Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Maximalists Have Ruined the European Patent Office, Which Became a Lying Organisation That Bullies Everyone

Maximal



Summary: An introspection of the second-largest institution in Europe, which together with EUIPO just lies to the public in order to justify what it does

THE European Patent Office (EPO) is quite the extremist organisation. It's a bully. It's a thug. Both inwards and outwards. It tortures its staff mentally, sometimes into suicide. It also intimidates journalists and bloggers. The EPO now employs a law firm to also bully a disabled person. How can they even find the moral courage? Or immoral 'courage'... how?



A lot of greedy law firms and their lawyers go wherever the money is (here's a new article to that effect). Some of these pompous sociopaths even took the EPO's money to bully me. And for what? For exposing corruption at the EPO? Several law firms and several different people sent me threatening letters. They're SLAPP lawyers. They're not using their licence to do justice but to protect injustice. How about all those people who work in “AYE PEE”? They do not protect “property”; they protect rich raiders from better equality in society. They’re complicit in unjust oppression. I'm not against patents (per se or otherwise); I never was; what I oppose is patent extremism, which is what I believe the EPO to have given in to. The EPO is a thuggish institution which breaks laws at every level. Nobody should tolerate this (anywhere!), no matter one's views on patents and patent scope. If we value the law itself -- including patent law -- then every violation of it (or attempts to discard it) should be strongly condemned.

"Nobody should tolerate this (anywhere!), no matter one's views on patents and patent scope. If we value the law itself -- including patent law -- then every violation of it (or attempts to discard it) should be strongly condemned."Patent extremism isn't a new problem; we mentioned it earlier this week and we write about it virtually every week (in one form or another). Consider the AIPPI Congress "Report" (lengthy coverage in [1, 2, 3]) from IP Kat. It comes almost exclusively from a chronically lying firm, Bristows LLP. Sarah Blair (formerly of Bristows) via Annsley Merelle Ward (Bristows) wrote about the AIPPI Congress, which we mentioned here last week. It's an echo chamber of patent extremists. This is their annual 'Mecca'. Curiously enough, this UPC propagandist barely even mentioned UPC, except in this (in the third part): "He completed a spirited run-through of the different IP rights and how they may be affected by Brexit, the current state of the Unified Patent Court, exhaustion and enforcement in record time."

Nothing else was said about UPC. Maybe she too is belatedly sobering up a bit? After years of Kool-Aid?

Either way, the EPO persists with its toxic agenda. As soon as this week began the EPO wrote about translations made by a computer (as it habitually does). People can read these, maybe, but not understand. These automated translations are notoriously awful and not legally valid. But the EPO is racing to the bottom with automated texts, low quality of service, and unmanned services (AI or “HEY HI!”). It's all about cost-cutting, but at what expense? Can we rely on such a system?

"Last week," the same account continued, "EPO examiners from all areas exchanged know-how and learned about the newest #techtrends at a conference in The Hague. It was our first event aimed at harmonising best practices & developing patenting competencies."

They then mention 3-D printing; certainly the EPO knows that 3-D printing is a case against the patent system because just like UAVs it's an area where patents held back innovation for several decades. This is common knowledge; it's routinely being mentioned online and offline.

On the same day the EPO spoke of "[t]he very first EPO- @LESIntl conference will be in Dublin. If you want to learn how to create an IP strategy that supports your business strategy..."

"They then mention 3-D printing; certainly the EPO knows that 3-D printing is a case against the patent system because just like UAVs it's an area where patents held back innovation for several decades."Why even be baffled when the EPO can just liaise with a patent trolls' front group, in public, rather than pretend otherwise? We can all see whose interests EPO management serves. For the second day in a row the EPO then tweeted or retweeted promotion of its alliance with this patent trolls' front group: "Register now for the Intellectual Property themed conference in Dublin @EPOorg @LESintl and listen to the podcast which interviews Jürgen Graner..."

Yesterday morning the EPO and EUIPO then make an announcement. As readers are aware, EUIPO has had corruption spreading to it from EPO management. They co-produce marketing propaganda for law firms every year and the EPO posted this teaser early in the week: "Stay tuned: We will soon publish the results of a joint study with @EU_IPO on the impact of IPR-intensive industries on economic performance in the EU."

Then, at 5AM it published this; then again at 8AM: "New study shows the impact of IPR-intensive industries on GDP, employment & trade in Europe: http://bit.ly/IPRindustries19 Higher wages: +47% up to +72% 1 in 3 jobs 45% of the EU’s GDP 80% of the EU’s external trade..."

"EPO/EUIPO conflate "businesses use trademarks and patents" with "business succeed BECAUSE of trademarks and patents" (as usual, they do this annually)."A site called ResponseSource was ready as soon as 5AM with the EPO puff piece, so people can see it's not a news site but a PR collusion that said: "Industries that make an above average use of intellectual property rights (IPRs) such as patents, trademarks, industrial designs and copyright generate 45% of GDP (EUR 6.6 trillion) in the EU annually and account for 63 million jobs (29% of all jobs). In the UK, these IP rights-intensive industries account for more than 8.4 million jobs (28.1% of all UK jobs), and contribute more than EUR 1 trillion to the country’s GDP. These are among the findings of a joint report released today by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on the importance of IPRs for the EU economy between 2014 and 2016."

