Bonum Certa Men Certa

Germany's FCC and Its Decision on UPC May Not Matter Much Anymore (and the Government in Berlin Knows That) (Updated)

Update (20/3/2020): The decision is now online in German and in English. Thank you, Justice Huber, for doing the right thing in the face of great pressure if not harassment from the litigation 'industry'.

Tomorrow morning we'll know the (in some sense) irrelevant outcome

UPC lobbying budget:
UPC lobbying budget - Can't say if dead or dead - It's dead, Jim - I need to change profession



Summary: Tomorrow morning the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht) will publish a decision that leaves UPC as dead as it already is, based on last month's declaration from the British government (among other key factors)

THREE years ago the corruption in EPOnia was still making headlines across Europe. It was only a year or two after the corruption had been culminating in all sorts of ways. We can count the ways, enumerating literally dozens of examples. We've written and published over 3,500 articles about the EPO alone.

"Anyway, legal issues aside, the EPO also fails on technical merits."The EPO has not changed since; but it made use of some new PR strategy and put aside budget and lawyers for intimidation and bribery of the press. At one point it even sanctioned IP Kat (back when it was still run by decent people -- sadly no longer the case due to staffing/editorial changes). IP Kat nowadays participates in the EPO's abuses by means of censorship of EPO critics. It's really that bad and rather blatant. They hope nobody will notice that, but people do notice...

Anyway, legal issues aside, the EPO also fails on technical merits. The official European Patent Office/Organisation's (EPO) Web site suffered downtime issues this week (the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) had similar issues last year and two years ago -- issues that some blamed on corruption, nepotism and incompetence. This week one USPTO whistleblower wrote: "Rec 100s complaints about the new CIO leadership. The CIO seems to be every where but at work. I guess the contractors are running the place. The Dep CIO is still failing as a leader, transferring old staff over to CIO to achieve even greater failure that got her trasferred").

"Will they be OK with the EPO trying to seize control of the legal system too? Not likely. Not if they do their job properly."We don't wish to focus too much on the USPTO and every pertinent EPO abuse, including the corruption of the media, the bribery, the fake job ads and so on. Let's just say that the Justices at the FCC are certainly aware of many of these things. They've had years to familiarise themselves, as they're dealing with numerous (perhaps half a dozen) complaints about the Office. They've been observing the abuses against EPO judges, not to mention all sorts of corruption such as nepotism (the legal system is extremely sensitive to such bad publicity).

Will they be OK with the EPO trying to seize control of the legal system too? Not likely. Not if they do their job properly.

One can count on the overzealous among Team UPC to act as though the UPC is about to start. Bristows' Gregory Bacon (some of his UPC boosting colleagues left the firm) said some nonsense and around the same time "Kluwer Patent blogger" (probably the same firm hiding itself and suppressing its opposition, as usual) wrote: ""We await to see what the significance might be that the decision will be issued by the Senate rather than Chambers”, Bristows writes in an article published earlier today."

Citing oneself, Bristows?

Anyway, one big blow was served last Friday but was "lost in Corona" ("Dutch Court Rules That Seat Agreement Signed Between the EPO and the Dutch Government Violates Article 45 TFEU"), so will this Friday bring another blow?

"This UPC decision may be already moot," I told Henrion (FFII) some hours ago, "because the UK is not participating in the process, which means UPCA cannot go on (as Berlin confirmed months ago)" (this is a matter of public record in newspapers as well).

"I personally do not share this kind of enthusiasm because the UPC is already dead anyway."The court says: "Generally, this information will be announced three days prior to publication. On the day of their respective publication, the decisions will normally be available on the website of the Federal Constitutional Court as of 9:30 a.m. and are sent via newsletter simultaneously."

That's 8:30 AM British time.

Citing Stjerna's latest paper, Henrion noted that "Nokia and BASF [are] writing UPC court fees so that SMEs cannot participate" and added that: "If the FCC dismiss the complaint on Friday, FFII eV will file a second one. [...] If the German Constitutional Court kills the Unitary Patent on Friday, I will do a virtual party on Jitsi. Bring something to drink!"

