Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Misuses Patent-Granting Powers to Help Litigation, Not Science

Future and present science students won't view the EPO as a friend and might not bother applying for patents

Science students



Summary: The number of patent applications is declining at the EPO; patents run down like water, 'diluting' the very concept of what a patent is and what it takes to get one (courts obviously throw out many of these patents, rendering them less desirable)

THE previous post spoke of how the European Patent Office (EPO) had lost sight of its mission. That's an understatement because "lost sight" sounds too passive, whereas in practice Battistelli and then Campinos actively demolish that mission, rendering the Office nothing but a money-making machine by breaking the law and misusing the authority given to the Office (granting monopolies).



A couple of days ago UKIPO was seen linking to the EPO's site, then (soon) to be retweeted by EPO itself. It said: "Come and join us and the @EPOorg at the @TheCIPA in #London on 27 or 28 Nov. We will be providing an update on our latest and upcoming online service developments. Sign up now via the registration form here: https://www.epo.org/learning-events/events/search/details.html?eventid=13812 … pic.twitter.com/vhFyw22UJY"

"The EPO now travels to another country with few European Patents for some photo ops..."Completely and totally inappropriate. CIPA is a front group of patent litigation, software patents and UPC etc. and if a patents-granting authority is in bed with it -- like the British patent office (UKIPO) might be too -- whose system is it? Who does it exist to serve?

The EPO now travels to another country with few European Patents for some photo ops ("EPO signs reinforced partnership agreement with Indonesia" (warning: epo.org link) was published before the weekend). Indonesia isn't of strategic interest to the EPO; same for Malaysia (recently). They export loads of palm oil to Europe (less so in recent years, perhaps owing to boycotts), but their patents are a drop in the ocean to the EPO. So why this?

EPO President António Campinos and the head of the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) of Indonesia, Freddy Harris, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Reinforced Partnership between their two offices at the EPO in Munich yesterday. The agreement is a result of a longstanding and fruitful co-operation between the EPO and Indonesia going back to the 1990s, and builds on previous MoUs on technical co-operation, the last one having been implemented from 2014 to 2018.


That's Battistelli. The EPO soon retweeted some EUIPO nonsense about their so-called 'study' (we wrote many responses to this) and added: "Negotiation is the preferred way to solve potential infringement issues; litigation is regarded as a last resort."

"Does the EPO have real SMEs in mind or just trolls and law firms?"They had the audacity to add #IPforSMEs to it. By granting loads and loads of fake patents, however, the EPO allows offending parties to leverage false claims, resulting in frivolous litigation and the EPO's management is aware of it.

Does the EPO have real SMEs in mind or just trolls and law firms? Maybe the EPO and EUIPO can bribe a few more scholars to issue some lies ("studies") about SMEs -- lies by which to googlebomb the term and wash away the truthful information. As Benjamin Henrion put it: "Tuning the court system for SMEs is useless, as we don't have the finances nor the time to defend ourselves" (with appeals too the prices can reach millions of euros).

"The EPO violates the EPC every day. So why even pretend that it cares about it?"The EPO tweeted: "Ever thought of waiving a further communication under Rule 71(3) EPC? Find out when you might want to..."

The EPO violates the EPC every day. So why even pretend that it cares about it? EPO management views the EPC as nothing but an obstacle, an obstruction to be worked around by cheating.

Rose Hughes (AstraZeneca) has meanwhile remarked on T 1299/15 -- a case that we mentioned here before. It concerned burden of proof and Hughes uses the typical, bogus narrative in which bogus patents being questioned is an "attack" (but not the party suing or blackmailing another). To quote:

The legal reasoning in this decision is similar to that of T 63/06, in which the opponent was able to shift the burden of proof with regards to the sufficiency to the patentee. In T 63/06 the Board found that the patentee was relying on only a weak presumption that the invention was sufficiently disclosed. The opponent was successfully able to shift the burden of proof by arguing that the skilled person would have difficult in putting the invention into practice.

