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Summary: Firms that are advancing the agenda of malicious patent trolls from the US are being rewarded for it, even by publications which target jurists rather than just the litigation 'industry'

TEAM UPC -- collectively speaking -- does not like to disclose who it works for, but it has always been pretty evident that they're litigators who work for a lot of patent trolls, usually foreign patent trolls that prey on European firms (taxing, blackmailing, suing them). Over the past week Bristows, for example, wrote lots of posts in defense of patent trolls in the UK. Kluwer Patent Blog and IP Kat obliged to provide a platform for that.

JUVE gave an award to a Team UPC firm which (from the description) sounds like it's working closely and intensively for a Microsoft-tied patent troll, Intellectual Ventures. They're even proud of it. To quote: "Another highlight is the representation of Intellectual Ventures in a multitude of patent infringement proceedings. Tilman Müller-Stoy shows a ‘great battle attitude at court’ and makes clients ‘feel in the best hands also in emotional moments due to his calm, matter-of-fact demeanor’."

It's regretful to learn that JUVE has just awarded these people and wrote: "Sounds like a big party tonight for @bardehleIP. Strong performance especially in the field of champagne trademarks. Big patent case for Intellectual Ventures. @bardehleIP is law firm of the year in IP #JuveAwards2018 pic.twitter.com/WKm8nQMGJp"

"Over the past week Bristows, for example, wrote lots of posts in defense of patent trolls in the UK. Kluwer Patent Blog and IP Kat obliged to provide a platform for that."It's also interesting to learn that Team UPC's "top gun" Tilman Müller-Stoy (he's highly vocal about it) works for the world's most notorious patent troll. It really says quite a lot about the UPC in general, not just Team UPC.

What can be said about JUVE? Well, maybe it makes good "business sense" to give an award to these people. JUVE is a publisher. Like IAM. That's just the business model. Rewarding this kind of behaviour, however, might be expected from the patent trolls' lobby, e.g. IAM. This, in our view, harms perception of objectivity (e.g. about UPC). Paid (indirectly) endorsement for those who serve patent trolls? For example by advertising money? Hard to tell.

Microsoft's troll wants the UPC desperately in order to more easily blackmail firms in Europe like it does in the US (with abstract patents granted by the USPTO like they are nowadays granted by the corrupt European Patent Office (EPO)). ⬆