Bonum Certa Men Certa

Under Battistelli's Regime the European Patent Office is Rapidly Rotting

...And by trying to hide it from sight, the circle of Battistelli only makes things a lot worse

Dead tree



Summary: Technical problems, patent maximalism (in a desperate effort to artificially elevate patent-related figures) and other serious issues observed inside the European Patent Office (EPO)

AS of this morning, says the EPO's PR team, Team Battistelli welcomes another Frenchman to a top EPO position, reinforcing an observation or a trend of entyrism/coup d'état in slow motion*. It's one among many EPO problems. "The Chief Economist unit of the EPO," says this announcement, "was set up to provide economic insights into issues relating to patents, innovation and economic growth. It aims to contribute high-level expertise and analysis to public and expert forums and to foster well-informed debate. Its studies on the economic and societal aspects of patents in Europe have been commended as providing important evidence to the public."

This is hogwash. The economic value of an overly permissive patent system (which the EPO rapidly became) is negative. Some people who leave anonymous comments definitely notice the decline of quality at the EPO and this morning one person wrote:

Just took a peek at the UK file to see what happened in this case. Notes state:

"04 February 2015 Application for amendment under Section 75 before the court filed on 25 September 2008 (HC07 C01905) 04 February 2015 Entry of 04 February 2015 entered in error."

Appear the UKIPO want to be more like the EPO, making errors.


Battistelli does not even recognise such problems, including grants of invalid European patents (EP), including software patents in Europe.

With brain drain being reported to us (we covered this before on numerous occasions), a lot of things are rotting at the EPO these days, not just EPO buildings (a subject we shall leave for another day). Based on the initial tweet of the PR team (full context in [1, 2, 3]), the EPO did not even know Espacenet had been down until clients complained and a response was sent this morning. Technical incompetence such as this motivates some applicants to even consider suing the EPO, as we showed over the weekend.

Just before the weekend the EPO published an article only in German (about Mr. Fischer, who is German), "peddling patents-as-a-metric," as one of our readers put it, citing this propagandistic article as an example. The number of patents does not say much. See how the USPTO doubled the number of granted patents in just a few years. Edison, a bogus legend, wasn't an innovator but a businessman, an aggressor, and some say a patent troll (we covered this several times in the past). Patent offices are making a myth out of him, like Columbus (who didn't discover anything, he merely invaded places that were already occupied by people, making him a raider).

Over at IP Kat, where many commenters are examiners and patent lawyers, there was this interesting discussion about patents as a tax. It started with this comment:

Remember that patents are a type of tax. The member states ceded this sovereign tax-raising power to the EPO on condition that the EPO render a share of the tax revenue back to them. The fact that the EPO is the first supranational tax-raising organ in Europe has largely escaped public attention so far. However, if the current bunch of misfits continues to drive the EPO into ignominy, it will only be a matter of time before the media (not least in the UK) wakes up to the fact that part of our sovereign authority is now under the control of an expensive, self-interested organisation managed by a nepotistic cabal under a despotic Enarque. The political fallout from such public scrutiny could be significant. And if it does come to this, then the Administrative Council will disown Battistelli and his cronies pretty smartly.


Here is a response to it:

Thinking about the statement "Remember that patents are a type of tax."

I am reminded of how easy it is to twist a meme.

In this "tax" meme, who, exactly is being taxed?

Those with "anti-patent" feelings will try to twist the meme into an answer to this question being society itself - but that is just NOT the case, as the actual answer is that those being taxed are the innovators who chose to use the (optional) patent system.

There is no tax on society, given the premise that a patent right is given as quid for a certain quo.

Sorry for the interlude - now back to the "grift" of EPO leadership.


And finally there's this:

Society at large is indeed highly concerned by the patent costs and the way patent fees are distributed to member states. Albeit patent fees are paid directly by patent owners, it seems a bit naive to think they are not reflected in the products sold on the market: whenever we buy a smartphone or a car, a portion of the money we pay for it covers patent costs. Society thus undoubtedly pays for patents, and its contribution actually amounts to a hidden consumer tax, which socially is far less just than an income tax.


It is nice to see that not everyone falls into the EPO's self-deluding myth that economic value comes from patents irrespective of their scope. The EPO now operates like a corporation just trying to maximise everything (for short-term gains) and leaving the European public to deal with the externalities. ______ * Coup d'état is a French term. Very apt given the situation at the EPO these days.

Recent Techrights' Posts

It's a Lot Easier to Participate in the Unethical System Than to Oppose Injustices in It
Going after powerful and high-budget interests is never easy
 
