Bonum Certa Men Certa

Today's EPO Stands for Nothing at All (Except Faking 'Production' to Amass Money for Gambling)

At least we know what they do with this money...

Standing on thin ice
Standing on thin ice



Summary: The EPO has exploited the Dabus (or DABUS) story to portray itself as strict, but the reality is exactly the opposite

THE European Patent Office's (EPO) neglect of patent quality is truly a crisis. It can doom the EPO's credibility first; then, despite immunity, the EPO will come under fire (from the public). It's not unprecedented as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has long been ridiculed for some of the most ludicrous patents that it grants, e.g. patents on shapes of people and on shapes of animals [1, 2] (not fictional ones). One has to see these to believe it and yesterday the EFF complained about such patents. Remember that António Campinos comes from the world where shapes and appearances alone get monopolised (Battistelli just comes from politics), so who on Earth thinks it's a good idea to let such people decide on software patenting? Campinos already personally meddles in these matters (which he clearly does not understand). They wish -- by extension -- to help squash 35 U.S.C. €§ 101 in the US, based on internal documents.



"They wish -- by extension -- to help squash 35 U.S.C. €§ 101 in the US, based on internal documents."The EPO's response to patents with non-humans named as "inventors" should not shock us; the EPO still makes it possible to get those same patents by just altering the name of the "inventor/s" (so it's a formality alone; nothing to do with quality) -- a fact that we've seen only one single site mentioning. Much of the coverage in the press, such as this latest puff piece from World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR), is appalling. It's not only shallow but oftentimes misleading (intentionally). WIPR has been acting as a EPO megaphone as of late (never any actual insights, only repetition of what management says). It's hardly surprising considering who left and who was hired. Here's what they said yesterday:

The European Patent Office has said it rejected two patent applications naming the machine Dabus as an inventor because European law requires an inventor to be a “natural person”.

The two European patent applications were filed last year by a team at the University of Surrey, and described a flashing beacon light and a plastic food container.

The two applications listed the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered machine Dabus as the sole inventor.

Last December, the EPO rejected the patents because they did not meet the requirements for inventorship under the European Patent Convention (EPC).


So the name alone is their issue with it? Never mind if such so-called 'inventions' are also abstract? This is 2020, when the "hey hi" (AI) hype continues unabated, along with "smart" and "cloud" and other meaningless junk.

"What does the EPO stand for if not quality and not ethics or fairness?"We don't expect the EPO to pursue quality or even ethics. The sole goal now is to grant as many patents as possible.

Yesterday came this new press release about new European Patents in the controversial area of "treatment of cancer" ("Compugen Further Expands Intellectual Property Portfolio With New European Patent for Anti-PVRIG Antibodies"). To quote:

Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and leader in predictive target discovery, announced today that The European Patent Office (EPO) has granted the Company a new patent for the use of any anti-PVRIG antibody in the treatment of cancer.

EPO Patent No. 3258951, titled "Anti-PVRIG Antibodies and Methods of Use" relates to any anti-PVRIG antibody that activates T cells and/or NK cells, for use in the treatment of cancer. The patent also relates to any anti-PVRIG antibody, having the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) sequences of COM701, for use in the treatment of cancer. In addition, the patent covers these anti-PVRIG antibodies for use in combination with other immunostimulatory antibody, a cytokine therapy, or an immunomodulatory drug for the treatment of cancer.


Surely the EPO will continue to disregard reputable groups which repeatedly warn the EPO against granting patents on cancer treatments, stressing strongly that the practice harms patients, often causing them to die early.

What does the EPO stand for if not quality and not ethics or fairness?

Recent Techrights' Posts

BASIC Predates Microsoft by Over a Decade, Microsoft-Controlled Sites Like The Register MS Don't Want You to Know This
The state of the media is really bad when it relies a lot on oligarchs' money and is appointing editors who are working for oligarchs
Brian Kernighan, "Only Third to Dennis Richie and Ken Thompson" (UNIX), Agreed With Someone Who Said Rust Was Just Hype, Should Not Replace C
17 hours ago
Reminder: Microsoft's "Secure Boot" Certificate for "Linux" Will be Expired in One Week
Many PCs won't manage to 'rotate' to another certificate
 
