Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO 'Results' Are, As Usual, Not Measured Correctly

EPO treating itself like a for-profit corporation that manufactures and delivers goods/physical items

EPO fragile parcel



Summary: The supranational monopoly, a monopoly-granting authority, is being used by António Campinos to grant an insane amount of monopolies whose merit is dubious and whose impact on Europe will be a net negative

LONGTIME READERS KNOW THAT TECHRIGHTS is not against patents but against patent maximalism (where patents have become like a religion, albeit motivated by interest in legal fees rather than scientific advancement). If patents are a case of "the more, the merrier" (they're not), why not assign computer algorithms to generate billions of patents every hour, examine these by the billions per hour, and then put these online somewhere? Wouldn't that take us to other galaxies? Or improve people's lives?

The number of patent applications declined at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last year, the first year of Director Iancu, who is nowadays trying to signal that the Office will become a lot more lenient because quality of patents or merit of a monopoly is "not his department". But this post isn't about the US and we'd rather not focus on it. Let's focus on Europe.

"If patents are a case of "the more, the merrier" (they're not), why not assign computer algorithms to generate billions of patents every hour, examine these by the billions per hour, and then put these online somewhere?"EPO 'Results' (they use this term) are akin to financial results of corporations. They fail to actually measure something meaningful. We wrote many rebuttals (literally dozens) in 2017 and 2018 (about 2016 and 2017 'performance', respectively). In past years we responded to or rebutted many press articles, but it can be an exercise in futility. They're not really trying to report facts but to repeat what the PR department of the European Patent Office (EPO) tells them to print. Some media organisations had reported the results before the EPO announced these, so there was clearly a degree of prior coordination (if not "collusion"). That's also true this year (earlier this week), as we noted two days ago. The EPO has been granting bogus software patents, dubbing these "AI" etc. in order to overcome the fact they're against the EPC. Lots of fake patents have in general been granted, not just software patents. Seeing dozens of shallow, fact-free 'articles' about EPO 'Results', we're hardly surprised. See the EPO's Belgium slant from yesterday (as usual, cherry-picking countries to highlight only favourable figures) and this misleading propaganda (“UK pharma sector continues to grow” is the headline). The EPO has lowered the patenting bar, this does not mean that the sector is growing (never mind how awful a measure of growth patents are).

IP Watch and IAM also participated in relaying the EPO's texts (even figures!) and IAM has just published this advice for software patents in Europe, courtesy of Carpmaels & Ransford LLP again. The EPO has made it easier to pursue software patents, more so under Campinos, with buzzwords like "AI" that nowadays just refer to "algorithm" or "computer" (nothing more sophisticated than an if-else statement). To quote:

As the law develops, the EPO updates its Guidelines for Examination in order to help patent applicants decide whether their inventions are likely to be considered patentable. Recently, the EPO has added a specific section to the guidelines on AI.

In addition, the guidelines now include clarification on how inventions directed towards graphical user interfaces are assessed. In summary, if a graphical user interface credibly assists the user in performing a technical task, then the invention is more likely to be patentable. However, if the invention merely provides an improvement from an aesthetic point of view, the EPO will take a negative stance.


That's just ridiculous! But given what insiders are saying, this has gone on for a while.

"The EPO's adoption of patent maximalism is going to cost Europe billions in damages; it may, as a side effect, also undermine the very existence of the Office."We'll continue to observe press coverage. We're also seeing some press releases about patent grants, e.g. to HyperSolar [1, 2] and to Checkpoint Therapeutics. Earlier this week the former said:

HyperSolar, Inc. (OTCQB: HYSR), the developer of a breakthrough technology to produce renewable hydrogen, using sunlight and any source of water, today announced that it has received the European Patent Office (EPO) decision to grant the patent entitled “Multi-junction artificial photosynthetic cell with enhanced photovoltages”.


The latter said:

European Patent No. 3035936 specifically covers the compound CK-101 and a broad range of related compounds, salts and pharmaceutical compositions, including various dosage forms of such pharmaceutical compositions. It also covers certain uses of such compounds or salts in treating cancer or a disorder mediated by EGFR or NSCLC, either alone or in combination with an additional anti-cancer and/or cytotoxic agent.


Unlike software, this isn't really my area/domain, so I can't reliably comment on novelty. Having said that, one major concern to have is that legitimate patents get mixed with a lot of fake ones and the reputation of European Patents is, in general, eroding. The same goes for presumption of validity.

The EPO's adoption of patent maximalism is going to cost Europe billions in damages; it may, as a side effect, also undermine the very existence of the Office.

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
 
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025