THE year 2016 was an important year for the EPO. It was the year that just about anything the EPO publicly said was a lie. Battistelli himself did a fine job as the Liar in Chief. Workers of the EPO know what we mean by that. They are smart people, obviously too smart to believe their management's lies.

"What liars like Battistelli conveniently don't mention is that any such EPO 'growth' is just queue elimination (which won't last long anyway)."Yesterday we saw this article titled "The EPO Raises The Bar". The article discusses one particular aspect and one particular decision, but to say that "The EPO Raises The Bar" is almost laughable. It is certainly misleading because in every aspect the standards have been lowered at the EPO, in order to create false 'growth'. We wrote quite a lot about this back in 2015 and in earlier months the following year.

Another new article, this one from Barker Brettell LLP, says that "European patents granted soar by 40 per cent in 2016". That's actually a lie. Not even the EPO itself has claimed that steep an incline. To quote: "2016 proved to be a busy year for the EPO, with more European patents granted than ever before. Information from the EPO database suggests that more than 97,000 patents were granted in 2016, up from around 69,500 in 2015 – a 40 per cent increase."

"To use an analogy, for the EPO to claim big growth is very much like for fishermen to deploy massive drift nets, empty the ocean, then claim "success" (never mind if fish can no longer reproduce and the stock has been depleted to the point of extinction)."What liars like Battistelli conveniently don't mention is that any such EPO 'growth' is just queue elimination (which won't last long anyway). Layoffs will ensue if this carries on like that, never mind the bad service and low patent quality this trajectory entails. To use an analogy, for the EPO to claim big growth is very much like for fishermen to deploy massive drift nets, empty the ocean, then claim "success" (never mind if fish can no longer reproduce and the stock has been depleted to the point of extinction).

Yesterday we also found this nonsense from Shelston IP, a firm whose dishonesty we wrote about many times before, e.g. [1, 2, 3].

"Cambodia is a joke in this context, as it has no European patents at all.""Given the importance of Australian/Asian economic ties," it says, "it may interest our clients to hear that the European Patent Office (EPO) has recently signed a deal with the Cambodian government that paves the way for European patent applicants and patent right holders to extend their European rights to Cambodia."

Cambodia is a joke in this context, as it has no European patents at all. As of today, there is also this announcement from Amnesty International titled "Cambodia: Drop Farcical Investigation of Human Rights Defenders". It sounds as though they speak about EPO and SUEPO. To quote: "In a joint statement, Amnesty International, Civil Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists call on the Cambodian authorities to immediately drop the politically motivated criminal investigation of human rights defenders Am Sam-at and Chan Puthisak. Sam-at, a respected human rights monitor at the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) for nearly 20 years, and Puthisak, a land rights activist from Boeung Kak Lake and former prisoner of conscience, have been accused of instigating violence at a 10 October 2016 peaceful demonstration."

"When is it (again) the time of the year for this propaganda mill to produce the "alternative facts" for Battistelli to present in an awkward YouTube video?"Maybe it's time for Battistelli to just relocate to Cambodia, the former French colony which became renowned for mass genocide at the hands of a self-justifying monster who had studied in France. As these people are now allies of the EPO and Battistelli's spin department (the regime's Ministry of Truth), perhaps they'll have better luck lying to the people of Cambodia. Employees of the EPO generally regard the latest Cambodia announcement as somewhat of a farce. It shows what their employer has basically sunk to. As for Shelston IP, they have been very dishonest and manipulative for a number of years and right now they are also upset about the Productivity Commission of their country stating the fact that software patents are not desirable. Shelston IP tried to lead a lobbying campaign against the Productivity Commission last year, but now it's just ranting endlessly in a blog. If facts were on their side, they would pound with facts. If law was on their side, they would pound with law. As neither is on their side, all they do is pound on the table. And they stigmatise themselves as terrible a bunch of liars as Team Battistelli.

Speaking of Southeast Asia and liars, watch what IAM is writing about this week. When is it (again) the time of the year for this propaganda mill to produce the "alternative facts" for Battistelli to present in an awkward YouTube video? ⬆