Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO: A Lawless Institution That Makes Its Staff Look Bad

Courts all around the world -- bar China -- are rejecting abstract patents on mathematics; why are examiners being punished for doing the same?

I came to fix the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) after a bunch of crooked judges decided to approve patents on mathematics
Let's hope she becomes a Justice at the highest American court one day



Summary: The EPO is promoting patents on mathematics and associates with -- sometimes promotes -- people who openly call for patents on mathematics

ONE thing that the EPO and USPTO have in common is their overzealous love of software patents, no matter if courts 'loathe' these (it's not about emotion or about hate; that's just simply the law -- something that neither António Campinos nor Benoît Battistelli would like to obey).



"It's nice to be able to understand history and know a lot of languages (polyglots can find more prior art), but without basic understanding of the underlying concepts patents will be wrongly granted, based on complete misunderstandings if not guesswork."These 'gentle' dictators don't seem to understand that patent systems should be measured in terms like justice or science, not money. There will still be science without money, especially money that's extracted by aggression (legal action/litigation). We'd like to take a moment to cordially remind examiners that they're scientists and if they work for a patent office they must always remember that their employer is supposed to advance science; it's not about enriching some law firms. If it is, it might be time to reconsider one's job; a career in a patent office is supposed to be about science. This is why patent offices have traditionally recruited highly-educated people with degrees in science and engineering, not people with a degree in history or some language/s. It's nice to be able to understand history and know a lot of languages (polyglots can find more prior art), but without basic understanding of the underlying concepts patents will be wrongly granted, based on complete misunderstandings if not guesswork. SUEPO and staff representatives have already warned that under Campinos many EPO examiners are being assigned to deal with applications in domains well outside their 'ballpark'. It's a recipe for disaster unless the sole goal is granting as many patents as possible, including ones that ought not be granted (rejected outright!). In the USPTO, for example, the so-called 'economist' recently bragged about compelling examiners to ignore or improperly apply 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101. What a nerve these people have, forcing workers with scientific integrity to grant unlawful patents which courts would most likely veto. The general message is, "break the law to keep your job!"

"Deep inside, however, these people are motivated to keep their job and pay the mortgage."The EPO is no enemy of ours. The EPO's management, however, clearly dislikes us. After almost 2 years at the Office Campinos still blocks Techrights on 'behalf' of thousands of employees; contrariwise, whoever runs the EPO's Twitter account not only refuses to block me! They follow me! They read my tweets. One might wonder if these people too haven't really swallowed the lies of the EPO's management. Deep inside, however, these people are motivated to keep their job and pay the mortgage.

EPO follows
Maybe deep inside the people who field this account (lying for a salary) know we're actually on their side



In any event, yesterday the EPO tweeted some more nonsense that's covert promotion of software patents.

To quote:



Digital communication & computer technology are enabling the #4IR by providing the tools for turning technical applications into smart devices. We've put together some interesting patenting trends in these fields: https://bit.ly/DigitalisationIndex … pic.twitter.com/MKPriH16nM


It isn't too hard to decipher this.

Tossing in fictional buzzwords ("4IR") as hashtags to promote illegal patents that the Office illegally grants to fake "Annual Results"? And then gamble with the money, defrauding Europe and EPO workers (including those who field this Twitter account)?

"Insiders compare the management to "Mafia" while bemoaning a culture of overt corruption, including nepotism, not to mention intimidation against truth-tellers and law-abiding staff."We desperately need the old EPO back; EPO workers need that too. Insiders compare the management to "Mafia" while bemoaning a culture of overt corruption, including nepotism, not to mention intimidation against truth-tellers and law-abiding staff.

The EPO has also just tweeted this thing about supposed learning. Notice the link. The very top entry in this page is shameless promotion of illicit patents on algorithms (under the guise of "Games" or "Videogames").

Last week the EPO's Twitter account tweeted promotion of a patent radical from the US, who founded a site called "IP Watchdog" (we don't call it that because it's a misnomer). Just look at the deluded nonsense that site wrote yesterday (and yesterday alone). Over at Watchtroll Paul Michel has just called himself "Judge Paul Michel" even though he's no longer a judge; he's pushing/lobbying the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to allow software patents ("Flaws in the Supreme Court’s €§101 Precedent and Available Ways to Correct Them"). He used to be a judge at the Federal Circuit and now that he's "retired" (lobbyist) he constantly promotes particular legislation, ruining the perception that judges are objective and uninvolved in politics. Maybe Judge Sharon Prost (actually a judge, still) should tell him to keep his big mouth shut; he makes her court look bad. This is a form of corruption and one might wonder if Michel pockets money 'on the side' for this sort of lobbying. His successor Rader was caught in a corruption scandal and was forced to resign. Later on SCOTUS overturned just about every single decision handed down by Rader.

