Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO Bubble — Part I — An “Unprecedented Surge”

Series parts:

  1. YOU ARE HERE ☞ An “Unprecedented Surge”


Battistelli at JURI
Back in March 2017 Benoît Battistelli proudly boasted to the JURI Committee of the European Parliament [PDF] that his reform measures at the EPO had secured an "unprecedented surge" in granted patents.



Summary: New 12-part series about the deflating "grant bubble" at the EPO

Back in March 2017, the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament held a session dedicated to discussing "the latest state of play on the Unitary Patent".



"Despite the EPO management’s eagerness to publicise this "new high mark" in the Office’s history, not everybody was drinking the corporate Kool-Aid."On that occasion, the then President of the (non-EU) European Patent Office Benoît Battistelli gave a presentation to the assembled MEPs during which he proudly boasted to his ill-informed and poorly briefed audience that his reform measures at the EPO had resulted in an "unprecedented surge" in granted patents.

This "achievement" was also trumpeted on the EPO’s official website (warning: epo.org link) where great pains were taken to emphasise that the increase in granted patents had been achieved without any compromise in respect of quality.

"The EPO granted approximately 95 900 patents in 2016, an increase of 40% over 2015, and the highest ever number. This increase was possible following a series of reforms improving quality processes and enhancing efficiency, which ensure high productivity without compromising on quality."


Despite the EPO management’s eagerness to publicise this "new high mark" (warning: epo.org link) in the Office’s history, not everybody was drinking the corporate Kool-Aid.

Many observers were sceptical about the EPO’s extravagant claims that such a dramatic increase in output could be achieved without detrimental effects on the integrity of the "end-product".

"Many observers were sceptical about the EPO’s extravagant claims that such a dramatic increase in output could be achieved without detrimental effects on the integrity of the "end-product"."Although nobody dared to confront Battistelli openly in March 2017, by June 2018 some German Patent attorneys were starting to openly express concerns about a perceived decrease in the quality of patents issued by the EPO.

But, secure in the EPOnian ivory tower of immunity/impunity, Battistelli and his team contemptuously dismissed any criticism of their "achievements".

By means of oppressive managerial methods pioneered at France Télécom, the Corsican despot and his successor António Campinos ensured that the number of grants continue to climb throughout 2017 (+10.1%), 2018 (+20.8%) and 2019 (+8.0%).

Haseltine Lake Kempner: patent bubble
Between 2015 and 2019 the number of patents granted annually by the EPO effectively doubled.
Source: Haseltine Lake Kempner (hlk-ip.com)



The official statistics show that between 2015 and 2019 the number of patents granted annually by the EPO effectively doubled, rising from 68,401 in 2015 to a peak of 137,784 in 2019.

"The official statistics show that between 2015 and 2019 the number of patents granted annually by the EPO effectively doubled, rising from 68,401 in 2015 to a peak of 137,784 in 2019."As we shall see in the next part, the number of grants started to drop in 2020 and the latest figures from 2021 suggest that the EPO’s "grant bubble" - initially engineered by Team Battistelli and subsequently maintained by Team Campinos - is in the process of deflating.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
 
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025
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
Tentative Summary of Things to Publish in Project 2030
I'll still be in my forties by then
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
Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
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)
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
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