Slopwatch: LLM Sloppers in Google News, LinuxSecurity, and More
they also perpetuate some falsehoods as the LLMs lack any comprehension
Links 08/08/2025: China King of Plastics and US Dictator Plans to Meet Russian Dictator
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/08/2025: Cracking a Family Member's Password and Overdose of Slop
Links for the day
Red Hat's Latest Talent Hunt, Day Ahead of Mass Layoffs, is Yet Another Microsoft Executive
Red Hat will apparently commence mass layoffs early this coming Monday
Links 08/08/2025: "Quit Facebook" and High Cost of Microsoft/Windows Shown Again ("BlackSuit")
Links for the day
Good Morning, Readers of The Register MS
Things The Register MS could (but does not) cover this morning
Why Gemini Protocol Has a Bright Future
Maybe Gemini Protocol's promise becomes more appealing as the Web turns to slop and bloat
Microsofters Filed Two SLAPPs Against Us, Now They Cannot Keep Up With Judges' Orders
For over 4 months already their facilitator in London has been under investigation by British authorities because of what's being done to my wife and I
Censorship Regarding Red Hat Layoffs
Talk about this? They'd rather not.
Struggling to Cut Costs, Microsoft Continues Shutting Down and Cancelling Stuff This Month
There are August layoffs at Microsoft
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 07, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 07, 2025
Fake 'Linux' Articles, Written by Bots to Take Traffic Away From Real Articles
LLM slop helps replace information with junk or misinformation
When Google's Googlebombing of "Gemini" Was Not Enough; They Now Also Googlebomb "Gemini Space"?
We know GAFAM not only worries about Gemini Protocol but also attempts to 'infiltrate' Geminispace
The Register MS Promotes Microsoft Slop, Assumes All Readers Use Microsoft Windows
Microsoft really dominates the site
Gemini Links 08/08/2025: KDE/Qt Development and What's Missing From "Retro"
Links for the day
Links 07/08/2025: US Punishes India Instead of Russia, Attacks Law Firms to Prevent Scrutiny
Links for the day
Read Us in Geminispace as Well
it's definitely a lot simpler than using a Web browser
Once a Site About BSD and GNU/Linux, and After Months of Silence, LinuxBSDos.com Comes Back Only as a Slopfarm
very frustrating
Links 07/08/2025: Hardware Wars, Mass Recall of Colgate Total Clean Mint, More Microsoft Holes Found
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/08/2025: "Right To Manage" and LoRa Analysis
Links for the day
For the First Time in a Month OSI's "OpenSource.org" Blogs and It's Basically a Microsoft Blog Post (Microsoft Controls OSI)
For the first time in a month OSI writes something and it is Microsoft propaganda composed by a Microsoft-salaried operative
Microsoft, Already Borrowing 3 Billion Dollars a Month, is Trying to Cause Many People to Resign
MSN (i.e. Microsoft) and others openly admit it
GAFAM 'Says' is Front Page "News"
The point of journalism is to check and assess facts, not parrot what people and companies merely claim
Links 07/08/2025: Apple Makes False Promises, More Trouble for Microsoft
Links for the day
OSS Didn't Always Mean Open Source Software
"oligarchs all the way down"
The Register MS Does More Microsoft Sez or GitHub Sez (Says) Pieces
60 minutes ago
They Want Activists to Just Barely Walk and Eat, Not Do Activism Anymore
It's sort of like the ending of '1984'
Quit Perpetuating the Narrative of Gemini Protocol 'Dying' (It's False)
The "whisper campaign" against Gemini Protocol
Criticising Social Control Media in Social Control Media
Many people are quitting Social Control Media (fewer of them announce this in public)
Non-Free JavaScript Programs in Banks Aren't Even the Biggest Problem
Technology was supposed to make life easier; in practice, however, for most of us the opposite effect can be observed
Slopfarms Are Typically Fake News
Slopfarms typically relay falsehoods
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: Replacing a Pocket Watch and Buying in Bulk
Links for the day
IBM is Obliterating Fedora
"Fedora releases were shipping with an increasing number of bugs on launch day even while I was using it for a several year stretch."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 06, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 06, 2025
August Hits Microsoft Hard: Dead Divisions, Dead Products, Layoffs Again (on Week 1)
Microsoft's debt is soaring
Slopwatch: Slow Day for LLM Slop, Serial Sloppers Still at It in Their Slopfarms
The Web would be better off if those sites went offline
Red Hat Layoffs Expected in 5 Days (Monday)
"They will announce and proceed with the cuts on 08/11."
Links 06/08/2025: Substack in Trouble, Slop Sceptic Shira Perlmutter Seeks Emergency Injunction Pending Appeal
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: Pinephone, Reverse-Engineering, and More
Links for the day
Links 06/08/2025: Faked Values of Slop Companies and Government Bailouts
Links for the day
FOSSY 2025 Conference Safety
The GAFAM-funded FOSSY 2025 is over
Microsoft's Favourite Pay-to-Say 'Analyst' Firm Has Just Collapsed
'Analysts' that helped propel Microsoft to fictional values akin to Ponzi schemes
Ask Google (Jeeves)
What does Google "know", not know, or would rather forget (or embellish)?
They Want You To Talk About Trump or 'The Other Bill' in Relation to Trafficking of Underage Girls for Sexual Exploitation
Just something we wanted to say...
How to Quadruple Your "Goodwill" Value and Grow Your (Wall) Street "Value" From $152B to $4000B Without Producing a Single Successful Product/Service
The longer it goes on for, the bigger the implosion will be
Staying Productive
Two very reputable institutions recently told us they now reckon Microsoft is somehow funding those SLAPPs against us
A Blow for Patent Ambitions of Bill Epsteingate
It's about money
66 Countries Where More People Use iPhones (or iPads) Than Microsoft Windows, According to statCounter Data
a list of countries where iOS now exceeds Windows
Apple's iOS Bigger Than Microsoft Windows in Many Countries
This ought to alarm Microsoft
The Mainstream Media Talks About Spotify Share Price and Price Hikes, Not Its Debt Increasing by About 33% in Just 12 Months
Spotify isn't a company in good shape
New "US Editor for The Register" is 80% Microsoft and Windows
they typically just treat Microsoft like the "Holy Grail" of "IT"
Microsoft is Apparently Sending Gag Orders or NDAs to Staff That Got Laid Off (“We were told not to post on LinkedIn. Not to say anything.”)
The main lies we keep seeing
Richard M. Stallman Has Published AI Memos Since 1980 (45 Years Ago)
Back when the term AI actually meant something
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: BitTorrent and Feedly Bots
Links for the day
Windows All-Time Lows, Android All-Time Highs in Kuwait
New lows for Windows can be found in many countries this month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 05, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 05, 2025