Bonum Certa Men Certa

Who Does the Legal System Really Serve or Favour in European Patent Disputes?

People like myself are being denied access to the underlying facts

Florian on Ericsson
Image credit: Florian Müller



Summary: People who oppose software patents are being denied access to the courts, the media and so on; the EPO keeps getting away with serving patent trolls, e.g. those that are connected to large companies such as Ericsson (as above)

THE existence of software patents in Europe is a threat to all programmers. Why are they being granted? It's illegal. The European Patent Office (EPO) has not had a scientist as President for over a decade now. António Campinos is a former banker, Battistelli is a politician and Brimelow is regarded or considered to be a public servant (vague term). This is a problem because it means that people with no clue are responsible for bad decisions, having perhaps been instructed by (or consulted) law firms, legal departments, and even patent trolls. They barely ever meet any scientists. It's like they don't care about the impact of patents on science and technology -- an impact which is rather intricate.



"It’s like they don’t care about the impact of patents on science and technology — an impact which is rather intricate."Yesterday, responding to this new post that said "IP [sic] has become ever more concentrated into the hands of capitalism’s high temple – the corporation," Australian attorney Mark Summerfield said: "Not only is this true, it is possible to track the transition historically."

He added the following, linking to his blog:

There is data on this in Australia, that I think may be unique globally. Last year I worked with IP Australia to generate data (using a machine learning system) going back over 100 years distinguishing between corporate and individual applicants. The results show a clear transition during the period between the first and second world wars, between dominance of individual applicants (i.e. the inventor as patentee) and corporate applicants (i.e. the employer as patentee).

I think that this data is fascinating, and I would love to see it linked to economic or sociological research. However, there does not seem to have been much interest in this to date.

An article presenting this data (with links to the source) can be found on my blog: https://blog.patentology.com.au/2018/05/new-data-released-by-ip-australia.html


This is a real problem. The patent system has been rigged.

Yesterday, for example, a famous patent blogger (Florian) wrote: "An Ericsson privateer named #OptisWireless opposed a petition I filed last year for access to a Federal Patent Court case file, arguing that I'm "a blogger known for positions critical of the #patent system." Court ruled in favor of my petition: screenshot #privateering #patents" (screenshot at the top).

Ericsson keeps a bunch of these patent trolls around. We wrote about these before. I happen to know that Florian attempted to crack open some more 'worm jars' (secret or scarcely-explored patent disputes in his country) only to be fought by corporate lawyers and judges, who are terrified by people like us, the critics and sceptics. No transparency. Florian had sent me some legal documents to show reactions. It would be jaw-dropping it I didn't already know that it is a system of powerful people; it's a system that discriminates against 'poor' 'activists', unlike greedy and monopoly-centric corporations. The above just serves to show what we patent realists face in a court of law.

Speaking of Ericsson, watch how the patent trolls' lobby (literally funded by trolls), a site called IAM, is publishing Ericsson propaganda (composed by Ericsson itself). They promote a large thicket of bogus patents, mostly software patents, wrapped up using buzzwords such as "IoT" (published Monday at 2PM). Ericsson tries to distance itself from the extortion, so it uses trolls in various parts of Europe to bully just about everyone, even Chinese companies. It's a protection racket.

Where does the EPO stand on all this? Well, yesterday it promoted software patents again, using hype waves as usual. "Over 300 participants from around the world attended our conference on #patentingblockchain," it said.

Benjamin Henrion looked at the cited document [PDF] and quoted "Klaus Haft, attorney-at-law at Hoyng Rokh Monegier, added that open source does not mean patent-free #blockchain #swpats …"

Software patents and "open source" (Free/libre software) can never coexist and they know it. IBM-centric and Microsoft-connected front groups lie to us about it.

Meanwhile, the EPO is also intentionally conflating inventions with patents. It does so every single day (almost) and yesterday it wrote: "This guide is intended to help you avoid many of the common mistakes associated with inventions" (they mean patents).

Words like "inventions" are commonly being misused by these people. Here is an example from yesterday (article titled "Pam Bryer: Scots have never lost the urge to invent"). The corporate media is really that awful* and it is not being composed by journalists.

The Scotsman is regularly used for patent propaganda (marketing/sales as "news"), usually from Marks & Clerk LLP. This includes software patents promotion and lawyers' lies about UPC prospects. We covered that before and named The Scotsman as a culprit. Generally, this so-called 'news' paper may be good in other sections, but by posting such crap it does its reputation a great disservice. In this case, patent extremists smear Scotland to cause Scots to come to their employer, Marks & Clerk LLP, and ask for patents (thinking it's the same as inventions). Just look at the insulting headline. It's worth noting that only at the very end the disclosure comes: "Pam Bryer is a patent attorney for Marks & Clerk LLP" (so it is marketing and should be labeled as such).

Novagraaf's Philippe Vigand has meanwhile written about the EPO getting another chance to eliminate software for good. "The EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal is to consider the patentability of computer-implemented inventions in the context of appeal T0489/14," he wrote. Will he mention that the appeals board lacks independence and may therefore not be able to judge impartially? An issue that the judges themselves keep complaining about? _____ * We've just noted the lack of coverage about EPO corruption. Due to an 'economic' nature of this greedy society and publication 'industry', a lot of so-called 'news' these days is just "tweets", ads, computer-generated crap, self-promotional nonsense and intentional falsehoods/fabrications with agenda in mind. Really bad state of affairs. Honesty may be dead.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day