11.07.19
Gemini version available ♊︎The EPO ‘Patent Factory’ Likes the IAM Copy-Paste Factory
Rushed examination, bad patents, and framing of patent challenges (scrutiny of dubious patents) as “attacks” so as to invert the narrative
Summary: The rushed examination of patents and the push towards a litigation ‘fast track’ (UPC, EU-wide ramifications in one fell swoop) are serving to show that due process and the rule of law are the last things that matter to the EPO’s management
THE litigation ‘industry’ relies on a handful of propaganda platforms which it is funding. Those include Managing IP, IAM and JUVE. They’re indebted to their sponsors/subscribers, i.e. litigation ‘enthusiasts’ (i.e. those who profit from lawsuits).
IAM is once again confirming it is a lying propaganda arm of corrupt management at the European Patent Office (EPO) by releasing this puff piece from IAM’s Bridget Diakun (“Data Reporter”), who is just pasting in the EPO’s charts and stuff; no need for actual reporting, just copy-pasting "SME"-themed EPO-sponsored lies. We didn’t overlook the fact that quite a few writers left IAM in recent years. They get some money from the worst patent trolls and law firms; but who wants to write lies for a living? Not exactly a pleasurable job, except for sociopathic minds.
“They get some money from the worst patent trolls and law firms; but who wants to write lies for a living? Not exactly a pleasurable job, except for sociopathic minds.”IAM also repeats the false narrative of patents “surviving” as if challenging bogus patents is an “assassination” attempt (IAM later had this promoted by its parent company). Jacobacci & Partners (Italy) says: “Clarifying previous case law, the Supreme Court has stated that when two semi-identical European and Italian patents exist for the same invention and the European patent is rejected by a final decision, Italian courts are free to ignore the European decisions and conclude that the Italian patent remains valid under Italian law.”
“The injustice would spread everywhere, even inside courtrooms that are seemingly separate from the EPO (but not in practice; they’d possibly be managed by a lawless thug like Battistelli).”Imagine Italian law overridden by something like UPC and some imaginary Milan court applying laws that magically permit software patents in Europe, just like António Campinos and his appointer. Even the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is reluctant to allow such patents because of 35 U.S.C. § 101 and American courts that apply it. The EPO just ignores its own law and if it gained leverage over the courts too, it would be chaotic. The injustice would spread everywhere, even inside courtrooms that are seemingly separate from the EPO (but not in practice; they’d possibly be managed by a lawless thug like Battistelli). Speaking of the EPO and the UPC, there are some new comments about Ingve Stjerna's latest paper from Team UPC [1, 2] (“Ingve Stjerna: Examination of the compatibility of the Unified Patent Court Agreement with the German Grundgesetz and EU law was deficient”). Look inside the article to find people refusing to believe that the FCC will issue a decision any time soon. This whole thing is dead in the water and Brexit isn’t happening either, at least for now.
“Companies are nonetheless presuming validity — to the point of paying money for press release that instead of celebrating actual products celebrate mere patents.”In the meantime the EPO makes promises about European Patents becoming — prospectively — “unitary”. It’s an empty promise and the above publishers admit a decline in the number of applications. They don’t typically admit such things. What would happen if the EPO stopped receiving a lot of work or was forced to significantly lower fees? The EPO is already heading in a potentially bad direction because it is lowering patent quality and granting loads of invalid patents (IPs). Companies are nonetheless presuming validity — to the point of paying money for press releases that instead of celebrating actual products celebrate mere patents. Here, as one example, is a press release from yesterday (Wednesday):
IRLAB announced today that drug candidates IRL942 and IRL1009 have been granted composition of matter patents in the US and Europe from respective authorities. The preclinical drug candidates are currently undergoing preparatory steps to meet the regulatory requirements for obtaining permission to conduct clinical phase I studies. Securing the intellectual property rights is an important step in protecting the results of the company’s research and strengthens the projects’ position and commercial potential.
Drug candidates IRL942 and IRL1009 stem from IRLAB’s P001 research program and are derived from the proprietary research platform ISP. IRL942 and IRL1009 are intended for treatment of mental and cognitive decline as well as declining motor skills linked to neurodegenerative diseases and ageing. In several recently conducted preclinical studies, the drug candidates’ show increased nerve cell signaling and improved cognition in behavioral studies.
Here are a few copies of the other paid-for press release from Wednesday [1, 2]:
Compugen Ltd. (CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and leader in predictive target discovery, announced today that The European Patent Office (EPO) has granted a new patent covering the composition of matter and use of COM902, its immuno-oncology therapeutic antibody targeting TIGIT.
EPO Patent No. EP3347379, titled “Anti-TIGIT antibodies, anti-PVRIG antibodies and combinations thereof,” relates to the composition of matter of COM902, alone or in combination with a second antibody targeting an immune checkpoint, including PD-1 and PVRIG (specifically COM701). The patent further relates to COM902 for use in treating cancer by activating T cells, a key driver of immune stimulation and cancer immunotherapy treatments.
This patent, EP3347379, has not been tested in an actual court and examiners themselves berate the quality of the work, rightly blaming it on pressure, lack of time and ‘production’ targets. █
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