Bonum Certa Men Certa

Patent Trolls in Europe and the Looming Collapse of the UPC

Summary: Imminent election in the UK, as well as several other factors, may threaten to throw the UPC into even greater uncertainty just when patent trolls are beginning to flock to Europe with the intention of capitalising on it

THE EPO is out of control, whereas the US patent system is gradually being reformed by the Supreme Courts (with two more important decisions last month).



“EPO and its patent court will not have that corrective.”
      --Jan Wildeboer‏
As Red Hat's Jan Wildeboer‏ put it the other day, "let's thank $DEITY that #SCOTUS puts shit in its place. EPO and its patent court will not have that corrective."

In Germany, software development professionals such as Wildeboer‏ are growingly concerned about an upsurge of software patents and patent trolls that exploit these. Trolls are coming to Europe, including to London (we wrote about that some week/months ago when the trolls got their way in court) and IAM, funded by trolls and located somewhere in the London area, is satisfied about that. It even wrote a confirmatory article about it earlier this week.

"In Germany, software development professionals such as Wildeboer‏ are growingly concerned about an upsurge of software patents and patent trolls that exploit these."Dr. Luke McDonagh, citing a New York Times opinion piece, notes: "Another unwelcome stat: in 2016 EPO granted 5 times as many #patents to German companies as to British & twice as many to French companies..."

Bristows, the London-based liars (or lawyers) who are perpetually promoting patent trolls in Europe (and of course UPC too, as these go hand in hand), maintain their advocacy of UPC. Germany cannot ratify the UPC unless the UK does (as there would be no point; we covered this before) and Francisco Moreno added: "Countersignature by German gov. (Merkel or a German Minister) is the next step. One step beyond?"

"Germany cannot ratify the UPC unless the UK does..."Well, his source is Bristows, which can't help lying (false predictions all the time). It's this 'gem' from Gemma Barrett, who after the mirage of Germany going ahead proceeds to the next lobbying effort (remember that Bristows staff are deleting messages of those who refute them). There was also Alan Johnson with this puff piece quoting UPC allies like Bieńkowska [1, 2, 3].

Notice how they dodge discussion about the role of the UK, or lack thereof. So did the ToryGraph some days ago when it published this lobbying piece (in the form of an 'article' or 'report').

"It's a front group for just a few giants, just like the US Chamber of Commerce, and it lies or misleads by omission."The headline is very misleading because British businesses oppose the UPC, yet the article pretends that the British Chambers of Commerce can somehow represent "EU businesses" or even UK-based businesses. It's a front group for just a few giants, just like the US Chamber of Commerce, and it lies or misleads by omission. "Not sure if you saw that one," one reader told us about this, but "the only time the ECJ is mentioned is in the comments."

Here are some excerpts:

Britain should join the EU’s patents union and stay in after Brexit, businesses on both sides of the Channel have demanded, arguing that the Unitary Patent system is helpful regardless of Britain’s status in or out of the EU.

[...]

The British Chambers of Commerce and its EU counterpart Eurochambres have written to the UK’s business secretary Greg Clark to encourage him to push ahead with the plan.


IAM, a UPC booster, correctly noted in relation to this article that "The UK government's growing anti-EU rhetoric could make joining the UPC politically impossible after the election."

"Be careful of misleading, agenda-driven 'blogs' or 'reports' from front groups of corporations and self-serving firms like Bristows."Moreover, it's beginning to look like Tories (with Jo Johnson) might lose the election next week. The people involved may already be on their way out.

Be careful of misleading, agenda-driven 'blogs' or 'reports' from front groups of corporations and self-serving firms like Bristows. We're quite amazed at what they manage to get away with. They try to shape some sort of alternative 'reality' where UPC is both inevitable and desirable by all.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Shout-out to Christine From FOSSForce
Who noticed our short story
Apple's MacOS Shows Us the Vision of Computing That GAFAM Has for Us (Digital Prisons)
Freedom means "we the people" should be in control, not people being controlled by corporations (contemporary slaveowners)
GNU/Linux Users Are Not Cheaters
The bottom line is, most cheaters use Windows
 
