Bonum Certa Men Certa

Missing in Action: Investigative Reporting About the European Patent Office

Recent: Journalism in the Area of Patents and the Domain of Patent Litigation is Dead

Leaves



Summary: It's difficult to see any effort whatsoever going into investigation of EPO affairs, including the recent vote for a strike; EPO payments and threats may have played a big role in this apparent indifference

THE YEAR has barely started for the European Patent Office (EPO). No press releases, only rather mindless and unoriginal 'tweets', no press articles...



We suppose that António Campinos prefers it that way. Battistelli failed to duck negative press quite to the same extent (even if nothing has changed since!).

"Patents aren't a physical thing but a monopoly, granted temporarily in exchange for publication/disclosure."This does not mean that the EPO is no longer mentioned anywhere. It's just that nothing at all is mentioned about internal affairs and scandals. They pretend it's all "business as usual". Even IP Kat does that. AIPPI's and patent maximalists' event has just been promoted by Bristows (one of the IP Kat editors now, after the 'great shuffle') and by other patent zealots. There are also some press releases such as "Cellmid (ASX:CDY) midkine patents granted in the U.S. and Europe" and "Cellect Biotechnology Strengthens IP Portfolio; Receives "Intention to Grant" Patents from European and Israeli Patent Offices" [1] ('Intention to Grant').

There's also this article (self-promotional) [2] about "Protecting AI at the EPO – Two dimensions of technical character" and it's about getting software patents in Europe by disguising them or their true nature with buzzwords.

This is the kind of thing we've been seeing lately; there's also this widely-circulated press release [3,4] about EPs. It uses lots of misleading propaganda terms such as “property” and “assets”; they’re lying even to themselves. Patents aren't a physical thing but a monopoly, granted temporarily in exchange for publication/disclosure.

Is there not a single journalist in Europe interested in EPO scandals? Have they all been muzzled? The EPO is Europe's second-largest institution.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. Cellect Biotechnology Strengthens IP Portfolio; Receives "Intention to Grant" Patents from European and Israeli Patent Offices

    Cellect Biotechnology Ltd. (Nasdaq: APOP), a developer of innovative technology which enables the functional selection of stem cells, received official communication from two jurisdictions, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Israeli Intellectual Property Office, regarding their intention to grant European Patent Application No. 14851547.1 and Israeli Patent Application No. 244982, respectively. These patent applications include a cell-based product and a method of manufacturing a stem and progenitor cell population with enhanced activity by short incubation with an apoptotic ligand.



  2. Electronics Newsletter – December 2019

    Many users of the European patent system rarely use the appeals procedure. However, a recent revision of the Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal ("the RoP") that comes into effect on 1 January 2020 has implications which extend beyond the appeals procedure into examination and opposition proceedings, and therefore is of importance to all users.

    [...]

    The European patent office (EPO) is keen to let applicants know that it is open for business when it comes to protecting inventions around AI. This may at first sight seem surprising: much of AI can be considered to be solutions to problems embodied in mathematical models, and Article 52 of the European Patent Convention tells us that mathematical methods are not patentable, at least to the extent that a European patent application relates to the mathematical model as such. So, how can you prevent your AI invention being considered as a mathematical method as such?



  3. Microbot Medical Receives Intention to Grant from European Patent Office for a Patent Application Covering its Self-Cleaning Shunt

    Microbot Medical Inc. (MBOT) has received an official communication from the European Patent Office (EPO) regarding its intention to grant European Patent Application No. 11795301, covering the Company’s Self-Cleaning Shunt (SCS™). Globally, the Company now has 36 patents issued/allowed and 16 patent applications pending worldwide.



  4. Microbot Medical (MBOT) Receives Intention to Grant from European Patent Office for Patent Application Covering its Self-Cleaning Shunt

    “We have always maintained that a strong and growing intellectual property portfolio is one of our strongest assets and will enable us to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage while establishing barriers of entry to future competitors” said Harel Gadot, Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman. “We will continue to expand and seek protection for our unique innovative platforms. This provides the foundation for the establishment of a multi-generation product portfolio, including our latest introduction of the LIBERTY™ Robotic System, the world’s first fully disposable robotic system for use in neurovascular, cardiovascular and peripheral vascular procedures.”



Recent Techrights' Posts

Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
 
Web Browsers That "Do Hey Hi" (AI)
State-of-the-art plagiarism or "autocomplete on steroids" (not coined by us, nevertheless a nice description) don't have much/any prospect
Links 20/09/2025: Hardware Projects in View, Some Independent Publishers About Russia Prosper After Cheeto Cuts Funding
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Options and TV Time Machine
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Retrocomputer, Antique Phone Experience, and More
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
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
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: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
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
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
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
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
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