07.19.20
Gemini version available ♊︎When You Break the Law and Have Nothing Positive to Say Why Not Exploit COVID-19 for Cheap, Fact-Free Marketing/Self-Promotion Along With a Superficial ‘Study’?
They’ve lost humility and a sense of shame, haven’t they?
Summary: The EPO has been brushing under a rug some really important issues; it’s using mindless fluff about COVID-19 and a so-called ‘study’ which in many ways demonstrate the opposite of what the Office claims
THE European Patent Office (EPO) is no ally of the fight against COVID. We have already pointed out that Benoît Battistelli‘s EPO awarded a fraud, whose patents were passed to patent trolls that now attack French researchers who look for COVID-19 cures/prevention.
“This is all just another smokescreen that serves to distract from EPO scandals.”The USPTO along with other ‘IP5′ offices would gladly exploit COVID-19 for propaganda, as would António Campinos, who does this every week. Now he’s using COVID-19 to attack his own staff.
EPO examiners are (still) smart people. Surely we don’t have to explain in much length what’s wrong with the above messages (screenshots taken). On Thursday or Friday (the slug says Thursday, but the CMS updates overnight for RSS feeds) the far-east propaganda was ‘dumped’ onto the EPO’s site. The latest puff piece (warning: epo.org link) takes advantage of “pandemic” for shameless patent propaganda (these patents actually help the pandemic spread as they restrict research). It says “[c]ommitted to common solutions to global challenges – a joint message from the EPO and the JPO” and there’s also a “[j]oint message from the EPO and the KIPO on COVID-19″ (warning: epo.org link) as if they’re some kind of health officials. They’re not!
“What ever happened to actual fact-checking and investigations?”This is all just another smokescreen that serves to distract from EPO scandals. The media has been 100% silent about those scandals, quite frankly as usual, and instead we saw parroted puff pieces in so-called ‘news’ sites like Metal Additive Manufacturing magazine and 3D Printing Progress (as noted here before in passing). What ever happened to actual fact-checking and investigations? No budget? Did the bribes and the blackmail by EPO management pay off?
IAM is meanwhile pushing FRAND, which is a "scam" according to people who properly understand it (Managing IP is boosting SPCs), and then IAM is also boosting the above EPO propaganda again, with its sister sites doing the same and promoting it here in Lexology. Are they journalists or parrots for a so-called ‘study’? Our response below in yellow:
The 3D printing boom is not over – Over on IAM there is analysis [no, parroting] of a boom in 3D printing patent applications [patents aren’t a surrogate] at the European Patent Office, with filers from the US leading the way [because the EPO is not serving Europe]. Overall the office saw applications for 3D printing or additive manufacturing inventions increase at an average rate of 36% from 2015 to 2018 [maybe because patent quality decreased and grants nearly doubled]. This is far above the 3.5% average growth that the EPO saw in applications overall [a reminder that the EPO may soon run out of work, having granted lots of bogus patents in a rush]. The number of filings has grown from less than 1,000 in 2013 to just over 4,000 in 2018. The analysis is available here [is this an analysis of just shallow promotion of the EPO’s own claims?]. A few years ago, the spectre of 3D printing was a hot topic in the trademark world. While that discussion isn’t as prevalent as it was, the brand issues that could arise from the technology persist (in an interview with ECTA Anette Rasmussen last month, it was revealed that the association’s December engagement meeting will focus on 3D printing and designs, Rasmussen stating that it remains “a live issue”). That is set to remain the case, the EPO report noting that additive manufacturing is forecast to capture 5% or more of the world’s $12 trillion manufacturing industry. [EPO as a marketing front for private industries]
Notice the EUIPO overlap, as noted here in 3DPrint.com:
The European Patent Office (EPO), one of the largest public service [public service? Really?!] institutions in Europe, is launching a new study on Monday, July 13th, titled “Patents and additive manufacturing – Trends in 3D printing technologies,” to offer evidence that Europe is a global 3D printing innovation hub [actually it shows Europe in the minority, even in Europe itself]. Ahead of the launch, there will be a panel discussion between EPO president António Campinos and Christian Archambeau, Executive Director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), and then the EPO’s Chief Economist, Yann Ménière, will present the study.
The timing of this, 2 days before the hearing about software patents in Europe, may be a coincidence. Or maybe not. But remember what happened a year ago when the 'Haar question' came home to roost. Never underestimate the minds of media strategists. They can groom the media to distract the public from more pressing and relevant matters. █
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