This was composed by the EPO itself. Compare to this press release (warning: epo.org link). It's identical.

EPO/EUIPO conflate "businesses use trademarks and patents" with "business succeed BECAUSE of trademarks and patents" (as usual, they do this annually). Moreover, the EPO keeps shooting down claims that it's detached from the EU when it co-produces 'studies' with EUIPO because EPO management wants to keep committing crimes without being held accountable by any European authorities. The above so-called 'study' is based on a lie and to work for EPO and EUIPO management you have to deliberately lie. That's why many at the top are lawyers (liars).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Symptom of Publishers Dying: They Move to Adopt Slop. Symptom of Software Companies Dying: They Move to Adopt Slop ('Vibe').
It'll always fail. It's hype. It's a bubble.
Under IBM, Red Hat Replaces Code With LLM Slop, Fedora is Slopware
Not even hiding it, those things are in plain sight
"systemd is essentially a corporate IBM/Redhat project and corporations of course will comply"
Microsoft and IBM care about users' freedom like Cheeto Lump cares about the US Constitution
Gemini Links 20/03/2026: Digital Identity Bifurcation and a "Return to Gemini"
Links for the day
 
SLAPP Censorship - Part 17 Out of 200: A Long Track Record of Online Abuse, Then Choosing a Low-Cost Law Firm to Muzzle People Who Have Illuminated This Abuse for Over a Decade
Censorship by targeting ISPs and webhosts isn't unprecedented
Plagiarism in "Linux" Clothing (LLM Slop in linuxiac.com, LinuxTeck.com, and linuxsecurity.com)
The net effect of those slopfarms is very negative
Links 20/03/2026: Facebook Weaponised Politically, Openwashing by LF and NVIDIA, Encyclopedia Britannica Sues Microsoft Proxy for Plagiarism
Links for the day
The EPO's Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) Explains to the Administrative Council (AC) How Bad Things Have Become at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Biggest Patent Office, and Corruption/Cocaine Hub (Jobs Sold to Friends)
We'll say a bit more tomorrow
IBM's Red Hat Diversity: Only 3 Women (Out of 11 Leaders)
For comparison's sake, the FSF is about 50% female
Gemini Links 20/03/2026: Depictions of Culture and The Social Smolnet
Links for the day
SimilarWeb Was Never a Reliable Yardstick for Traffic
5RB may need some "house-cleaning"
Strangulation, suffocation, Jonathan Carter & Debian toxic culture confirmed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Reports or Hearsay Suggest Ogilvy Broke Up With IBM and Insiders Report Mass Layoffs in "Infrastructure" (Might Impact Red Hat Entrants)
hearsay in Social Control Media
Scheduled Server Maintenance Tomorrow Night
Starting 9PM
None of the Above (NotA) & Debian snubbing Sruthi Chandran
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 20/03/2026: Cryptography Pioneers Win Turing Award and BMG Sues Anthropic for Copyright Infringement
Links for the day
Even Uganda Understands That Journalists Never Belong in Prison
"Ugandan authorities must respect the spirit of this ruling and abandon any measures that seek to jail Ugandans for the free flow of ideas."
Inaction Helps Your Enemies
Without freedom, there's nothing else left
Windows Down From 99% to ~50% in Republic of Seychelles (République des Seychelles)
Windows fell by a lot
Confluent Insiders: IBM Laid Over Over 800 at Confluent, Not Just 800
For the record, the layoffs at Confluent won't be over. After the bluewashing there will be "IBM RAs" impacting Confluent folks, aside from PIPs
The Layoffs at IBM Carry on (Shades of Enron)
Is IBM another Enron?
"IBM boss Arvind Krishna... financial package valued at $38 million in calendar 2025 - equivalent to the average collective pay of 765 Big Blue workers."
continues to ruin the company to enrich himself while pretending he has a strategy
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 19, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, March 19, 2026
SLAPP Censorship - Part 16 Out of 200: Detailing the Actors and Explaining Techrights' Own Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Network
For those who have not followed our story
Microsoft "hiding behind bigger news of war, Epstein, other companies' layoffs"
They know what's coming, they just don't know when
Joerg Jaspert (Debian Account Manager/DAM) personally approved Raphael Hertzog's wife Sophie Brun
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Letter 'A' prohibited by Code of Conduct extremism
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Spoiler: Diversity & Debian means different things to different people
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Admits Failures and Criticism of Inaction on SLAPPs
many if not all solicitors and solicitor firms in the UK are in effect unregulated
Archiving or Preserving Pages About IBM Layoffs
Layoffs at IBM and the media does not talk about these
ABC, the American National Broadcaster, "Now Publishes Slop"
If the "big media" absorbs slop, it'll no longer be trusted and therefore not read/watched by the public
