06.23.19
Gemini version available ♊︎What Patents the EPO Has Just Awarded (With a Special Reward), Not Just Granted
EPO as a marketing agency
Summary: The EPO’s practice of elevating some patents over the other patents (European Patents) is perhaps more of a societal liability than the EPO cares to realise
Last year, after European Inventor Award 2018, we took a closer look at the winner Andane Remmal (3 parts [1, 2, 3]). Battistelli and his colleagues/friends in France made a fortune from that event and it was far from the first scandal associated with these events, which were typically hosted in France when Battistelli was President.
“They’ve just awarded Frenchman and check what for.”European Patent Office (EPO) President António Campinos wants us to think that he does life-saving work that helps the environment, helps Europe etc. In the EPO’s own words (warning: epo.org link), these are “exceptional inventors” (actually patents do not always imply invention and these two terms are intentionally conflated by patent maximalists). As Law Professor Sarah Burstein (specialising in design patents) put it some hours ago in response to a video from EUIPO (former Campinos employer): “Because everyone knows human creativity & innovation did not exist until patents were invented in the 15th century [extreme sarcasm font]”
“This is some next-level propaganda,” she later added. The EUIPO is managing to outclass even itself.
The next comment said: “Accounts like that make me feel sick whenever I see an username with the word #EU in it, or the #EuropeanUnion flag as their avatar. Congratulations: You lobbyists managed to turn the EU into a symbol of tyranny and repression!”
“So not only does he have a monopoly on it; now it’s a glorified (“award-winning”) patent monopoly. On an algorithm.”Kris Joseph wrote: “I read the film as an example of what you get when all IP is locked down and everything looks the same because nobody can create anything new without getting sued. The title for my version is “DisneyTopia.””
And on it goes.
We’ve meanwhile noticed the EPO retweeting INPI a lot throughout this event (or the event’s day), which quite frankly (or Franc-ly) happens a lot when almost all the Presidents are French.
They’ve just awarded a Frenchman and check what for. Shades of Elizabeth Holmes using patents for false marketing of a fraud?
It seems like a European software patent (I myself worked in this area of diagnostics, so I should know). In the EPO’s own words: “The French immunologist’s diagnostic tool assesses the risk of relapse in cancer patients. It uses digital images of tumour samples and advanced software to measure immune response. Galon’s invention is already in use at clinics around the world to improve the accuracy of prognosis for patients with colorectal cancer.”
So not only does he have a monopoly on it; now it’s a glorified (“award-winning”) patent monopoly. On an algorithm. We’ve already covered why patents on cancer treatment may actually harm cancer patients, e.g. in [1, 2, 3].
When the jury includes a nontechnical Frenchman like Battistelli no wonder winners are of questionable eligibility/merit. █
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