The recent case T 1299/15 is similarly a reminder that insufficiency attacks may be applicable even to the mechanical field. As is often the case with insufficiency disputes, the issue of how much work would need to be done by the skilled person (and whether inventive endeavour would be required) was a key issue. Following on from this, if the patentee has not provided an embodiment of the claimed invention, the burden of proof is shifted to the patentee if there is serious doubt that a skilled person could perform the invention without inventive skill.


Hughes could point out, as IP Kat did before it got corrupted (several notable changes), that EPO Boards of Appeal still lack independence as EPO violates the EPC, rendering these decisions constitutionally invalid or at best questionable. Not the judges' fault by the way; they're besieged by corrupt Office management.

"Not the judges' fault by the way; they're besieged by corrupt Office management."Last but not least, will these boards soon approve yet another type of software patents? The President of the Office already pressures the judges in that direction and he also referred to them the ridiculous question as to whether the EPO can grant fake patents on life and nature in defiance of the law. This is about corporations stealing from nature, claiming a monopoly over our bodies. How far will patent scope bend for the EPO to fake 'production' (essentially by granting invalid patents)? This new press release says that "Cellectis Wins Patent Challenge in Europe for a Method Using CRISPR-Cas9 for Gene Editing in T-Cells" and the EPO's mouthpiece IAM (its main mouthpiece for patents on life, Adam Houldsworth) has published "Shorter EPO opposition process requires new approaches from life sciences patentees" -- the latest in a string of such 'reports' from patent maximalists. This is the patent trolls' lobby celebrating fake patents on life (it's almost certain courts would throw these out), granted only because patent examiners and those responsible for oppositions aren't given enough time to (re)evaluate. They also lack freedom; all they have is "quotas" or "targets".

Recent Techrights' Posts

"Use Wayland" Isn't a Bugfix for X (X11 is Still Necessary)
They tell us X is "dead" and we must all be herded into Wayland ASAP
The New Head of OSI is an "Hey Hi" (AI) Obsessed Person
when Bryant says "AI" that doesn't mean AI
"Governments, local authorities, schools and hospitals can lead by example by procuring only Free Software"
Crossposted from Tux Machines
Cindy Cohn Leaving the Electronic Frontier Foundation While Its Co-founder John Gilmore, Whom She Apparently Helped Oust, Will Celebrate 40 Years of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
EFF has been busy hoarding GAFAM money, whereas the latter is where all the real activism is done
"Google is Googlebombing KDE's Project Banana"
So is Google googlebombing KDE's Project Banana? You decide.
Some Very Large IRC Networks Are Growing
IRC will turn 38 next year
 