I personally do not share this kind of enthusiasm because the UPC is already dead anyway. "There are strong grounds to throw out the UPCA, not the complaints, for good," I told him. "It's the product of a litigation 'industry' coup, designed to corrupt the system and break the underlying laws for profit. Unitary Patent already died last month here in the UK. Another German nail in the French coffin would help thwart future attempts by 'Team UPC'."

"They look to discredit the decision in case it doesn't go their way."Henrion took note of "UPCtracker" Thomas Adam, who insults the court and the Justice. He wrote: "#UPC re: decision of DE Constitutional Ct to be published on Fr., March 20, 2020. Not an expert in constitutional procedural law, so following observations should be taken w a grain of salt. The form of announcement indicates that the decision will be one by the full Senate (8 judges) as compared to a 3-judges/chamber decision (the latter being competent to deny acceptance of the complaint, sec. 93b of the Act on the Fed. Constitutional Ct., but – of relevance here – not competent to declare an Act of parliament as unconstitutional; sec. 93c(1) 3rd sentence); a chamber decision wd have been surprising this late in the game but it appears that the case was never formally admitted by the Senate; having said that, a Verfassungsbeschwerde must be admitted in order to be decided, sec. 93a but can happen implicitly). In case of a draw (4:4), complaint is denied. Dispensing with oral hearing would be due to parties involved waiving such right, sec. 25(1). So form of decision (by way of “Beschluss”) not prejudicial for outcome. Dissenting opinions are possible."

So they proactively moan about the decision. They look to discredit the decision in case it doesn't go their way.

"In case the case is not refered [sic] to the CJEU," Henrion told him, "FCC will breach its obligations."

Separately he had said "UPC FCC decision to be published this Friday [...] If the court does not refer the matter to the CJEU, this will be a big fault by the FCC."

"We understand that the decision is already written and ready to be published, but regardless of its conclusion the outcome will be the same."My gut feeling tells me nobody will really pay attention tomorrow, due to the pandemic. We recently exposed profound EPO corruption and German journalists said they would not be covering it because of coronavirus. They actually said that.

The Team UPC troll/sockpuppet in Twitter (intended to lobby and 'harass' the FCC) said: "No. But heralded for tomorrow, Fr., at 9:30 am CET (though Court runs on limited capacity due to COVID-19)."

Well, the decision won't matter for UPC's fate or even for software patents in Europe. It is in many ways moot before its arrival.

We understand that the decision is already written and ready to be published, but regardless of its conclusion the outcome will be the same. No doubt Team UPC will shout from rooftops tomorrow morning, either in 'damage limitation' attempts (distorting the meaning of the outcome) or celebrations over nothing of real substance, merely resulting in yet more complaints and inaction from the German government.

Recent Techrights' Posts

EPO Examiners Point Out to the Heads of Delegations in the Administrative Council of the EPO That the "AI Policy" of the Office is Illegal
"the Central Staff Committee (CSC) asks the Administrative Council to exert its supervisory role and instruct EPO management to enter into genuine dialogue with the staff representation on the AI Policy, to revise the “Leverage AI” target of 90% AI-automated classification in the SP2028 and to put in place the measures supported by staff in the resolution."
French Cities Dumping Microsoft Because They Recognise Software Freedom, Open Standards, GNU/Linux Autonomy
We hope that more French cities - maybe Paris - will follow Lyon.
LWN is a Voice of GAFAM (Through Linux Foundation, Their Front Group or Occupying Force Inside Linux)
remember who the chief editor works for and who sponsors many of the articles
The 'Case' of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft is a Lot of Copypasta (Maybe Also LLM Slop) From the Matthew Garrett 'Case'
5RB deserves to know and the matter shall be properly reported in due course (when the time is right)
EPO Squeezing the Staff - Part II - Office Breaks Rules, Ignores Courts, Defies Justice
False promises everywhere
IBM - Like Microsoft - is a Dying Company and Perishing Brand ("AI" is a Lie and Decoy)
"Arvind is cutting costs (layoffs, PIPs, forced RTO, etc...) like crazy. IBM offices are closing all over the place in the US."
"Code of Conduct" Invoked When Fedora and Red Hat Users (Since the 1990s) Don't Want to Use Wayland
That is IBM "DEI"
Microsoft Layoffs Next Week: About 10% to be Laid Off in Microsoft Gaming (2 Days Before Independence Day), About 20%+ of XBox Staff
Microsoft is rapidly collapsing
 
