’s PR firm, FTI Consulting, and David Kappos with his employer. Yes, he’s attending. He is a lobbyist for software patents.
“Did they really expect nobody to notice what sort of cabal is attending and what agenda they’re pushing right here in England?”The list of topics is self-explanatory. They are promoting the agenda of “Patent Assertion Entities” (euphemism for trolls), “FRAND Disputes” (euphemism for patent thickets), and speak of “Who should decide FRAND terms when parties cannot agree?”
There’s also “Competition and Policy Towards Standard Setting”, “The Internet of Things I – Legal and Economic Licensing Issues” and “The Internet of Things II – Practical Licensing Issues” — a subject that we covered here recently in relation to the EPO. Did they really expect nobody to notice what sort of cabal is attending and what agenda they’re pushing right here in England? █
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