Bonum Certa Men Certa

Unitary Patent (UPC) Highlights Reality Behind the EPO's Management and Its Multinational/Overseas Bosses

The Banana Republic which is Eponia best illustrated as follows...

Reunión of Pinochet and Kissinger
Source: Archivo General Histórico del (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile)



Summary: A survey of news about the Unitary Patent Court, the driving forces behind it, and who will actually benefit from it if/when it becomes a reality

THE EPO is not a European body but an international organisation above European law -- one that may even break international law as long as it feels immune enough from local law enforcement (whatever the locality might be). Over the years I was approached by whistleblowers who had suffered reprisal for purely political reasons. One of them was from the UN. I saw in her a lot of what I see now in Elizabeth Hardon. She angered the 'wrong' people by daring to help expose their abuses. She was in for a surprise. The legal system was not present (except show trials); there was lawlessness everyone and it took a considerable toll on physical health, mental health, etc. Public perception around international organisations needs to change because these organisations are often assumed to be benevolent by virtue of having no borders or loyalty to one particular nation/ethnicity/religion. What many people easily overlook is the inclination of such organisations to serve power, or class. This can mean lenience or favouritism for large international corporations, too. Plutocrats live a life void of fear from the courts and they travel without borders (many have their private jets). They exercise power and coerce international bodies, where the currency (not a commodity) is power. That's just an essential point that EPO employees sooner or later learn from experience. The I.L.O. is far too slow (and thus weak) to protect them. Protecting the weak from the powerful isn't quite the goal because such systems were put in place by the powerful. Those who speak truth to power should watch out, or else they're end up hiding in some embassy in London or somewhere in Moscow.



"It's hard to imagine that someone like Augusto Pinochet would even want to be associated with an autocrat like Battistelli."The madman who now runs the EPO, Mr. Battistelli, has just been mentioned by the press in Korea, which was used as an excuse to provide inexcusable favouritism to large multinational corporations such as Microsoft. We've heard that south America is next on Battistelli's itinerary. Eduardo, who provides Techrights and equips us with all the Spanish translations, originally came from south America and he is not happy about Battistelli going there. "Once you mentioned," he said, that "this guy will go to Chile to visit Augusto Pinochet's grave."

Well, all we know is that Battistelli will go to south America, based on an online source. It's hard to imagine that someone like Augusto Pinochet would even want to be associated with an autocrat like Battistelli.

"I did remember something my great uncle regarding a military dictator," Eduardo added, "who expropriated a lot of lands to our family. I will apply it to Pinoccio Battistelli: 'I hope when he dies they will make a coffin in the shape of a (soccer) football. So we can take it to the cemetery by kicking it all the way to it'" (it's a crude joke, no doubt, but a lot of people are now very angry at Battistelli, even people outside the EPO).

Last month we wrote about James Nurton giving Battistelli a platform at a patent lawyers' site. He said that Battistelli had answered all the questions passed to him, but he excluded the question that I asked his publisher to ask. Nice bias by omission there. The interview that James Nurton did with Battistelli (probably subjected to strict rules and conditions imposed by the aggressive PR team) was filled with UPC promotion, despite the fact that the UPC is not yet a reality and might never become a reality. Here is Nurton again with "Some practical questions about the UPC" (more like talking points in favour of the UPC and self-fulfilling prophecies).

“He [Battistelli] may seem superficially client friendly and indeed a lot of pressure is exerted on the examiners and board members not to refuse applications or otherwise bite the hand that feeds them.”
      --Anonymous
"As the clock ticks down to the launch of the Unified Patent Court," Nurton wrote, "interest is increasing in how the yet-to-be-appointed judges will handle cases, who they will be and what impact the UPC will have in Europe" (people are already applying for such jobs in the UK, as we recently learned, even though the large majority of such jobs would be in Germany).

Nurton's piece is totally void of any criticism of the UPC. He is speaking to patent lawyers, not Europeans (more than 99% of them are not patent lawyers) to whom the UPC brings nothing but harm.

As one comment put it today, "most attorneys are not at all in favour of the Unitary Patent." To quote this in context (the EPO scandals):

Somebody further up asked why Merpel in particular and attorneys in general should worry about a case which appears to deal with disgruntled trade union members?

Well, do you really think somebody who respects his employees so little and treats them with such a contempt for legality would be anymore lawabiding when it comes to his clients.

He [Battistelli] may seem superficially client friendly and indeed a lot of pressure is exerted on the examiners and board members not to refuse applications or otherwise bite the hand that feeds them. But indeed, most attorneys are not at all in favour of the Unitary Patent. They won't be treated any better when it turns out there is a conflict of interest between huge overseas multinationals and local economic entities.