Keeping Things Accessible
Gemini Protocol seems to be growing
Technical People Need Technical Lawyers
Technical Litigants in Person (LIPs) have many real and concrete advantages
10,000+ Articles in About 20 Months (and How We Got Here)
More bloat does not beget efficiency and "bells and whistles" tend to have a hidden cost
Links 26/06/2025: Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC) Failing Scandinavia, K-Pop Agencies Abuse People
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/06/2025: AuraGem Twitch Proxy is Back and UI Sluggishness
Links for the day
Links 26/06/2025: Noise Pollution Considered High in Europe, Mass Layoffs Next Week in Microsoft Confirmed, Very Large in Scale and Scope
Links for the day
No, I Don't Want Your Latest XYZ, ThankYouVeryMuch...
Wayland is finally ready?
China Keeps Breaking Into Microsoft Systems, So for True Sovereignty, Nations Wary of China Need to Dump Microsoft
Looking at data from Taiwan (not China) and Maharlika (not Philippines, the king is dead and Spain is out), there are encouraging signs
Linux Journal Wants Ads on Its LLM Slop or Ads as 'Articles'
it's basically another BetaNews
How to Kill a Monopoly
in 10 simple steps
Mozambique: GNU/Linux Rose From 0.5% Last Year to 3% This Year
what (or how) statCounter is measuring
Next Month Marks 11 Years Since Our In-Depth EPO Coverage
The same is happening to Microsoft right now
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Campaigns Against Vista 11, Adds 4 New Associate Members Per Day
If more people understood the underlying principles, more of them would flock to Free software overnight
Canonical Seems to Have Culled Some Sources of LLM Slop From Planet Ubuntu
It's like "junk food", it's not information
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 25, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 25, 2025
On "Weak Claims"
For the record, they sent me unjustified threats, repeatedly tried injunctions (censorship)
EPO Squeezing the Staff - Part I - Burnout and Family Health
more exceptional circumstances
This Month's Mail (MX) Server Survey Shows Microsoft at 0.20% "Market Share"
We need to remind people that desktops and laptops decline (in proportion to other client devices) and at the "back end" GNU/Linux is already dominant and has long been dominant
Links 26/06/2025: Filespooler Guide and Learning to Code
Links for the day
Why Techrights Cannot be Vilified (and Instead It Gets SLAPPed Repeatedly by Microsoft People)
Attack dogs are all "bark"; because they have no actual "bite"
Austrian GNU/Linux Usage Up to About 5% as More of Europe Abandons Microsoft
Since inauguration day the Austrian people have adopted more and more of GNU/Linux
Why the "Wayland People" and "Rust People" Will Lose Hearts and Minds (Same Reasons)
Wayland pushers are fast becoming like "Rust People"
5,600 Pages/Articles Per Year
So far this year we've kept all the promises
BetaNews Beginning to Show What Its True Goals Are
The 'new' BetaNews won't be about journalism. It's trying to sell things.
Microsoft Has Lost "The War"
We'll soon see the 9th or 10th wave of Microsoft layoffs in 2025 alone
Slopwatch: A Wreck and a Dreck, "Flooding the Zone With Dreck" or Flooding the Web With Junk
"Slopwatch" continues today because we have many new examples
Links 25/06/2025: Thwarting More Software Patents, Overlap Grows Between EPO Corruption and Illegal Kangaroo Patent Courts in EU
Links for the day
Links 25/06/2025: Elon Musk’s Lawyers Caught Lying, WhatsApp Faces More Bans
Links for the day
Wayland Pushers Lose the Argument, Use LLM Slop and Chatbots to Make Up Arguments for IBM
Another new low and low blow
Brian Fagioli Created Another Slopfarm Targeting "Linux" After BetaNews Became a Slopfarm of Phantom Accounts and Pseudonyms
Mr. Fagioli even had slop about a dead Torvalds (hypothetical) as clickbait
Wayland is Perfect, Nobody Can Escape Its Perfection! (Or Not)
Do not form on opinion on Wayland based on politics
What is "MATA"?
Think of it as GAFAM or "Meta"