Links 19/03/2026: Culling Deepfakes of Artists’ Music and "Age Verification Isn’t the Answer"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/03/2026: "Aktion GPT-4" and "Kill All Descendants"
Links for the day
"AI" 15 Times in Short 'Article' From The Register MS. And The Register MS Got Paid to Publish It.
gets paid to do this
People Who Decided to Boycott Novell Over Its Microsoft Alliance Should Also Boycott Canonical
As an associate put it, "selling out further, due to Microsoft moles inside Canonical"
Links 19/03/2026: "AI Glasses" as Euphemism for Mass Surveillance and ABC (US) Has Begun Publishing Slop as 'News'
Links for the day
The European Patent Office, Europe's Second-Largest Institution, is on Strike Today
Lots more to come
What People Impacted by the Bluewashing Layoffs at IBM Confluent Say (While the Media Says Nothing at All, in Effect Burying the News)
Worse yet, the mainstream media spreads lies about it right now
IBM Has Turned Red Hat and Fedora Into Slop
This is IBM policy
IBM is Being Robbed, Companies and Jobs Are Destroyed
Companies taken over by IBM will be exploited and destroyed to keep a bubble inflated for a little while longer
In Confluent Layoffs, IBM Vapourises a Quarter of Its Workforce (IBM Buys Something That It Destroys Already)
In the past, such things were typically referred to as "media blackout"; now it's just "the norm".
IBM Effect at Confluent: Mass Layoffs and IBM's Business Conduct Guidelines (BCGs) Said to be Violated
For Confluent employees who survived the layoffs there will be "culture chock"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 18, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Links 19/03/2026: LLM Fatigue (It Doesn't Work as Advertised), "Small Web Feeds"
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 15 Out of 200: Background and Particulars of Truth Regarding Techrights and Tux Machines
the basic facts (this has aged well, except the times/ages/numbers)
A Slopfarms Survey for Today (linuxteck.com, linuxsecurity.com, linuxjournal.com)
Not only did Google news link to a slopfarm; it linked to three run by the same team!
Links 18/03/2026: "Venture Capitalist Warns That It’s All About to Come Crashing Down" Due to Slop Bubble, "Birdwatching for Fun and no Profit"
Links for the day
IBM Red Hat is Still Promoting Restricted Boot Which Restricts Users' Control Over Their Computers
Red Hat under IBM is a total catastrophe
Arvind Says... Something Something "Hey Hi" (the State of Today's Media)
Look for news about IBM and most likely it'll boil down to some sound bites from an executive and nothing else
New Post Has Just Explained How IBM Gets Robbed by the People Who Fail IBM
Their plan for IBM is a personal plan
Slop-Spewing GAFAM LLM That Knows Nothing and Understands Nothing, It's a Stochastic Parrot That Cannot Even Figure Out Tux Machines is a Community That Started in Tennessee 22 Years Ago
RMS rightly calls those things "bullshit generators"
Cusdeb Makes New Presentation About Where GNU Hurd (Still a Possible Linux Replacement) Stands in 2026
coming from a generally RMS-friendly account
Gemini Links 18/03/2026: Librarians, Phone Anxiety, Growing 'Small' Net, and Slop Versus Software Engineering
Links for the day
Estimates That IBM to Lay Off Close to 10,000 Workers in 2026 (Not Counting People Pushed Out)
There's still chatter about Confluent mass layoffs
Smug Threat by Garrett to Put My Family and I in Prison Doesn't Prove We Did Anything Wrong, It Only Proves He's Truly Desperate to Stop Further Publications That Embarrass Him
his reputation is poor in the United States
systemd Increasingly Microsoft Project, Controlled by Microsoft and Slopware
Cannot allow choice
What IBM Meant to Red Hat: "Proprietary Bundling, Restricted Source Access"
Anyone or anything that joins IBM likely shortens its lifespan
IBM Thrashing Confluent Upon Arrival, Based on Rumours
We deem it a bigger issue that investigative journalism perished, not that one must rely on hearsay online or mere "rumours"
Slop Is Plagiarism, Not (Vibe) Coding, and It's Not Automated, It Doesn't Save Money
Reject misnomers, explain what's actually happening
UPC is Still Illegal and Unconstitutional (Kangaroo Court for Patents, Manned by Corporate Staff), Federal Court of Justice of Germany Receives Belated Complaint About It
What is happening to Europe???
EPO Demonstration Happening Right Now, Later This Week Things Will Only Escalate Further
The SUEPO The Hague Committee wrote to staff this morning
Sophie Brun, Raphael Hertzog & Debian sexual conflicts of interest
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2026: Commodore's Hedley Davis Dies, Apple Not Good Enough, Cheeto "Floats Treason Charges for Iran War Coverage"
Links for the day
A Step Close to Shutting Down the European Patent Office (EPO)
Not going to work all month long
EPO Staff Demonstration Today
The demonstration will be live-streamed for those thousands of colleagues who don't live in Munich
Gemini Links 18/03/2026: Brazilian SYN Attacks and BGP
Links for the day
LibreLocal Also Coming to Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, and Spain
It helps raise awareness of Software Freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 17, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 17, 2026