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
Slopwatch: Google News is Slop, Google News is Plagiarism, Google News is Dying
Google is off the rails
Links 16/09/2025: "The Censorship Alarm Is Ringing in the Wrong Direction" and ASRock Does Microsoft E.E.E. on GNU/Linux
Links for the day
Serious "Breach of Confidentiality of Personal Data" in Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the EPO
Yes, the same EPO that routinely uses "data protection" and "GDPR" as a pretext for hiding or covering up its corruption and white-collar crimes (it even uses that as an excuse for refusing to obey courts' orders)
Adrienne Rockenhaus Says Her Husband Was Arrested for Running Tor and Denied Basic Rights in the United States
the US seems to be getting "russified" in its approach towards Tor
This is What Happens When Microsoft Canonical Lets Decisions on Ubuntu be Made by a Youngster From the British Army (Where He Did Mass Surveillance)
"Is Ubuntu Compromised?"
Back Doored Windows Giving GNU/Linux a Hard Time (Under the Guise of 'Security')
Is this complication intentional? Most likely, yes
Links 16/09/2025: Science, Security, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/09/2025: Command-line Options in POSIX Shell and Introducing Acre 0.9
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Secure' Boot Versus Dual Boot With GNU/Linux
they're meant to assume everything is OK
Links 16/09/2025: While Oracle Pretends to be Rich It's Firing About 70 MySQL Workers, "Oracle's Revenge" (Faking Demand With "AI")
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Published a New Web Page About "Secure Boot Update Process" (Microsoft Also Admits Issues; PCs Can Stop Booting)
Why was this page issued and published only hours ago?
Microsoft Lunduke: I Spread Hate and Then I Receive Hate
Cry us a river, Microsoft Lunduke
"Disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Wipe and Start Over."
At least they didn't say, buy a new computer...
The Oracle Ponzi Scheme
Oracle isn't doing well, but it's nowadays fashionable to say "clown" and "hey hi" to prop up one's stock, even based on nothing at all
Taking Out the Battery, Opening Up Your Computer, Just Like a "Normie" Would
At this stage, any person who still says "enable Secure Boot" is misguided or persuaded by companies that sell rootkits
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News (Fake 'Articles' About "Linux" Spreading FUD)
searching for "Linux" today yields a lot of FUD
The Reach of Techrights Has Broadened
We nowadays cover a broader range of issues
Complicating Things for No Actual Benefit, Just Added Risk and More Difficulties Adding GNU/Linux and BSDs
Watch what it's like for people who wish to use BSDs
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 15, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 15, 2025
Links 16/09/2025: Autumn Party, RPG Planet, and Optical ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Geminispace Growing at Pace of Over 10% Per Year
Contrary to what some pessimists try to claim
Linux Mint Forums Today: Disable 'Secure Boot', It Doesn't Improve Security, It's Just a Microsoft Obstacle to GNU/Linux Users
They also mention MOK
What Ruben Amorim and Stefano Maffulli Have in Common
Censors Wikipedia and Social Control Media
Microsoft Won't Cooperate in Trying to Tackle EPO Corruption (Microsoft Profits From This Corruption)
Use something like BigBlueButton, Jami, Ring, and Jitsi instead
Solved Less Than an Hour Ago: Trying to Escape Windows, 'Secure Boot' Gets in the Way
'Secure Boot' wasn't meant to even exist in the first place
Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative, Resigns or Gets Removed (We'll Continue Covering OSI Scandals)
A dozen mentions of "AI", not much about "Open Source"
Andy Has Just Nailed It (Regarding Complexity and Failure, a la UEFI)
The users no longer own or control what they buy
Compatibility Support Module (CSM) Versus GNU/Linux Simplicity
what Andy recently called "solutionism"
Links 15/09/2025: "Postal Traffic to US Down by Over 80%" and 'Smart' Spinozacampus Laundry Room Goes AWOL
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Dungeon Hustle and Deleting Oneself From the Net
Links for the day
Breach of EPO's Duty of Care or Cigna Reimbursement Issues
This is the sort of thing that motivated Luigi Mangione to assassinate a CEO
Ask Ubuntu About "Secure Boot" Violation and Laptops That Don't Boot GNU/Linux
Does anyone still believe that "Secure Boot" has anything at all to do with security?
We Are Sad to Hear the Story of Jonathan Riddell, Champion of KDE and GNU/Linux on Desktops/Laptops
I have enormous respect for Jonathan and everything he has done
Talking About the Problem vs Talking to the Problem
Wanting an audience is never a good excuse for compromising one's values and principles
Focusing on Patents
The reason we cover the EPO so much is that it's close to home
"Secure Boot Violation": The 'Joys' of Fake Security Gone Wrong
Not everyone reboots every day
Links 15/09/2025: Russia Invades Romanian Airspace, Penske Media Sues Google Over LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 15/09/2025: Bitcoin ATMs Scam and "Conservative Cryptography" (Backdoors Fantasies)
Links for the day
EPO Imitates Microsoft: "Three Days or More Per Week" Inside the Office to Get a Desk to Work on; "the Office Breaches Its Promise Towards Staff and Acts in Breach of Its Duty of Care"
The EPO serves no actual function in Europe
Links 15/09/2025: Political Affairs, Censorship, and Copyrights
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Music Genres, Invisible Networks, and Akademy 2025
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 14, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 14, 2025