Indeed, the biggest beneficiaries here are big multinationals. A company like Apple is said to have estimated that a lawsuit in the whole of Europe (e.g. banning Android devices in the whole continent over a petty patent dispute) would cost 'just' $1 million under the UPC. Does that sound like something that can help poor European SMEs? Total poppycock.

The FFII's President, Benjamin Henrion, says that he is "Sick in bed reading UKIPO long PDFs over Unitary Patent ratification, have a hard time to understand their software exception" (software patents).

"It's not because of the sickness," I told him, "it's vague and confusing (as such) by intention and design." This way he'll need to hire a lawyer for about 400 euros per hour.

“The government intends to bring forward legislation to implement the Unified Patent Court Agreement in January 2016.”
      --UK-IPO
Is the British UK-IPO becoming more like a vassal of the Battistelli regime? Seems so. "Government Response to Technical Review of UPC implementing legislation published today," they wrote on Friday, having published "Secondary Legislation Implementing the Unified Patent Court".

To quote the page (not the PDFs): "This government response gives a full analysis of responses to the Technical Review and Call for Evidence and outlines the direction that government will be taking. The government intends to bring forward legislation to implement the Unified Patent Court Agreement in January 2016."

UK-IPO, says Henrion, "mentions the average legal cost for a dispute over an UPC patent will be 1M pounds" (he aptly labels this "SME killer").

He has asked UK-IPO, "what is this software exception in UK law?" He later added that "this would imply that software patents exist in the first place." They obviously should not. For all we know, the UK-IPO is not even responding. UK-IPO never responded to me. They're stonewalling. They don't care about the public and they definitely snub public voices. There was going to be an EPO protest in front of a diplomatic British office in Germany (February 2015), but the British government stepped in to intervene, along with Battistelli. The powerful politicians are revolting against scientists.

It looks like UK-IPO is preparing to surrender to the EPO some time very soon (with the UPC). Multinational corporations are getting their way rather quickly thanks to the Battistelli regime. EPO staff should know by now who Battistelli is loyal to; he has no loyalty to his staff, whom he merely views as an enemy (most of them signed a petition against the EPO's recent actions). Is Battistelli acting like a European politician or like a corporations' (clients'/applicants') lobbyist?

"He does not possess wealth; it possesses him."

--Benjamin Franklin

Recent Techrights' Posts

Linux Foundation is Plagiarism Hub, Linux is at Risk From It
Torvalds never looked weaker and more compromised
It's Inevitable Anyway, So...
of course blame Chinese Communists for the "anti-AI" messages
Giving 'Free Publicity' to the People You Hate and Attack
Be careful what you wish for in social control media
 
