08.31.19
The Admission Phase/Stage: Even Team UPC is Coming to Grips With the UPC’s Demise
Months ago (acceptance): Even Joff Wild and the Patent Trolls’ Lobby Finally Admit Unitary Patent (UPC) is Dead
Summary: With a growing number of barriers to ratification and loss of enthusiasm alike, pro-UPC AstroTurfing has been diminished to almost nothing but deliberate lies, or at least silence
TEAM UPC had long faked ‘momentum’; it even admitted so last month.
The European Patent Office (EPO) quit talking about the UPC, Battistelli went ‘undercover’ at CEIPI (some believe he ‘stationed’ himself there for a UPC role), and António Campinos barely mentioned the ‘unitary’ anything this year (he did mention it a few times last year). The EPO has basically quit promoting the UPC. Is Team UPC close to giving up as well?
“The UK has said that the UPC cannot come into operation before Brexit in October, as industry experts warn that the long-held plan risks losing momentum altogether,” Max Walters tweeted. That UKIPO is unmasked as a moderate UPC booster is a disgrace, but more interesting in the Walters article is the improvement over his colleague's one-sided puff pieces, which are loudspeakers for Team UPC. This article is better because at least it quotes a couple of moderate UPC sceptics this time around, unlike the last time.
“Is Team UPC close to giving up as well?”The main issue we have is that it makes the UPC sound like a “matter of time”, but it’s dead. Managing IP won’t say it because of its business model. Managing IP has just bragged about being the “official Congress News publisher” at a lobbying platform of patent extremists and it did the same with UPC events. Same issue in IP Kat.
“Alex Robinson, partner at patent attorney firm Mathys & Squire in London” is quoted towards the end (that’s Team UPC itself!) and he too admits what other Team UPC fanatics continue to deny; the UPC complaint isn’t the sole barrier anymore because the German government too has lost interest, irrespective of the FCC. Here are some portions from the article:
The UK has said that the UPC cannot come into operation before Brexit in October, as industry experts warn that the long-held plan risks losing momentum altogether
Sources say a UPC featuring the UK is now unlikely given the UK’s pursuit of a ‘hard Brexit’.
Luke McDonagh, senior lecturer at City University in London – and who has been following UPC matters closely – says if there is a ‘no deal’ then there is “very little chance the UK will remain in the UPC”.
Thorsten Bausch, partner at Hoffman Eitle in Munich, agrees and says that the UK’s participation will be “extremely difficult – if not impossible – for political and legal reasons”.
[...]
McDonagh adds: “Meanwhile, the German Constitutional challenge to the UPC has yet to be resolved. There is a danger that the UPC project has lost crucial momentum.”
Alex Robinson, partner at patent attorney firm Mathys & Squire in London, points out that even if the October 31 date is extended and the Constitutional complaint resolved, the German government has confirmed that it won’t ratify the UPC Agreement until the effects of Brexit are known.
When even Team UPC admits the issue (impasse) it is becoming ever more apparent that the UPC is basically doomed. Even its loudest cheerleaders are belatedly digesting this thing called… facts. █
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