Bonum Certa Men Certa

Europe's Lowered Patent Standards

"The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose."

--Hada Bejar



Dry rose



Summary: An overabundance of patents whose worth and legal certainty are both increasingly low won't bring prosperity to Europe but only to law firms that have branches in Europe

EUROPE does not allow software patents, at least in principle. Courts would reject such patents, but the EPO violates the EPC in the same way USPTO examiners are encouraged to turn a blind eye to 35 U.S.C. €§ 101. This merely lowers the certainty associated with granted patents, as we last explained three days ago. This new press release [1, 2] from Motus GI brags about nothing but a patent grant as follows:



Motus GI Holdings, Inc., (NASDAQ: MOTS) announced today that the European Patent Office (“EPO”) has issued patent No. 3082896...


But would courts regard this patent to be valid? We already know that many patents granted by the European Patent Office (especially under the watch of António Campinos and Benoît Battistelli) are simply Invalid Patents (IPs), not European Patents (EPs). They're just some words on paper with a seal attached to them.

We've pointed out many times before that patent maximalists hope to put the courts under the same authority as (or similar to) the EPO, in effect demolishing separation of powers even further. Notice this new article entitled "PM Boris Johnson: UK Brexit policy, and the impact on intellectual property" (Team UPC is very worried that the UPC is now more dead than ever before because Johnson is a loud proponent of Brexit.)

"They're just some words on paper with a seal attached to them."This article, however, is composed by chronic liars, Barker Brettell LLP. They're known for their patent maximalism and they've been pushing software patents agenda in Europe (illegal by the way). More from Barker Brettell LLP, going back to 2016, shows a track record of deception. They're one of these firms that keep saying -- and have been saying for years -- that UPC was imminent. They're like a 'lesser' Bristows LLP.

We've meanwhile noticed a site/publisher associated with Team UPC and Team Battistelli (Managing IP) pushing a bunch of articles like this one about generics and the threats posed to them by the EPO, which is granting fake patents that are expensive to formally invalidate. Some portions:

Generic drug companies find that invalidating a patent granted by the EPO can be difficult if it also has multiple divisional applications. As soon as they have one patent knocked out, the pharma innovator could have several others alive as backup.

Because of perceived abuse of the system by innovators, reforming the divisional filing process is one concern that generic pharma companies would like to see addressed by the EPO. But reforming the system is easier said than done.

A divisional application is allowed when one product comprises multiple inventions. Rather than file one umbrella application, companies can file divisional applications for each novel part of their invention at the EPO. Because innovation does not happen all at once, businesses can file an application at any point during the production of their invention.

[...]

The EPO has attempted to reform the divisional filing process.

“They are not blind to this problem and considered the point a few years ago,” says the associate general patent counsel. “Around 2010 the EPO decided to change the rules and said you could only file a divisional by a defined cut-off date and after that the route is closed.”

Though the reform was designed to stop abuse of the system, according to the associate general patent counsel the result was that applicants rushed to file at the same time before the law took effect, thus causing a backlog in the system.

“The EPO got snowed under with new divisional applications because if you put a cut-off, say within the first two years, that means the applicants will always file at the deadline just to keep their options open. I don’t think that is the right cure for the system,” they say.


The profit margins of generics (or generic makers) are pretty thin, so hiring a bunch of lawyers isn't easy. The budget is prohibitive. The EPO has just tweeted that: "It's not mandatory to appoint a professional representative when applying for a European patent, but it may be helpful."

"The profit margins of generics (or generic makers) are pretty thin, so hiring a bunch of lawyers isn't easy."We got leaks showing that the EPO 'slaughters' those who don't hire (i.e. waste money on) lawyers. We published these leaks several years ago. So the EPO spokespeople lie. They discriminate against people who cannot afford all that bureaucracy.

Another article from the same publisher (Managing IP) is basically a puff piece or marketing for EPO exams. Did the EPO write it?