"Later on SCOTUS overturned just about every single decision handed down by Rader."Now look on at yesterday's output from Watchtroll. It's truly insane. It's deluded. "The Long Reach of the Mathematics Patentability Exception is Overbroad and Absurd" is the headline; Jose Nunez now openly promotes patents on mathematics. Yes, let's have monopolies over laws of nature! The summary says: "The mathematics exception for subject matter eligibility is overbroad because it was improperly justified under the premise that mathematics is like a law of nature. This is absurd because mathematics is everywhere, and excepting mathematics means excepting virtually everything."

Oh. My. God!

"What have we sunk to? And why does today's EPO associate with such madness?"These people acknowledge that things like algorithms are in fact mathematics and now they openly and shamelessly pushing for patent monopolies on maths!!!

"Oh... sorry my dear, you cannot use that equation, it is patented!"

What have we sunk to? And why does today's EPO associate with such madness?

Recent Techrights' Posts

The So-called 'IT' Industry Became Somewhat of a Fraud Where People Equate Usage and Power Wasted With "Value" or "Success"
When did 'IT' become a weapon rather than technology/science?
Things to Like About London
Many important or "powerful" people leave near there
 
Gemini Links 23/02/2025: Respectful Platforms Manifesto and Internet Archive
Links for the day
The Significance of the Timing of the Ridiculous Letters From Brett Wilson LLP, Acting on Behalf of People From Microsoft
A preliminary look at the timeline and what it tells us
Politicians Ought to Invite Dr. Richard Stallman and Prof. Eben Moglen to Speak About Policies, Licensing, Digital Sovereignty
Is there something in Europe other than RMS' talk this coming Monday (that we're not yet aware of)?
Links 23/02/2025: Democracy Backsliding and German Election
Links for the day
Joining APRIL(.org), AGM weekend, Paris, 15-16 March 2025
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/02/2025: Zuckerberg Despised, US Government Does Not Obey Judges, France Grapples With Terrorism
Links for the day
Links 23/02/2025: Apple Back Doors, Ukraine Updates, and Gemini Leftovers
Links for the day
Recent Improvements in Techrights
minimalism works fine when the main goal is to relay information
Slopwatch: Brian Fagioli, Brittany Day (linuxsecurity.com), and Microsoft Misinformation, False Marketing
Serial Sloppers
Censored: Debian Zizian transgender vigilante comparisons in open source Linux communities
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 22, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 22, 2025
Links 22/02/2025: OpenAI Plans to Possibly Abandon Microsoft, Facebook Doubles Execs' Bonuses While Sacking Thousands
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/02/2025: Weekend Chill and Programming Thoughts
Links for the day
Good Explanation of Why IBM Has Chosen to Conceal Mass Layoffs (of 'Expensive' Staff) as "R.T.O." (Even For People Who Never Worked at the Office to Which They're Ordered to "Return")
Many remaining IBM (or Red Hat) workers in Europe are in "cheaper" places such as Brno
Microsoft's Serial Strangler and Matthew J. Garrett Join Forces in Trying to Gag Techrights (for Exposing Microsoft Corruption and Crimes Against Women)
Whose terrible idea was it?
Links 22/02/2025: Labour Department Investigates Microsoft Infosys Amid Mass Layoffs, Large Law Firms Caught Red Handed With LLM Slop (Defrauding Clients and Courts)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/02/2025: Analog Stuff, Sigil, and SSGs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Market Share in Cameroon Falls to New Lows
This means a lot of Android users (iOS is about 4 times smaller), but Android does not mean freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 21, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 21, 2025
The Streisand Effect is Real
So don't be evil. Also, don't strangle women.
Links 21/02/2025: Linux Foundation Openwashing, Microsoft Copilot Goes Down
Links for the day
Links 21/02/2025: Doomscrolling and European Ham Radio Show
Links for the day
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano Proud to Host Free Software Talk by Richard Stallman
ahead of Monday's talk
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Machine-Generated FUD (LLM Slop) From GBHackers, CybersecurityNews, and Guardian Digital, Inc (Google News Promotes Slop Plagiarism, Misinformation)
Companies that lie try to drown out the signal with falsehoods
Links 21/02/2025: TikTok Layoffs, WebOS Software Patents in Bad Hands
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/02/2025: Web Browsers, Mechanical Shortcuts, and Internet Hygiene
Links for the day
Richard Stallman 'Only' Founded the FSF
there's no reason to be upset at the FSF for keeping their founder in the Board
Techrights Disconnected From the United States Two Years Ago
Did people really need to wait for the US government to become this hostile towards the media before recognising the threat?
Before Trying Censorship by Extortion the Serial Strangler From Microsoft Literally Begged Us to Delete Pages
This is very clearly just a broad campaign of intimidation
Hype Watch: Weeks After Microsoft Disappointed Investors With "Hey Hi" It's Trying Some "Quantum" Hype (Adding Impractical Vapourware to Accompany This Hype and Even LLM Slop in 'News' Clothing)
Remember "metaverse"? What happened to media hype about "blockchain" and "IoT"?
Report About February Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in 2025) Comes Back From the Dead
Yesterday we wrote about an article in CRN (reporting Microsoft layoffs) being removed without any reasons specified
Links 21/02/2025: Myanmar Scam Centre and Disruptions at USPTO
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 20, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 20, 2025