Links 03/09/2026: John Ternus Enters Apple Amid Mass Layoffs, Journalist İrem Delice Arrested
Links for the day
Stallman.org Down Due to Virtual Machines Issue, "Senior Engineers are Investigating the Issue" Since Saturday
RMS site down due to virtual machines issues upstream
Gemini Links 03/09/2026: Back in Japan, Another New Year, Reasons to Avoid Have a "Smart" "Phone", and Rant About Built-in Batteries
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 02, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 02, 2026
Identi.ca is Practically Dead, Just Like All Social Control Media (Eventually)
All Social Control Media is a waste of time
Gemini Links 02/09/2026: Intentions, Publishing on Workstations, and Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA)
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Reaches 6% in Nepal
Today I checked GNU/Linux in Nepal again
SLAPP Censorship - Part 169 Out of 200: Calling People "Nazis"
'Cancel culture' in action
GNU Turns 43 This Month, GNU/Linux Turns 35 Next Year
It seems like no area of computing has not been impacted by the GNU/Linux revolution
Uber Debt Grew 2.5 Billion Dollars in 3 Months, Company Lays Off at Least 10% of Workforce
The media repeats the "official" numbers
Links 02/09/2026: The Machine Stops, AuraSearch, and DOOM 1/2
Links for the day
1-1 Meetings at IBM This Week, PIPs Expected, Maybe RAs Too
As usual, we invite whistleblowers to tell us what's going on
Links 02/09/2026: Germany Blames Russia for Leipzig Airport Drone Attack and China Gains Power as US Faces Humiliation in the Midst of Presidential Cover-up
Links for the day
Quit Talking About "AI Layoffs" and Talk About How Chatbots and Other Bots Broke Recruitment Processes by Cheating
Bots talking to other bots isn't HR; it's a catastrophe
Robotics Isn't "Hey Hi", Robotics Isn't New Either
Is the official Arduino blog becoming shilling platform for Qualcomm's "hey hi" [so-called 'intelligent'] chips?
Today We'll Focus on Growth of GNU/Linux
We've meanwhile noticed that Clownflare statistics for north American nations show 19% of requests (CDN) originating from GNU/Linux
IBM Secret (or Silent) Layoffs in September 2026
We need whistleblowers
Gemini Links 02/09/2026: GAFAM's E-mail Cartel, ROOPHLOCH 2026, and Homeworlds
Links for the day
Not Only Microsoft and IBM Hide Layoffs (Secret Layoffs) and Fail to Follow the Law (or Bypass It)
Microsoft's tactics are not so unique
People Who Participate in the Slop Plagiarism Pyramid Scheme and the Moral Dilemma (What's Acceptable for a Salary?)
giant pyramid scheme
State of the Slop, Linux Edition
Whether slop about "linux" becomes rarer by the end of this year, well... time will tell
Links 02/09/2026: 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop Plagiarism) Destroying Evidence, "Data Center Backlash Has Officially Rattled Scam Altman"
Links for the day
Andrew Lee Has Turned Freenode Into a Slopfarm (Because Who Needs IRC Anyway?)
The site is churning out slop all day long
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 01, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 01, 2026
FSF Staff Uses 'CoC' to Stop Conversation About Autistici/Inventati in Relation to Free Software
The list is already heavily moderated
IBM Allegedly Stopped Hiring (This Tends to Coincide With Mass Layoffs)
Is a hiring freeze an echo of layoffs? Yes, definitely.
SLAPP Censorship - Part 168 Out of 200: When Choosing Clients Recklessly and Poorly Self-Harm is Inevitable
"If you're doing something hard and nobody hates it, you probably aren't doing it. If the right people hate it and those people happen to be some of the worst people alive, so much the better."
Something Big is Happening at IBM This Week/Month
Some people at IBM (and Red Hat) are panicking
Gemini Links 01/09/2026: Biscuits, Epstein Files, Power Users, and Alhena 5.6.8
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2026: Almost 5,000 Missing/Dead in Nepal-China Flood and Marijuana Factory Explodes
Links for the day
September at IBM: Silent Layoffs on Day 1
PIPocalypse at IBM
Last Month IRC Entered Its 39th Year and It's Still Growing (New IRC Networks)
There are 511+ known IRC networks
Links 01/09/2026: Climate, Disinformation, Microsoft Overworking People
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Site Still Offline (Third Day), But Richard Stallman is Active Online
he is busy online despite his site not being accessible so far this week
PIP Layoffs at Microsoft, Even in India
Microsoft is trying to hide the true scale of the layoffs
Layoff Trackers Are a Sham, They're Like US 'Unemployment Data'
Layoff trackers are similarly misleading as they only measure what companies openly admit and register with WARN notices
The Peculiar Case of OSNews, Which Experiments With Slopfarming
It wasn't published in error. It has been there for two months.
Russian Federation is Removing Windows From Computers
Windows is going "out of fashion"
XBox CEO Has No Clue What She is Selling
Some people believe Microsoft will parcel and offload the whole "gaming" unit to some other companies
analognowhere.com and xkcd.com Selling Physical Copies of Webcomics
That's one way to support their work
PIP/GVSA at Microsoft: Mass Layoffs Disguised as Something Else
Microsoft is trying to cheapen the workforce because the numbers don't add up
Microsoft Lunduke Uses Twitter ("X") Because It's Algorithmically Designed to Boost His Worldview/s, He Ignores What "X" Is
Maybe all those people really deserve one another
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 31, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 31, 2026
Censorship by Threats
It should be noted that the Web site of Richard Stallman will soon enter its third day of downtime
In Romania, GNU/Linux Reaches 6%, According to Clownflare
Tomorrow we'll see the latest data from statCounter (for September)
Gemini Links 01/09/2026: Denali Park Train Trip, Crafts, and Community-Building in smol.pub
Links for the day
Microsoft Workers Doing 80 Hours a Week After Microsoft Culled Their Colleagues
there are days when they work 17 hours a day (barely any time left to sleep and eat) and work starts at 5AM
IBM Defrauds Shareholders With Fake News (Bribed Press) About "Quantum"
That says a lot about the state of "Tech Giants" and also the utterly shameless state of the media
Record Highs for GNU/Linux, Especially in the United States of America
the "market share" of GNU/Linux is about 9%, still about a third of what Vista 11 stands at