As data reveals that German and French attorneys lag behind their UK counterparts on the tests for appearing at the EPO, Managing IP asks why the UK leads the field


The EPO has meanwhile posted two tweets about it in quick succession [1, 2] (and same stock photography) "Do you know anyone preparing for the #EQE pre-examination paper 2020? Share this with them..."

"We got leaks showing that the EPO 'slaughters' those who don't hire (i.e. waste money on) lawyers.""To be well prepared for the #EQE pre-examination paper 2020," said the other tweet, "take our online training course..."

Pure marketing and we know who profits from it. It's the patent microcosm. These people couldn't care any less if patent quality collapsed; cleaning up the mess is something they can profit from.

Recent Techrights' Posts

European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
Brett Wilson LLP Seem to Have Had Only One Litigation Client in 2025, He Was Previously Charged, Just Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (Whom They Now Represent)
Karma is superstition, regulators are not
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
 
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Slopwatch: Fake Articles, Fake Text, Fake Images, Negative Slant on "Linux"
Google News has lost its value; the signal-to-noise ratio has fallen off a cliff
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Relax-and-Recover on Proxmox and New Smolweb File Transfer Service
Links for the day
Fact: EFF Got Corrupted by Corporate Money. Microsoft Lunduke (Political Noise): The Issue With EFF is, It Kills Babies.
Microsoft Lunduke - as usual - finds a way to make it about abortions
Pacing Publication Up a Bit
The news cycles have gotten rather light and slow
Links 17/09/2025: Power Outages, Digital Controls, and Attacks on the Mainstream Media (by Insecure and Corrupt Dictators)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Flashing LineageOS and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Long COVID Study, "Exposing Pegasus", and Chatbots Exposing Sensitive Data
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Secret Settlement for Internet Archive and Google’s LLM Slop Summaries Attracting Lawsuits
Links for the day
The True Cost of 'Generative Models'
Funded and promoted by the companies that profit from the waste
'Big Slop' Attacks Contemporary Information/Knowledge and Creative Works, 'Big Copyright' (Cartel) Attacks the Old
Someone at IA will hopefully "blow the whistle" on what they actually agreed
Why We Find It Difficult to Trust Rust
A comparison between C/C++ and Rust
Slop Nihilism is Funded by Big Oil
Eventually human civilisation will destroy itself
Watching the OSI: Our Series Will Carry on Irrespective of the Chief's 'Resignation'
the OSI isn't even the real guardian of the term "Open Source"
Professor Eben Moglen Recovering From Open Heart Surgery
From his public pages (this is not secret)
Just What LibreOffice Needs? Another Language? (Rust)
what's all this concern about memory safety?
Many Microsoft Managers Are Leaving
"Hey hi" chaff or chaff about "hey hi" cannot eternally distract from the difficulties inside the company
There Are Red Hat (IBM) Layoffs, But Google News is Infested With Slopfarms
It contributes a lot to misinformation and it encourages plagiarism
Tomorrow, Microsoft's Tim Anderson's 'The Register MS' Offshoot Will Have Been Inactive for 2 Months (There's Also a Slop Problem)
We've already caught The Register MS using LLM slop for articles
Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Leaves Microsoft After Nearly 30 Years
And not retiring
Even Windows Users Are Having Problems With "Secure Boot"
When it comes to security - Microsoft strives for the very opposite
Another Competition Crime of Microsoft, Long Facilitated and Advocated by a Bad Actor, Who is Funded by a Third Party to Commit Extortion Against People Who Have Correctly and Repeatedly Warned About It for Over 13 Year
We must always go back to the core issues
3 More Reasons to Replace Mozilla Firefox With LibreWolf
Thankfully there are de-enshittified versions of Firefox
USA Not a Place for Free Speech
In America, as in the US, the attacks seem more enhanced or advanced these days
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Links 17/09/2025: Google Layoffs in "Hey Hi" (AI), Perplexity Hit With More "Hey Hi" (Plagiarism) Lawsuits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Reclaiming Things in a Digital Age and Moon Phases in CGI
Links for the day