Bonum Certa Men Certa

IP Kat or IP Troll? IP2Innovate Warns That UPC Would Help Patent Trolls While IP Kat Promotes UPC

Now we have even massive corporations on our side, gently antagonising the Unified Patent Court (UPC)

IP2Innovate
Who's behind IP2Innovate? Some big names.



Summary: The fightback against the UPC finds unexpected allies -- those who are clearly concerned about the detrimental effects that the UPC would have on practicing businesses

THE EPO cannot be replaced per se by the UPC, but UPC-like regimes can transform the EPO in defiance of the EPC and thus violate not only national laws and constitutions but also the very vision and rules, whose violation should be the deprecation of the EPO itself. The whole thing is a disaster in the making and what looks like EPO insiders can't be blamed for being angry at IP Kat for aiding Battistelli's UPC agenda. They continue to slam IP Kat for its UPC lobbying/agenda-driving effort and here is the latest comment about it:

Quite frankly, the opinion of this author whose firm is heavily invested in the UPC is as biased and thus irrelvant as that of the other UPC proponents. They are all in vain trying to cherrypick from the apparent mess something to suit their needs and further their agenda. Whether it's Tilmann, Mooney, Hoyng or now Mr Smyth.

They start suble exercises of interpreting official statements e.g. by the government or even the CJEU (Opinion 1/09), giving them a meaning that was certainly never thought of nor intended. The technique is always the same and one is left to wonder whether these people, apparently lacking any meaningful level of creativity, do really think that they can still be taken seriously.

An inevitable part of their story always is the remark "How numerous are likely to be CJEU referrals by the UPC anyway?" Quite frankly, as it has been pointed out elsewhere (bit.ly/2k0nOCV), in the end it may well be that CJEU involvement will not be as limited as now alleged. Of course, this allegation likewise serves the purpose of trying to paint the UPC picture that everything will be fine and coherent, but in reality it is not. The stage has already been set for allowing the CJEU to assume interpretation competence also with regard to interpreting material patent law, some unwary commentators have clearly said so, Mr Tilmann being amongst them. The main purpose of the 'compromise' on Articles 6 to 8 apparently was to hide this CJEU competence for later, until it can be 'activated'.

But, of course, how would any UPC proponent ever be willing or able to just notice the facts and discuss on this basis, they rather prefer to build their own reality and sell this to others as facts.
As some people may have noticed, there is now a corporations-backed push which antagonises the UPC. That's what we have been waiting for. Suffice to say, low patent quality leads to and supports patent trolls, as clearly shown in the US, China, etc. Battistelli actively supports trolls if he persists with that UPC crusade of his. Even large companies are growing nervous about it and some are eager to push back. One UPC observer/critic wrote that "patent trolls cases outside the US-German courts see more than 2/3 of all patent litigation held in Europe [...] [quoting the relevant document] 'Germany (and China, another bifurcated country) offers the best patentee win rate in infringement actions' #unitarypatent #UPC #NPEs"

This is recognition of the contribution of UPC to trolling. The relevant citation for this is "The Rise of Non-Practicing Entity (NPE) Cases Outside the United States", citing “Global Patent Litigation: How and Where to Win” from Michael C. Elmer and C. Gregory Gramenopoulos.

The UPC would be ever more useful to trolls now that a lot of bad patents are being granted in error. Last night we saw this puff piece titled "EPO Grants Record Number of European Patents in 2016", but a better headline would be: "EPO doesn't do quality control, just grants patents like a factory."

This isn't the fault of examiners by the way but the fault of policy (i.e. management).

Many of us software developers are concerned. The fear of patent trolls in Europe is real and was covered last night by Florian Müller, whose company would definitely be an attractive and ripe target for trolls. Several people associated with FFII have already felt the wrath of trolls (it devastated their employers). Here is a new article about the story which we believe a press release 'broke' (with Müller first to cover it):

‘Trolls’ file a “staggering” 20% of patent lawsuits in Germany, according to an advocacy coalition with members including Adidas, Google, Intel and Spotify.

IP2Innovate, formed last year, alleged that that EU is facing an “explosion” of patent infringement suits from patent trolls that are abusing Europe’s legal system for financial gain.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, April 4, the advocacy group demanded urgent action from the European Commission.
Here is the key part: "Patrick Oliver, executive director of IP2Innovate, said: “The risk will only increase with the implementation of the Unified Patent Court, which will make Europe an even more attractive venue for patent abuses. The European Commission must get tough with US patent trolls.”"

Indeed. Thank you, Sir.