Genini Links 05/09/2025: Community, ROOPHLOCH, and PITkit
Links for the day
Links 05/09/2025: Vaccine Sceptics Poison the Well, Two Exploited Vulnerabilities Patched in Android
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/09/2025: Logitech Lift and DIY Gemini Servers
Links for the day
Links 05/09/2025: Sainsbury's Caught Spying on In-Store Shoppers and Microsoft "OpenAI is Using Legal Threats to Harass its Critics"
Links for the day
Analogies for "Memory Safety" in Rust
Don't worry, it's Rust! It can do anything!
"Many of the Red Hat Employees Are Still Looking for Work"
Shame on IBM's CEO
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 04, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 04, 2025
Microsoft Started With Code Literally From The Trash, Nothing Has Improved Since
The reality is, there are systems and code that are reliable. But they're not Microsoft's.
Hypothesis That New McKinsey/Microsoft Executive Inside Red Hat Will Outsource Research and Development Operations to India (Like They Do in IBM)
IBM is floundering
Slopwatch: Scams, Fake Articles About "Linux", Plagiarism, and Worse
Perhaps some time soon the LLMs or the "Big LLMs" will run out of money (to borrow) and go offline, leaving those slopfarms in a tough place
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Means of Production and Rusting Out
Links for the day
Links 04/09/2025: Science, Hardware, and Eyes on China
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Digital Minimalism and Social Control Media
Links for the day
IBM's GNU/Linux Divestment, Based on Hard But Anecdotal Evidence (IBM Fails to Recognise How Much Money It Made and Can Still Make From "Linux")
Love us or hate us, a lot of what we've been saying about Red Hat under IBM turns out to be rather accurate
Links 04/09/2025: Massive Microsoft Staff Cuts (Barely Reported), "Strange Conspiracy Theory Is Reportedly Spreading Inside OpenAI"
Links for the day
Activists Can Win, But Keep an Eye on the Ball and on the Trophy
GitHub is dying, it was a loss-making trap, not free hosting
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Katrina Remembered, Distracted Driving, and Virtual Economics
Links for the day
At This Point It's No Longer Matthew Garrett But People Who Fund Matthew Garrett (or Companies That Fund His SLAPPs Against My Wife and I)
The only thing worse than misogynists are misogynists who fail to respect other people's right to go on holiday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 03, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 03, 2025
The UEFI 9/11 - Part VI - This Serious Harm Was Planned for Over a Decade, Not an Accident or Merely Some Misfortune
The term "Serious Harm" is legally meaningful here
GNOME Unfit for Diversity and Inclusion
GNOME's leadership is using "bad words"
Brodie Robertson Addressing the Recently-Discovered Comments
Most people probably knew nothing about this until he wrote a response
Red Hat QA Team "Had Shrunk by Half Over the Past Year." (After IBM Divestment)
If Red Hat's workforce is being moved to the East, then RHEL can become a national security problem
Slopwatch: "Open Source" and "Linux" News Faked, Made by Bots and Entered Into Google News
Spam combined with slop about "Linux" has entered Google News
Links 03/09/2025: Microsoft Causes Mass Layoffs Outside Microsoft Also, "Google Can Keep Paying for Firefox Search Deal"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/09/2025: calendar.txt, Alhena 5.3.1, and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
The Theory That the Man From McKinsey, Whom Red Hat Took From Microsoft a Month Ago as Executive, Wants 'Efficiency' (Lower Salaries)
So far... no "official" word
When Your Site's Articles Are Being 'Cheapened' by Slop as Feature Images
Dr. Farnell should become an advisor to The Register MS
Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Drops to Only Half a Dozen Capsules and 0.2% of the Whole in Geminispace, Self-Signed is the Way to Go
It used to have hundreds, according to Lupa
Doing to Red Hat What They Already Did (and Still Do) to IBM
there seems to be a drive to hire cheaper staff, and it may be led by somebody Red Hat hired from Microsoft
Links 03/09/2025: Salesforce's Latest Mass Layoffs, 93% in Large Poll at The Register MS Say UK Government Should Dump Microsoft
Links for the day
Preparations for Our 19th Anniversary Have Already Begun
When we get back we'll probably sort out some balloons and venue for the next party
Pleased After 2 Years With team.blue
Moving from a Content Management System (CMS, dynamic) to a Static Site Generator (SSG) was a wise decision that made life so much easier
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is Being Attacked by Organisations Jealous of Its Principled Stance and Longevity
Nobody is perfect, but imperfection does not instantaneously imply sinister intent
If You Reject the Google Verdict in the US, Then You Should Also Reject the "Modern" Web (Do Something About It)
Gemini Protocol is still open; it cannot be hijacked or subverted because it's frozen by design and by intention
Open Source Initiative IRS Filing: Almost All the Money is Corporate, Stefano Maffuli (Executive Director) Takes About a Quarter of That Money for Openwashing of "AI" Ponzi Scheme
OSI is currently little but a PR/marketing agency of Microsoft
Many People Are "Leaving" Red Hat, Even High-Level Managers
Something is definitely going on at Red Hat
Techrights Has Been Subjected to Calls of Violence (and Death Threats), It Never Condoned Violence
I have no sympathy for people who call violence "free speech" and then get in trouble
Condoning Violent Behaviour and "Free Speech"
perhaps Microsoft Lunduke lost touch with what constitutes violence
Takeaway From the Google Verdict: GAFAM Has Too Much Control (Even Over the US Government and Courts With Government Appointees)
Many people feel disappointed but hardly surprised by the verdict
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in One Month
As noted a few days ago, several times in fact, many people now recognise the importance of the FSF's mission, even if most people don't know what the FSF is
Many Microsoft "Assets" Are Fabricated Baloney (to Game the Numbers)
At times it seems like what we deal with are many weak patents (on algorithms), valuations or speculations based on hype ("hey hi"), and stocks held by Microsoft and its own staff
"Voluntary" Layoffs at Microsoft (to Game the Numbers, Sugar-Coating a Crisis)
"Employees interested have until the end of October to volunteer."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 02, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 02, 2025