Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO 'Mafia': Break the Law and Send Mafia-Like Entities to Bully People Who Point Out the Lawbreaking

Like an authoritarian regime at best or underworld at worst

EPO and EU



Summary: The immunity of the EPO has been (mis)used to construct a Mafia-like entity with complete impunity (even the Italian Mafia doesn't enjoy such levels of impunity); nowadays the EPO not only breaks the law, robs people, drives people to suicide/chronic illness and lies to everyone as it also bullies its critics (even those who are in no way associated with the EPO!)

THE buzzwords utilised by António Campinos were mentioned last month in his first 'proper' interview with IAM, which was full of software patents advocacy. The EPO nowadays pretends that everything "digital" or anything with a "computer" or with "software" is patentable. In that regard, Campinos is even worse than his predecessor. Many people will be misled and mistaken because of "Brand Campinos", wrongly assuming that he's always somehow better in every way. Remember that two years on the job already Campinos still blocks access to Techrights. Does that sound democratic to anyone? More like China.



Campinos still exploits his dead father to pretend he's alright. But the EPC is being violated by the EPO every day. Campinos breaks the law every day. This is very much true under Campinos -- no less than it was true under Battistelli. It's just that the media hardly talks about it anymore. A few days ago the EPO tweeted (most of the official EPO communications nowadays come from Twitter and Microsoft, two American companies). "Do you regularly use our EPC and PCT-EPO Guidelines? If so, don't miss this opportunity to tell us what you think of them. There are only 6 days left to submit your feedback."

There were many tweets like that recently, including another from around the same time, which said: "Are the EPC and PCT-EPO Guidelines relevant for your work? Contribute to their revision by submitting your feedback on them here: https://bit.ly/2TBX3aI"

As one can expect, submissions will mostly come from law firms. The general public is mostly kept in the dark and discarded/demoted by the EPO (there's no option there for those who aren't applicants or law firms).

"Sometimes patent searching can become very complicated," the EPO tweeted, "while some technical fields throw up difficulties for patent searchers by their very nature. How do our examiners rise to such challenges?"

If in doubt, they grand, just like examiners of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), even post-Alice/35 U.S.C. €§ 101. So the lower the hiring standards, the more wrongly-granted patents will be counted. The EPO is in that sense incentivised not to hire people smart enough to demonstrate ineligibility (for rejection). The staff representatives have already complained that examiners are being assigned to deal with patent applications outside their field of expertise.

So how can the EPO maintain this illusion of compliance with the EPC? Too many European Patents (EPs) are Invalid Patents (IPs) these days and it's going to become a major blunder somewhere down the line.

As we explained in the previous post, the EPO now mimics the Chinese model, which is basically a 'mad house' of patent grants. The goal is only to grant more and more patents, not to improve their quality.

A few years ago we leaked some internal communications that showed the EPO was very well aware this. Here's one example. The EPO's response to such leaks was sheer aggression, i.e. the usual. The management of the EPO sent several law firms from London to go after me and threaten me. Why? For exposing internal communications, highlighting EPO abuses and corruption.

A couple of days ago Benjamin Henrion shared a similar story when he said: "The Coronabonds closed doors meetings remembers me the software patent directive in Council: the in-video speeches were a show and staged in advance, everything was decided in a diner the sunday before. Diplomats like secrecy [...] I even had a 'fight' with the chief of the Luxemburgish patent office, who accused us of leaking the minutes of some closed Council meeting, which showed that Council wanted to rubberstamp the directive super quickly if the Parliament approved it."

I'll never forget how the EPO attempted to silence me (apparently it did similar things to IP Kat, culminating in complete ban of the whole site). That was back when media actually blasted the EPO for its abuses, about 4 years ago in 2015-2016.

Back then the media also played along with EPO lies. Some of the media still believed and relayed many of the lies. Notice Benoît Battistelli quoted this old article from Rosie Spinks at The 'Guardian'. The article contains serious lies, such as "UK will vote on its European future just as the EU finalises a new patent system..."

The UPC was already pretty much dead just months after she had published it. This is how she introduced it: "The unitary patent is set to be granted by the EPO and will be valid in 26 countries, with a centralised court of enforcement known as the Unified Patent Court (UPC). It was conceived as a way to cut down on the cost, administration and red-tape of filing and enforcing a patent across many European jurisdictions. Under the unitary system, those seeking patent protection in multiple markets can file a single application to the EPO, and if granted, see it have immediate effect across all relevant states and pay a single renewal fee."

Citing thugs from Fieldfisher -- that Mafia of the EPO (it sent its employee with the surname "Capone" to repeatedly threaten me) -- Rosie Spinks at The 'Guardian' proceeded to spread lies about what the UPC/A means to SMEs. The 'Guardian' wrote: "David Knight, a partner in law firm Fieldfisher’s intellectual property and technology team, added that if the Brexit were to occur, British SMEs who needed patent protection across Europe could still file for the unitary patent — as can any foreign company — it just wouldn’t include patent protection at home as part of the package."

This is the same firm that the EPO paid to threaten me. Rosie Spinks at The 'Guardian' was back then mentioning "SMEs" like a couple dozen times, quoting EPO and law firms but not actual SMEs. We can only guess that printing lies is business as usual for this 'news' paper...

This was only a few months after the legal threats from Fieldfisher’s Mr. Capone. Later on they'll tell us how gentle and respectful the Office is. They'll tell us they mourn dead Italians (Coronavirus victims) while sending Mafia like Capone (literally Capone!) after their critics. Some friendly patent office, eh? No better than the extortion artists known as patent trolls.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Tentative Summary of Things to Publish in Project 2030
I'll still be in my forties by then
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
 
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Snowy Photos and utism is a Spectrum
Links for the day
Microsoft-Sponsored Xenophobia and Nationalism
IBM is very similar in this regard
Vintage is Sometimes Better
Why can't we get back to "simple" if (or where) "simple" means better?
Climate Breakdown Means We'll be Publishing More, Not Less
Press freedom will be a common, recurring theme
Our 5-Year Geminispace Anniversary is Coming Up
I still remember when Gemini Protocol was quite new
It's Right to Point Out Violence From the Right
Violence is a recurring theme
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