Moral Duty for "Linux Sites" to Speak Out Against LLM Slop
My wife has long complained about "Linux bloggers" keeping quiet and thus passive about a growing problem: slop
In Recent Hours Google News Promoted at Least 3 Slopfarms That Relayed Linux Foundation Propaganda Made by Bots or LLM "Bullshit Generators" (as Dr. Stallman Dubbed Them)
Google is circling down the drain and Google News too is hopeless
Linux Journal is a Slopfarm, It's Experimenting With LLM 'Authors'
Is Slashdot next?
WebProNews is a Slopfarm
Please avoid linking to WebProNews
Microsoft LinkedIn is Dying and Many More Layoffs Are on the Way
LinkedIn is just a failed acquisition of Microsoft. It causes losses and debt.
Gemini Links 25/06/2025: Combinatorial Music and Self Hosting
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Coming Back to Europe This Autumn to Give More Talks
His last talk in Europe attracted about 400-450 people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Social Control Media, Technology & Catholicism: Synod on Synodality review and feedback
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
How Many More Women Will Managers at Microsoft Strangle and Tell to Kill Themselves (or Try to Kill)?
The world needs to know what happened
The New BetaNews: 7 New 'Articles', All of Them LLM Slop
BetaNews is basically defunct. Nobody writes there anymore.
Another "Told You So!": XBox Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Many Recent Reports Were Chaff and Spin), Many Other Divisions Affected
With mass layoffs at Microsoft the world would be much better
statCounter Estimates Only 1 in 300 Iranians Would Use Microsoft for Search
Iranians don't quite trust Microsoft
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: ftpd on FreeBSD and Online Small Web Magazine
Links for the day
Google News Does Great Harm by Promoting Slopfarms as Legitimate News Sites
Slopfarms are sites which are 100% LLM slop
Links 24/06/2025: Trouble at "Open" "AI" and ‘Siarhei is Free’
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: Stimulants and Subscription Costs for DRM
Links for the day
When the Microsoft Aggressors Rely on Several Law Firms ('Attack Dogs', 'Guns for Hire'), Not Just One, Lawyering Up Against Techrights (Acting on Behalf of Americans Against UK Publishers)
From serving customers at some restaurant he has moved on to bullying people with demand letters
Links 24/06/2025: OpenAI [sic] May Soon Die (Too Much Debt) and Social Control Media Accused of Being Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda Amplifier
Links for the day
Nirbheek Chauhan in Planet GNOME Explains Why Wayland Pushers Are Losing
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
Polygamy, from Catholic Synod on Synodality to Social Control Media & Debian CyberPolygamy
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Only a Third of or 1 in 3 Web-Connected Devices is a Desktop or Laptop, According to statCounter
we can expect Android to widen its lead
The Days Are Getting Shorter, the First Half of 2025 is Almost Over
We're gratified to see significant increase in traffic and also positive feedback on the work we do
Turning GNU/Linux Into a Political Football
X (not the site) is Free software
X Server Still Works for Many People
A lot of people will grow suspicious of Wayland boosters/pushers if they persist and insist on using these tactics
Exactly a Week Ago "BetaNews Staff" Said "Betanews Is Growing Alongside You". Since Then Every Article (All by "Camila Nogueira") Has Been LLM Slop.
BetaNews is basically a slopfarm
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 23, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 23, 2025
The "Tarzan Effect" in Compilers and Software
What happens when you forcibly make things 'work', either by hacks or by disregarding warnings (like those that compilers tend to issue)?
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: Mass Tourism, Hair Love, and Google Gemini as a Googlebomb
Links for the day