Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Applicants Complain That Patent Quality Sank and EPO Management Isn't Listening (Nor Caring)



More translations (with more languages) available in the site of the EPO's union, SUEPO

Summary: SUEPO has just released 3 translations of new articles in German (here is the first of the batch); the following is the second of the three ("Kritik am Europäischen Patentamt - Patente ohne Wert?")

THIS is an article from yesterday, composed by Thomas Magenheim, who understands these matters. The following is at least partly machine-generated:

Criticism of the European Patent Office Patents without value?

26.05.2023 - 00:00 hrs Photo: imago/STL

To increase its revenues, the European Patent Office grants questionable patents, say critics. Transparency International sees structures that favour corruption.

Thomas Magenheim

The example described by the Munich patent attorney makes it clear what is at stake. A pharmaceutical company developed a pill against infertility, had it protected at the European Patent Office (EPO) and invested in its marketing. Then a rival entered the market with an alleged plagiarism. The patent holder went to court and lost. The alleged imitator was able to show a US patent that Epa examiners had overlooked. This rendered their property right worthless. "In extreme cases, this can cause millions in damages," explains the patent attorney, who wishes to remain anonymous. He works for one of the largest patent law firms in Europe. Patenting for several countries alone consumes a six-figure sum and many times that amount is invested in production in reliance on the patent. There is a system of meagre returns, the expert complains. Examiners are encouraged to grant more and more patents because this maximises the office's income. Quality research falls by the wayside.

Michael Heisel hangs the grievances even higher. "We see structural problems at the Epa that facilitate corruption," says the Bavarian head of the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International. An element of this, he says, is the Epa Board of Directors, in which 39 European countries are represented and which is supposed to control the management of the office. But this is called into question by a conflict of interests, warns Heisel. On the one hand, the office takes over the patent examination for many countries. On the other hand, the states receive a share of the Office's income for granted patents. "The supervisory authorityThe administrative board is not independent of the person being controlled, and that can't work," Heisel criticises. Epa service instructions support this view. "Productivity has to improve, very soon, . ...because productivity is the only thing that guarantees that our payroll will be paid on 26. of each month," writes an Epa director. The clarity of a patent is not a priority, the inventive step is not to be examined in depth, it continues. It is to be examined quickly, decided positively and recognised a lot, it means.

Siemens is also among the critics



This practice is also a thorn in the side of Siemens patent chief Beat Weibel. His company is the largest German patent applicant and initiator of an industry initiative with the abbreviation IPQC. 20 major international corporations such as Siemens, Bayer or Nokia, but also smaller companies, have united because they fear for effective patent protection. "We have nothing in our hands if patent examiners can't find the state of the art and can only do incomplete research due to internal time pressure," complains Weibel. Siemens, too, has had similar experiences with Epa patents. Representatives of IPQC and Office 2023 have met twice to discuss and resolve problems. But that already fails in terms of awareness. "The Management of the office has denied quality deficiencies," regrets the Siemensian. The Critics, meanwhile, remain silent. "We ask for your understanding that Epa does not wish to comment on this," a spokesperson explains succinctly when asked.

The data speak a clear language. For example, Siemens has documented an increase in the time spent on patent applications by one third in the past decade. At the same time, according to internal Epa statistics, the time available to examiners per patent search has almost halved, i.e. the opposite development has taken place. As a result, those who challenge patents are becoming more successful. From 2015 to 2021, the revocation rate climbed from 41 to 46 per cent, according to Siemens. For 2022, a study by the Chair of Intellectual Property at the University of Osnabrück has determined a revocation rate of almost 50 per cent at the Epa Board of Appeal. Another almost 40 per cent of contested patents were marginally to substantially restricted. It is striking that not even one in ten revocations is based on documents that could not be found in the Epa patent database, the study authors write. This means that in nine out of ten contested cases, the patent should not have been granted in the first place if a precise search had been carried out.

Internal complaints have gone unheard



"We need reliable patents, and for that examiners need enough time and experience," emphasises a patent expert from the pharmaceutical company Roche in Switzerland. He too is a member of the IPQC. Epa - Staff representatives support the accusations from industry and research. To the outside world, the office management claims that everything is fine and plays down quality deficiencies or ignores them altogether, they explain. Only four out of five exiting auditors are replaced, despite an increase in work. Internal complaints that this is at the expense of the quality of research have gone unheard.

"The Office must provide more examiners and more examination time," the Munich patent attorney also demands. A few years ago, several large patent law firms sent a fire letter to the Office. which criticised the declining quality of patents. This has been negated on the part of the office. "Nothing happened," regrets the expert. Like Transparency International, he sees the Epa Board of Directors as problematic.

