Summary: The facts that the EPO has been trying to conceal make it abundantly apparent that the Office is having a crisis and stakeholders too are seeing it (and gradually respond accordingly, by divesting)

"D

emand for patent protection in Europe remains high in 2016," the EPO said this afternoon. We wrote several rebuttals to these 'results', including:

• EPO Record Low on Quality of European Patents (EPs) in 2016
• The European Patent Office is Wasting Its Already Limited Budget on Misleading Press Releases/Paid-for Coverage That Overlook Sharp Decline in Patent Quality
• 'Evil Tongues' Inside and Outside the EPO Explain Why Battistelli's 2016 'Results' Are Bad While the Media Mindlessly Repeats EPO Management's Talking Points
• Latest EPO 'Results' Should be Grounds for Immediate Dismissal of Battistelli Rather Than Celebrations

We also wrote three articles about the offensive maps from the EPO, namely:

• Incredibly Unscientific: EPO is Making up Excuses for Decline in Patent Applications
• Unscientific and Offensive: EPO Deletes From the Map Countries Where Number of Applications at the EPO Has Declined!
• Whenever Battistelli's EPO Says Something These Days, Safest to Just Assume It's a Lie (Because It Typically Is)

That last one was published this morning. Since then, the EPO has made the above tweet available, linking to a video with the following frames (and transcript shown with an overlay). Let's look, shall we?

With the EPO's voiceover added to make up excuses, calling declines "roughly stable" (and the bold text "GROWTH RATES" at the top, alluding to declines)

More excuses. With grants up 40% (supply surge while demand decreases)? Why are minuses symbolised by blue and not red in the maps (almost the same colour as US states)?

No comment is necessary (but finally they've found the red colour)

In the next post we'll tackle the insidious video of Battistelli, the undisputed Liar in Chief. We'd be truly flabbergasted if we did not already know Battistelli's nature. ⬆