03.26.19
Gemini version available ♊︎The Campinos-Battistelli Strategy is Working: Patent Trolls Are Coming to Europe!
Summary: It cannot be any less obvious that today’s European Patent Organisation (and Office) works for patent offices and for those who pay these patent offices (law firms) rather than for science, technology and the public (including the European public)
THE INTERESTS of the European Patent Office (EPO) are different from the interests of Europe. Many examiners know this, hence they’re displeased. They’re not amoral/immoral like their managers. SUEPO has, on several occasions, brought up the subject of patent trolls.
“Many examiners know this, hence they’re displeased.”Earlier this month we explained why the European Commission must start treating the EPO as "its department" not only when it comes to fronting for patent aggressors; it should take responsibility for the EPO’s abuses, which include SEP promotion (the EPO should be neutral on this, but it is not). As one law firm has just put it:
On 18th March, 2019 the European Patent Office, the European Committee of Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) for the first time, signed an MoU in order to bring standardization and patents together. The organizations have come together to boost support given to researchers and developers of inventions in the field of SEP’s. The effect of the understanding between these organization is such that it encourages distribution of new technology and knowledge. Previously, the EPO and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) entered into an agreement to extend co-operation and assistance with regard to SEP’s, in the EU. EPO President António Campinos said that collaboration amidst standardization organizations is key as it allows them to collectively face challenges that lie ahead. He further said that “It will help ensure that the patent system continues to support a competitive innovation environment for businesses by delivering greater transparency on standard essential patents, as well as high patent quality.”
Check which companies are behind these bodies. What is the EPO thinking? Is it in the “business” of patent examination or something else? This just defies logic. We’re still seeing several more puff pieces and tweets about the “results” [1, 2] (even a fortnight later, e.g. “Summary Of The EPO’s 2018 Annual Report” and “Sharp rise in patent applications from Central Europe”; no links included as we don’t want to drive traffic there). Some of the EPO’s tweets can be interpreted as corporate endorsements, which is a problem in its own right. Then there’s IAM’s “Siemens patent filings climb, but quality over quantity is the name of the game” (behind paywall, as usual).
This is the same IAM which helped Battistelli lie, year after year, about patent quality. He kept citing their propaganda. IAM was to the EPO what prominent deniers of climate science are to oil giants. They just pat themselves at the back over money, nothing else.
As expected, and thanks in part to the EPO granting software patents in Europe, the patent trolls have begun flooding Europe. António Campinos can read French (he’s French), so surely he should read this new article from Belgium, as highlighted by this technology firms’ representative the other day. We wrote about them over the years, for instance after they had been demonised by law firms of patent trolls and the patent trolls' lobby, IAM. To quote:
Patent troll activity in Europe is on the rise shows Belgian economic newspaper @lecho. It is not purely a German problem but instead a European-wide threat. Policymakers need to act now before it gets out of hand #fightpatentrolls
The FFII’s President then responded: “I was hit by such troll here in Belgium, and i heard several other companies as well. […] not really, problem is the same. Funny story is I became good friend with a mountain bike rider, who happened to work for this troll company. He was telling me crazy stories.”
As we shall explain in our next post, a lot of what’s happening right now is inherently unconstitutional. The EPO is losing its legitimacy. Who does it work for or serve nowadays (other than itself)? It’s like a corporation and it is a above the law. █
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