Microsoft Lost Nearly Half of Its 'Cash Reserves' This Past Year
Is Microsoft (MSFT) the next Intel (INTC)?
The Year Isn't Over Yet, There Will be More Waves of Microsoft Layoffs
Nowadays Microsoft just tries to conflate/equate its energy waste with "value"
Saving the Planet With Honesty, Transparency, and Sharing (Not Only of Computer Code)
GAFAM is destroying the only habitat humans and other animals have and it'll only get worse
The Corporate Media Blasted Bitcoin for Destroying the Planet and Must Do the Same to Incite the Public Against the 'Great Rigging of Wall Street' (Under the Guise of "AI", the Latest Gold Rush)
"AI" is the next "metaverse" (trailing by a few months)
[Video] Richard Stallman is Back to Halo and Gown (in Peru) With 2+ Hours of a Public Talk
The globetrotting Richard Stallman gave many talks at the end of last month
Going Strong Against the Wind
the abuse serves to emphasise or affirm the importance of what we do
Links 04/11/2024: Squashing More Software Patents and Taiwan at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/11/2024: Typing vs Writing and a Smol (Net) Pub
Links for the day
Links 04/11/2024: LibreOffice Had Adopted PeerTube, "Hey Hi" Hype is a Threat to the Energy Grids (Worse Than Fake-Coins)
Links for the day
[Meme] Social Control Telescreens With Microphone
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Not Boycotting Apple (Yet)?
"Apple Forces The Signing Of Applications In MacOS Sequoia 15.1"
statCounter This Month: Android Has Nearly Become Twice as Big as Windows
If it happened, it would be an unprecedented milestone
Why Technical Sites Need Not Make Political Recommendations or Endorsements
Except perhaps when it's for some purely technical role, e.g. FCC chief
[Meme] Apple Freedom
Freedom is... the ability to purchase as many 'i' things as you want
"Active" as in One URL, One Emoji, and 4 Words in One Week
Diversity community in Fedora
Apple Vision Pro Has Failed, Just Like "Metaverse"
Vision Pro lacks software
Things That Can Improve Election Integrity
the first two relate to "tech"
Rigging Elections is Difficult, Cheating a Little is Not
Avoid social control media, it is the biggest rigger of all
"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"
On throwing stones in a glass house
Our Stance on Electronic (or Digital) Voting Machines
The simple activity of voting and counting ballots does not require thousands of complex machines with hundreds of millions of transistors and hundreds of millions of lines of code
Microsoft and "Retrospective Re-writing of History..."
in YouTube anyone can make stuff up (as one goes along)
This Coming Week
Go exercise your right to vote
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 03, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, November 03, 2024
Reddit is (Still) Lying and Faking
Don't fall for this phony idea that the above sites are grassroots or edgy; they're not
Links 04/11/2024: FCC, Broadband Industry Spar Over Net Neutrality; Software Patent Squashed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Official MyGemini.Space Announcement
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Election Thoughts, Plagiarism, and LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 03/11/2024: Deere 'Right to Repair' (RoR) and "Threads Bans Anyone For Mentioning Hitler"
Links for the day
[Video] "El Movimiento del Software Libre y el Sistema Operativo GNU" by Richard M. Stallman
The footage is a bit jittery (taken with a phone apparently, and there's no tripod available), but the sound is OK and the words (in Spanish) are comprehensible
Android at New Highs (47%), Windows at New Lows (24%), Suggests Latest Data From statCounter
So the market share of Android is about double that of Windows
[Video] Richard Stallman's Talk in Spanish (in Peru Last Week)
Alternative URLs too
The Media Focuses on the Wrong Scandal
The real scandal at MIT was Gates
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Fantasy Life Day and Worship
Links for the day
[Meme] Write Us Drivers and GTFO!
When you realise sanctioning BRICS devs goes against the community
Decommissioning Copper Lines Makes Us Less Safe
We've essentially degraded the robustness or reliability of critical systems
Life of an Addicted Lolicon Who Can Also Code
Personal blog as an open diary
[Meme] Reporting Crime is Not a Crime
Obviously!
Manchester Party for Techrights
If you choose to come, of course we'll cover the cost of the food and treats (but not travel)
Privacy is Not a Crime (in Places Where It is a Crime the Regime is Typically Very Rogue)
Also, criminals lack "privacy rights" to hide their crimes from the public
GNU/Linux "Market Share" in Lebanon More Than Doubled in a Few Months
Maybe it's a reaction to something? Assassination in Haret Hreik was in July.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 02, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 02, 2024
Nearly 40 Years Without Security Incidents
People who use Windows have come to sort of "accept" that security incidents are part of life or "normal"
[Meme] The Streisand Effect
Simon says, don't bother trying to suppress facts
Streisand Effect at IBM?
Trying to silence your workers isn't the best approach. It only makes colleagues even more curious.
Microsoft is a Gift That Keeps Giving (Future Stories to Techrights)
Microsoft has been trying to silence me using dirty tricks for nearly 20 years
Elon Musk Has Trashed Twitter for Ideological Reasons (and Propping Up Trump in Exchange for Financial and Political Favours Once in Public Office)
In case you didn't leave Twitter already, consider the fact that Twitter's (or "X"... whatever!) future is uncertain
Wall Street Has Demoted Intel, Seeing There May be No Future to Intel
Intel's loss isn't a loss to us
Free Software Licence Compliance is About Security Too
Linux as de facto proprietary off-the-shelf platform
Links 02/11/2024: Many Fakes in Social Control Media
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Usage Surveys: Up to 6.8% (With ChromeOS, Based on StatCounter) in Desktops/Laptops and Above 2% in Steam
Today StatCounter starts releasing graphs based on data for November
Gemini Links 02/11/2024: Petscop, Jokes, and RetroChallenge
Links for the day
Links 02/11/2024: Temu EU Probe and Shorts Trademark
Links for the day
The "Luddite" Complex
Sometimes simplest is best and sometimes "modern" is designed not with the buyers' interest in mind
SCO's Darl McBride Dead at Age 64
There's hardly any information about it, except we know he reached bankruptcy and 3 years later he died at a relatively young age
The 'Turning-Free-Code-Proprietary Foundation' (Linux/Microsoft Foundation)
LF will basically become just as sinister as its corporate sponsors
[Meme] Python Knows Its Bosses
Microsoft strings attached
Python Software Foundation is 'Cancel Culture' Rehomed
Python isn't grassroots and it doesn't really tolerate grassroots
DeVault "Closes Down His Mailing Lists Every Time There's a Scandal" and Also Censors Messages
Censorious code hosting platform
[Meme] Debt of About $20 Per Active User
Facebook isn't laying off tens of thousands for "efficiency" but for survival
What Social Control Media Really Is
Social Control Media, in a nutshell, isn't just bad if its controller is some foreign or hostile nation
Taking Ethics Lectures From Drew
Projection tactics
Links 02/11/2024: Facebook Stock Falls (Soaring Debt), Apple’s Quarterly Profit Down
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/11/2024: Burnout, Emacs Bookmarks, and Smooth Migration
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 01, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 01, 2024