05.31.18
The EPO is Demolishing European Law With Terms Like ICT, CII, AI, and 4IR
Running over the law
Summary: The EPO continues granting patents in defiance of parliamentary directives, the European Patent Convention (EPC) and common sense; it’s like the EPO openly and arrogantly spits on the very laws which govern it
THE EPO‘s promotion of software patents in Europe has become pretty blatant and obvious. At the same time the USPTO accepts that such patents lack merit and rejects many of them (we shall cover that separately). Software patents in Europe do exist, but they’re not supposed to exist. Openly promoting them, moreover, is another new low for the EPO.
“Software patents in Europe do exist, but they’re not supposed to exist. Openly promoting them, moreover, is another new low for the EPO.”So-called ‘AI’ is just software, so the EPO basically organises (and people attend) the lobbying event of nefarious entities like pressure group (e.g. EPI). They push hard for software patenting (illegal in Europe) and reactions include:
I’m attending the conference ‘Patenting Artificial Intelligence’ organized by the European Patent Office @EPOorg in Munich, as member of the @patentepi EPI commettee EPPC-ICT pic.twitter.com/HnlR2g4zDx
The EPO was retweeting things like these yesterday. Also this one: “Participating @EPOorg Conference on Patenting Artificial Intelligence. Good discussions on what is patentable in Europe and on how to apply patents.”
More photos shared by the EPO: “”Patenting Artificial Intelligence” at European Patent Office @EPOorg pic.twitter.com/AZzuXFWBVx”
“So-called ‘AI’ is just software, so the EPO basically organises (and people attend) the lobbying event of nefarious entities like pressure group (e.g. EPI).”There’s more from that same account, e.g. here: “”Patenting Artificial Intelligence” Challenges and opportunities for #patent Offices @OEPM_es @EPOorg pic.twitter.com/KKXKF5XCRl”
The slides tell the general ‘spiel’ and the EPO itself wrote about it: “Clare Dillon speaking at EPO’s Patenting AI conference: ” #Patents and the EPO have a huge role to play in developing and accelerating the economic viability of #ArtificialIntelligence ” pic.twitter.com/BRHQQt0ceJ”
Dillon was later mentioned in the official ‘press release’ from the EPO (warning: epo.org link), which name-dropped “4th industrial revolution” and “ICT”, i.e. the usual. To quote:
The morning session focused on the current situation of patenting AI, with three keynote speeches, chaired by US patent attorney Rob Sterne. Technology “evangelist” Clare Dillon set the scene by outlining the latest trends and scope of the current “AI explosion” which is not restricted to the ICT industry but “impacts the scale and speed of innovation in every area”. Citing the main elements needed to make AI a success, she said: “Patents and the EPO have a huge role to play in developing and accelerating the economic viability of AI.”
Grant Philpott is, quite frankly as usual, mentioned quite a lot. He’s one of the loudest pushers for software patents and he also threatened to sue me. Here’s a tweet just about him: “”Patenting Artificial Intelligence” #patents Grant Philpott from @EPOorg : “Machine learning is already being used at EPO but it’s not the subject of this meeting”. pic.twitter.com/GmfbgLvoiW”
“Grant Philpott is, quite frankly as usual, mentioned quite a lot. He’s one of the loudest pushers for software patents and he also threatened to sue me.”Surely he knows that it’s all about software. I wrote Machine Learning algorithms 15 years ago.
Here is the EPO pimping Casado: “Vice President Casado opened the EPO’s 1st conference on patenting #AI: “The aim of today’s conference is to have an open exchange of views around the patenting of AI inventions.” pic.twitter.com/Y2sN9MK4iC”
These all come with photos by the way. Here’s another: “Over 300 IP experts gathering in Munich today for the EPO’s 1st conference on #ArtificialIntelligence http://bit.ly/epoAI2018 pic.twitter.com/tLh91gu5xF”
“Surely he knows that it’s all about software. I wrote Machine Learning algorithms 15 years ago.”Judging by the slides, they barely even hide their agenda. It’s just another one of those ‘orgasmic’ events wherein a bunch of patent maximalists celebrate software patents and come up with tricks for ‘dressing them up’ (e.g. “ICT”, “AI”, “4IR”). We suppose that managers like Casado and Philpott later demand — in a top-down fashion — that examiners grant patents if these buzzwords get used. This is institutional abuse.
Speaking of this whole “AI” hype, IP Watch has just said “AI software”. That was yesterday. They’re basically part of the problem, selectively calling algorithms “AI” when it suits them to essentially help patenting of virtually every algorithm (just say it’s “intelligent”).
“The EPO has been doing this blatant promotion of software patents (even while calling these “software patents”) for quite some time.”Earlier this week spoke to an old IBM employee, who worked there back when everything was done manually (when the EPO only got off the ground). “AI” is nothing new; it’s as old as computing. But this stupid hype keeps resurfacing everywhere this year; it’s like a disease now, and it’s exploited in various ways, including yesterday by Managing IP. We already wrote many articles about this whole “AI” hype, usually in relation to the US. Now it has officially come to Europe. The EPO basically tells people that if they pretend some “clever” algorithm is “intelligent” (as in “artificial intelligence”), then it’s a patentable “invention”. Who will enforce the EPC and the directive/s? The EPO has been doing this blatant promotion of software patents (even while calling these “software patents”) for quite some time. █
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