07.24.19
Gemini version available ♊︎EPO is Fast Becoming the Office of Invalid Patents (IPs)
Summary: The rush to grant lots and lots of patents irrespective of the underlying laws (which govern the Office and the courts) is guaranteed to lead to a collapse or an avalanche of invalid patents (IPs)
WHAT if Europe became one of the world’s worst venues for patents? What if European standards for patenting were so low while at the same time courts insisted on much higher standards (whereupon these patents got rejected, albeit only after lengthy legal battles)?
Gene Quinn (Watchtroll) uses the European Patent Office (EPO) as a propaganda model for software patents right now, having just published some nonsense titled “Software May be Abstract, But a Computer-Implement Invention Produces a Technical Effect” (we don’t link to Watchtroll anymore, but eager readers can find the nonsense shall they wish). It says that it covers “computer implemented inventions, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), and how the EPO system compares with the U.S. patent examination system.”
“What if European standards for patenting were so low while at the same time courts insisted on much higher standards (whereupon these patents got rejected, albeit only after lengthy legal battles)?”Notice the buzzwords, including "hey hi" (AI). We’re meanwhile seeing the most vocal lobbyists for software patents in Europe tweeting this link, adding: “There’s a new entry in the EUROPEAN SOFTWARE PATENTS knowledge base” (more like marketing).
They too use terms like “Technical Effect” or “Technical”. They don’t speak in terms such as “eligibility” or “validity” or (legal) “certainty”, knowing perhaps that a lot of European courts would reject such patents, citing the EPC, which António Campinos and Benoît Battistelli blatantly and consciously violate. The violation of the EPC is one of the main reasons the UPC will never materialise. But Team UPC is of course in denial about it; linking to a tweet from an erratic person (as if Twitter contains actual information), Team UPC is still desperate to make UPC seem like a “matter of time” (denying its demise/death/stagnation). Yesterday it tweeted: “It is fair to assume that the German Constitutional Court will take note and that Prof. Huber will hardly be incentivised by these news to decide the #UPC complaint prior to 31st October 2019.”
They allude to Brexit, but Brexit is one among at least four considerations for denial of ratification. Never mind or let aside the fact that not only Germany is a barrier (there are several more countries which reject UPC-like schemes, even on purely constitutional grounds).
“…from this gross violation of constitutions and laws several people will emerge as millionaires (Battistelli, Campinos and their close associates, who are also their mates). They’re like vampires sucking the EPO’s blood and they don’t care about the consequences.”Over at Kluwer Patent Blog, a site of Team UPC, there’s this new post published for Alex Calver by Bristows LLP (the same person also published FRAND agenda on the same day). It’s about the demise of European Patents (EPs) in the British courts and the latest example of it: “Among the flurry of pre-summer vacation judgments coming from the Patents Court is one from Mr Justice Birss (17 July 2019), concerning the validity of Hoffman-La Roche’s patent EP (UK) 2 007 809. EP’809 is a formulation patent for the monoclonal antibody vedolizumab, marketed as Entyvio® and used to treat ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. The judgment tackles some complex areas of law. In short, Birss J found the Takeda’s product would infringe EP’809, but for the damning validity assessment that found it lacking novelty, obvious by virtue of a lack of technical contribution and insufficient.”
We’ve sadly come to the point where the collapse in quality of EPs is too visible to ignore and therefore the number of applications for EPs is declining. The EPO is rendering itself moot, endangering the careers of its workers. But from this gross violation of constitutions and laws several people will emerge as millionaires (Battistelli, Campinos and their close associates, who are also their mates). They’re like vampires sucking the EPO’s blood and they don’t care about the consequences. There’s no collective responsibility, neither care nor loyalty to the Office they profess to serve. █
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