It's time for everyone -- EPO insiders included -- to recognise that the UPC is an enemy of Europe and only a friend of few large corporations and their patent lawyers, who regularly lie 'on behalf' of SMEs.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 01/10/2023: Climate, Patents, Programming, and More
Links for the day
Apple and Microsoft Problems
half a dozen links
Malware in the Ubuntu Snap Store, Thanks to Canonical Bloatware Mindset
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Gemini Rising
There are 3523 capsules
Richard Stallman Gave a Talk Yesterday, Will Give Another Talk Today, and Will Give Two More Talks in Germany Later This Week
Those cover at least 2 different topics
Beware the Microsoft Sharks
We won't forgive and forget
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 30, 2023
IRC logs for Saturday, September 30, 2023
Don't be Afraid of the Command Line, It Might Even be a Friend
There's a tendency to think that only graphical interfaces were made to simplify usage, and any declarative interface is by design raw, inherently unfit for usage
One Positive Note About GNU/Linux Coverage in 2023 (Less Microsoft)
GNU/Linux users do not want this, with very rare exceptions
Snaps Were Never Good at Security, But the Media Coverage is Just Appalling
The media should focus on culling Windows, not making a huge fuss over minor things wrongly attributed to "Linux"
Better Footage of Richard Stallman's Talk Last Week: “Freedom in computing, forty years after starting to really protect it”
Richard Stallman speaks about the cancer situation early in his speech
Links 30/09/2023: A Government Shutdown and More Blizzard Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 30/09/2023: Bing Almost Offloaded Due to Failure/Losses, Nvidia Raided
Links for the day
A Lot of Technological 'Progress' Has Been Nothing But Buzzwords
Free software does not try to excite people people over nothing
Community is the Lifeblood of Freedom in the GNU/Linux World
Removing or undoing the "cancerd" (systemd) is feasible but increasingly difficult
Proprietary Software: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Proprietary software has an entirely different mindset, revolving around business models rather than science
Web Hostnames Down to Lowest Number in More Than 7 Years!
the number of hostnames is falling rapidly (they hide this by choosing logarithmic scale)
Over at Tux Machines...
2 days' worth
Richard Stallman Says He Will Probably Live Many More Years
"Richard Stallman has cancer. Fortunately it is slow-growing and manageable follicular lymphona, so he will probably live many more years nonetheless. But he now has to be even more careful not to catch Covid-19."
Quitting 'Clown Computing' and GAFAM is Only the Start
The Web and the Net at large became far too centralised
Stop Begging Companies That Don't Value Your Freedom to Stop Pushing You Around
That's not freedom
They Say Free Software is Like Communism When They, the Proprietary Software Giants, Constantly Pursue Government Bailouts (Subsidies From Taxpayers)
At the moment Ukraine is at most risk due to its dependence on Microsoft (inside its infrastructure)
Social Control Media Has No Future, It Was Always Doomed to Fail (Also Promoted Based on Lies)
Recent events, including developments at Twitter, meant that they lost a lot of their audience and then, in turn, sponsors/advertisers
The forbidden topics
There are forbidden topics in the hacker community
They're Been Trying to 'Kill' Richard Stallman for Years (by Mentally Tormenting Him)
Malicious tongue wanted to do him what had been done to Julian Assange
We Temporarily Have Two Gemini Capsules
They're both authentic and secure, but they're not the same
Consumerism is Lying and Revisionism
We need to reject these liars and charlatans
Links 30/09/2023: Open VFS Framework, CrossOver 23.5, Dianne Feinstein Dies
Links for the day
Security Leftovers
GNU/Linux, Microsoft, and more
Microsoft Down on the World Wide Web, Shows Survey
down by a lot in this category
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 29, 2023
IRC logs for Friday, September 29, 2023
A Society That Fails Journalists Does Not Deserve Journalism
It's probably too later to save Julian Assange as a working publisher (he might never recover from the mental torture), but as a person and a father we can wish and work towards his release
Almost Nothing To Go With Your Morning's Cup Of Coffee
Newspaper? What newspaper?
Techrights Was Right About the Chaff Bots (They Failed to Live up to Their Promise)
Those who have been paying attention to news of substance rather than fashionable "tech trends" probably know that GNU/Linux grew a lot this year
Selling Out to Microsoft Makes You Dead Beef
If all goes as well as we've envisioned, Microsoft will get smaller and smaller
Curation and Preservation Work
The winter is coming soon and this means our anniversary is near
Mobile Phones Aren't Your Friend or a Gateway to Truly Social Life
Newer should not always seem more seductive, as novelty is by default questionable and debatable
Links 29/09/2023: Disinformation and Monopolies
Links for the day
iFixit Requests DMCA Exemption…To Figure Out How To Repair McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Jim Zemlin Thinks the World's Largest Software Company Has 200 Staff, Many of Whom Not Technical at All
biggest ego in the world
Microsoft GitHub Exposé — In the Alex Graveley Case, His Lawyer, Rick Cofer, Appears to Have Bribed the DA to Keep Graveley (and Others) Out of Prison
Is this how one gets out of prison? Hire the person who bribes the DA?
Richard Stallman's Public Talk in GNU's 40th Anniversary Ceremony
Out now
Links 29/09/2023: Linux Foundation Boasting, QLite FDW 2.4.0 Released
Links for the day
Red Hat Does Not Understand Community and It's Publicly Promoting Microsoft's Gartner
RedHat.com is basically lioning a firm that has long been attacking GNU/Linux in the private and public sectors at the behest of Microsoft
A 'Code of Conduct' Typically Promoted by Criminal Corporations to Protect Crimes From Scrutiny
We saw this in action last week
Objections to binutils CoC
LXO response to proposed Code of Conduct
Conde Nast (Reddit), Which Endlessly Defamed Richard Stallman and Had Paid Salaries to Microsoft-Connected Pedophiles, Says You Must Be Over 18 to See 'Stallman Was Right'
Does this get in the way of their Bill Gates-sponsored "Bill Gates says" programme/schedule?
Techrights Extends Wishes of Good Health to Richard M. Stallman
Richard Stallman has cancer
endsoftwarepatents.org Still Going, Some Good News From Canada
a blow to software patents in Canada
The Debian Project Leader said the main thing Debian lacked was more contributors
The Debian Project Leader said the main thing Debian lacked was more contributors
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 28, 2023
IRC logs for Thursday, September 28, 2023
Links 28/09/2023: Openwashing and Patent Spam as 'News'
Links for the day