Aiming for patent fees



"There are states for which this is a significant source of income," says Weibel, criticising the control body's actions and its focus on patent fees. Patent trolls have also recognised this and are taking advantage of it. These are applicants who apply for superficial patents, which are granted if the examination is poor, explains Heisel. These patents then block competitors. "China in particular applies for a large number of patents, and if they are not carefully examined, German companies can lose innovation opportunities. [sic] take," warns Heisel. This is another reason why the IPQC remains persistent. "We will not give up," promises Weibel in the fight for patent quality.

European Patent Office



Organisation The European Patent Office (EPO), with its headquarters in Munich, is a supranational organisation, not an EU organisation, which is only subject to very limited state jurisdiction in the German country where it has its headquarters. The management of the Office, under President Antonio Campinos, is controlled by the Epa Administrative Council. It is made up of representatives of the 39 European states that are members of the European Union.

Patent Convention have acceded to. These representatives are usually the heads of the national patent offices. For Germany, there is a Secretary of State for Justice.

Patents In particular, patent applications from China have been on the rise at the European Patent Office for years. In 2022, the increase on this basis was a good 15 percent to more than 19,000 requests for protection by Chinese inventors. By comparison, applications from the USA grew by only three percent to a good 48,000 requests, while those from Germany fell by almost five percent to 24,684 inventions. However, these figures say nothing about their quality.


EPO managers redefined quality as speed of granting. That's not quality at all. Remember that the EPO hired people from Transparency International (noted above). That helped silence them about EPO corruption for a while.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
 
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text)
The Web is really getting bad; it's also overwhelmed by fake material or plagiarised material, wherein the plagiarism gets disguised/hidden by LLM sausage factories
Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan
Links for the day
Linux is Already Dominant (Android), Let's Make GNU/Linux Dominant in Desktops/Laptops as Well
"Dr. Stallman recently warned everybody about Microsoft."
The Loyalty to Microsoft and the Salaries From Microsoft (Funding SLAPPs Against Techrights and Tux Machines)
Garrett always knows better. He knows everything best.
Windows Falls in Italy as GNU/Linux Jumps to 5%
Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google
Windows down to almost nothing in Africa's largest population
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond
"More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster"
Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June
Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 02, 2025
Last Article From Australia's Sam Varghese Was a Year Ago and It Covered the Release of Julian Assange, Who Will Apparently Come Back as 'Politician'
It'll soon be exactly 12 months
Hungary Seems Hungry for Linux
Windows down by a lot
Like in Europe, Bad News for Microsoft in US and Canada
If it loses those "regions", then what's left?
About 8 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in 2025 (in Less Than 5 Months), Now Vista 11 "Market Share" Decreases
Really bad news for shareholders of Microsoft
statCounter Sees Bing "Share" Falling Over 0.5% in One Month, Now Lower Than Before the ChatGPT/Bing Chat Hype
Bing has been part of the mass layoffs for quite some time
After Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia Android (Linux) Will Dominate Asia Completely
Windows probably peaked in "XP" or "2000"
Microsoft's Demise is a Global Phenomenon
mass layoffs justified using mindless buzzwords
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux in EU and the UK, All-Time Lows for Microsoft
Combining ChromeOS and GNU/Linux, it adds up to and almost reaches 6%
India: Windows Falls to 50% in Desktops/Laptops and 8% Overall
laptops/desktops fell to 16% of the whole
statCounter: GNU/Linux Up to 4.7% "Market Share" This Month
30,000 Microsoft jobs may be eliminated by year's end
Microsoft is in Trouble and Microsofters Know It
"I've been happy on Win 3.11 for years."
[Video] New Introduction to Richard Stallman's Contributions Including GNU Emacs, GNU/Linux, and Software Freedom
from the channel previously bullied for supporting RMS
Links 02/06/2025: South Korea to Vote, Russia Blitzed From Within
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Political Leftovers, DRM, and Patents
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Microsoft Spins Layoffs as "Slop", Frontier Settles Lawsuit
Links for the day
When You Publicly Boast About Wanting to Violently Attack People (Even Colleagues) Finding a Job Will Prove Difficult
there's a lesson to be learned here
The Web We Lost, the Information Lost Due to Microsoft's Attacks on Companies Like Yahoo! (Before the LLM Slop Frenzy)
When it comes to news sites, what can we say?
Covering Corruption in Poland, Including a War on Science (Due to Bad Politicians)
What we're about to show is that skilled and experienced scientists in Poland are besieged by bureaucrats
Gemini Links 02/06/2025: "Star Wars Day" and "Security Day"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 01, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 01, 2025