09.20.20
Gemini version available ♊︎Epitaph for (Death of) Patent-Centric Media: Litigation Giant Bird & Bird Nowadays Doing Ads as ‘Podcasts’ in Think Tank Site ‘Managing IP’
Recent (on Bird & Bird harassing Free software developers): Miriam Ballhausen and Debian Money, DebConf Online, Insulting a Volunteer at a Time of Grief
Summary: Publishers don’t hesitate and openly revel in taking bribes as if it’s a badge of honour or importance, allowing themselves to be profoundly corrupted in pursuit of quick cash; we discuss what’s happening in sites that pretend to cover patent news (but actually drive agenda of litigation giants, to the detriment of actual innovators)
THE state of patent blogs is frustrating. Those that are left (still online and also active) may be very few and they’re mostly propaganda of private firms, litigation and pharma giants like Bird & Bird and AstraZeneca, respectively.
“The media in this domain has certainly been taken over. It has become really rogue, with lobbyists and patent trolls seeking to control the narrative.”How is the public expected to receive honest, balanced news when sites that cover particular topics are dominated by the thugs and parasitic elements of the industry? Parasites and thugs disguised as “professionals”, protecting criminals from their victims. Some “occupation” you got there…
The media in this domain has certainly been taken over. It has become really rogue, with lobbyists and patent trolls seeking to control the narrative. The EFF barely speaks about patents any longer (check the sponsors, the real bosses of the EFF) and the FSF is self-censoring on the matter. We showed some examples earlier this year.
“Like Facebook and Twitter, they actively distort the image of reality itself. That’s the business model.”Software developers in Europe rarely write about software patents anymore (too busy with coding, i.e. real work); instead, litigation people at IP Kat (what’s left of it) promote “Artificial Intelligence, Software and Patents: Towards a Post-COVID Changing Game” (using a health crisis and “Hey Hi” hype to push for illegal patents this past Friday). Hours ago there was also promotion of “Webinar on Patentability of AI- and Software-Based Inventions” with “guidance on best practices for protecting software-related innovations” (that’s the pattern we also find in IP Kat and its ‘sanitised’ comments section; the site is quite literally hijacked by litigation people, who have also just pushed EPO ads, as recently as Friday). Like Facebook and Twitter, they actively distort the image of reality itself. That’s the business model.
“And the other day they hit an all-time low by pushing ads disguised as “Podcast”.”But if that’s not bad enough, consider what IAM is doing behind its paywall, pushing distortions of reality on behalf of its patent trolls (sponsors). It’s just as bad in Managing IP, which offers bogus awards in exchange for sponsorships and still publishes a bunch of spam in ‘article’ form (“sponsored by” the authors, e.g. Jakob Pade Frederiksen some days ago and this push for “Hey Hi” patents).
“Are the ‘tweets’ about this also sponsored? Where does this corruption end? No wonder trust in publishers/media continues to erode; they deserve this distrust!”Are they even trying to come across as a news site? If so, they aren’t doing a terribly good job. And the other day they hit an all-time low by pushing ads disguised as “Podcast”. To their credit they admit this upfront when they say this: “In the first of three Bird & Bird-sponsored podcasts, Americas editor Patrick Wingrove spoke to Richard Vary, partner at Bird & Bird [...] We would like to thank Bird & Bird for making this podcast possible and for lending the necessary expertise in this matter.”
Are the ‘tweets’ about this also sponsored? Where does this corruption end? No wonder trust in publishers/media continues to erode; they deserve this distrust! It’s AstroTurfing. ‘Bird’ sites (Twitter, Bird & Bird) as marketing fronts… singing the sponsor’s tune.
So a so-called ‘news’ site takes money from a litigation firm and then pushes propaganda for that firm ever so blatantly, adding to a pool of sponsored (by the authors) ‘articles’.
“It’s a complete and utter laughing stock and we’re hardly shocked not a single journalist investigates and reports on EPO corruption. The few publications that did so half a decade ago received bribes/threats from the Mafioso of the EPO.”News regarding patents was already appalling in terms of quality and sites were deliberately misleading before COVID (how many so-called ‘news’ sites claimed that the UPC was “coming soon” for the past 5 years?); now it’s even worse. It’s a complete and utter laughing stock and we’re hardly shocked not a single journalist investigates and reports on EPO corruption. The few publications that did so half a decade ago received bribes/threats from the Mafioso of the EPO. Where are they now? Where’s the old IP Kat for that matter? All the EPO critics left the blog and IAM is 100% EPO propaganda (whenever covering EPO affairs). As for Managing IP? Just a PR agency/think tank. They’ve quit pretending — or they do it ever so shallowly — that one can smell it from a mile (sometimes there are disclosures too, but not always).
I’ve been waiting for years for some investigative journalists to publish their findings on the EPO; they said they were working on it (they told me so personally), but the articles were never published. Then again, seeing what happened at the BBC, one can guess what may have happened [1, 2]. █
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