THE credibility of the European Patent Office (EPO) was severely damaged after it had lied to its staff, to its stakeholders, and to the media. The EPO is often presumed to be lying and these lies contributed to this. Remember the boy who cried "wolf!" and the message of that old fable.

"The EPO is often presumed to be lying and these lies contributed to this. Remember the boy who cried "wolf!" and the message of that old fable."Patent law firms risk doing to same to themselves. In recent years we've seen a growing frequency of lies, even intentional lies (not casual errors or mistakes but deliberate falsehoods being disseminated). It hardly surprises us that the so-called 'IP' 'industry' is collapsing and being absorbed (some people rehired, some fired). They'll never admit it openly, but we've been writing about this for years and offered extensive evidence. Earlier this week a site of theirs, Managing IP, wrote about it after it had promoted software patents, in effect reposting Patent Docs' Michael Borella. It's a misleading old article that promotes software patents (debunked here weeks ago). More interesting, however, was this admission from Patrick Wingrove, who writes for this patent propaganda site (Managing IP does lots of UPC propaganda) after some other British writers left. He admits he was spreading lies for Team UPC: "It seems unlikely at this point that we will have a decision on the UPC constitutional compliant before December 25, but the UPC preparatory committee is planning ahead regardless."

Since when is the UPC preparatory committee a reliable source? They always get it wrong. Check their track record. Wingrove then repeats Bristows' latest talking points: "Preparations for the UPC continue despite no German constitutional complaint ruling, an Italian ministry wants a central division in Milan instead of London, and the EU Article 50 ruling may have implications for UK participation" (it cannot participate in something that does not even exist).

"Since when is the UPC preparatory committee a reliable source? They always get it wrong. Check their track record."The anonymous "Kluwer Patent blogger" (most likely Bristows) is again proven to have spread lies because the German Constitutional Court did not reject the challenges to the Unitary Patent, definitely not before year's end. So Kluwer Patent Blog does the 'damage control', which is parroting the words of the UPC preparatory committee. It's just wishful thinking from the liars whose career/goal was to trick politician into this coup. "Kluwer Patent blogger" (likely Bristows) added: "There is no reference either to a time schedule for the start of the functioning of the UPC. In a hearing before the House of Lords late October, Kevin Mooney, chair of the Drafting Committee of the Rules of Procedure, had said he believed the court could come into existence at the end of next year."

Mooney? Seriously? He lied as recently as this winter, even when speaking to politicians publicly.

Bristows, writing in its own blog (Gregory Bacon), says that the "Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation issued a press release."

"Team UPC is a big bunch of self-serving liars and seeing US patent litigation diminishing (IAM moaned about it as recently as this week) they're desperate to manufacture lots of lawsuits in Europe. This is what it's all about."But so what? The UPC cannot even get off the ground.

Team UPC makes it sound like the UPC is a question of timing, not outcome, as if the decision is already obvious and the judges are just 'actors' getting in the way of this coup. As one of them has just put it: "German UPC complaint apparently still w Prof. Huber (who, as reporting Justice, as a rule, drafts a vote for circulation), no sign of a decision, almost certainly not before Christmas. Likewise the (older) complaints re: independence/court-quality of EPO Boards of Appeal."

So how about those rumours the likes of Mooney and Bristows were spreading about decision by year's end?

These people aren't credible. They're liars. Team UPC is a big bunch of self-serving liars and seeing US patent litigation diminishing (IAM moaned about it as recently as this week) they're desperate to manufacture lots of lawsuits in Europe. This is what it's all about. ⬆