Bonum Certa Men Certa

Primer to the Crisis and Scandals at the European Patent Office (EPO)

Summary: An introduction to the chaotic state of what used to be the world's leading patent office and quickly became Europe's biggest embarrassment

WHEN DEALING with subjects for a number of years it's easy to delve into pertinent details and lose sight of the overall picture, which in turn can put off or turn away an ordinary audience with no prior knowledge of the subject. Back in the days when we focused on Novell we occasionally wrote short summaries about the subject (upon request/demand from errand readers). Today we wish to do the same about the EPO, which is, in our assessment, Europe's biggest scandal that the media intentionally ignores (with few exceptions) because media owners have no interest in 'scandalising' the subject and moreover the EPO pays a lot of European media, thereby buying its loyalty/silence.



"Patent law firms would benefit from a surplus of litigation, so they conveniently lie (often by taking over the media) on behalf of Europeans, bragging about the supposed advantages of the UPC."The EPO stands either for European Patent Office or European Patent Organisation. These are not the same thing. They came into existence a number of decades ago -- irrespective of and predating the EU (the EPO has nothing to do with the EU) -- through a long document known as the European Patent Convention (EPC). It is the de facto 'treaty' of the Organisation, which is supposed to manage or oversee the Office through a set of national delegates, who are in practice (typically) heads of national patent offices (NPOs).

In recent years a massive set of blunders came with ambitions of so-called 'reforms', supposedly in preparation for the Unitary Patent -- a horrible regime constructed by (and for) patent law firms and their largest clients, which are not even European. The Unitary Patent, or Unified Patent Court (UPC), merits a separate primer, but in a nutshell it offers no benefits to European people, European businesses, or European workers of the EPO. It would be mostly beneficial to patent trolls from abroad -- those who would like to target (in the prosecution sense) a lot of European people and European businesses. Patent law firms would benefit from a surplus of litigation, so they conveniently lie (often by taking over the media) on behalf of Europeans, bragging about the supposed advantages of the UPC. There are dangers associated with patent scope too, namely the expansion of patent scope in the whole of Europe without proper national debates on the matter.

"Workers of the EPO are rightly upset about all this. They will lose their job if this carries on."Workers of the EPO are not bad people. They are highly educated staff (not just the examiners) who thought they had joined for a good cause and as specialists in various fields of science (some have academic background) they want to reward real innovation, not merely operate like production line workers yanking out a lot of worthless patents. But the EPO is now run by a tyrant, who not only ruined the Office but is also ruining the entire Organisation (which is capable of firing him, but never did it due to cronyism) and stomping on the EPC. The situation is untenable. To make matters worse, this tyrant brought over many of his old friends (sometimes even their family members) to top positions, hired highly notorious thugs who face criminal charges in their home countries, and ousted anyone who dares question his authority, e.g. actions in defiance of the law, the EPC and so on. To use an analogy, think of Mugabe, ErdoÄŸan, or Putin. Separation of powers was gradually and deliberately vandalised. There is no democracy at the EPO; it's akin to monarchy even if it's not formally labeled as such.

Workers of the EPO are rightly upset about all this. They will lose their job if this carries on. They regularly go on protests, they go on strikes, and their unions are being attacked by the tyrant, who already strategically fired some of them using bogus (or highly dubious) charges. The tyrant enjoys supposed immunity which is guarded by self-serving governments and his terrible gymnastics in 'justice' are defended by a cowardly ILO, which only gives an illusion of recourse to justice.

"The EPO does not need scorn; it needs our help. It has been hijacked by malicious actors and nefarious interests."In the course of this tyrant's regime the tyrant has not only hired firms to corrupt the media but also to illegally spy on staff, to censor the Internet connection (banning sites such as Techrights), and to send threatening legal letters to bloggers who are in no way affiliated with the EPO. Contracts are habitually being signed without tenders (especially for big projects), contractors are being 'burned', waste and abuse are a matter of norm, and EPO stakeholders (e.g. applicants, law firms) are understandably upset. Any person who ever received a European Patent (EP) suffers from this and staff of the EPO is growingly depressed, many to the point of being suicidal (the number of suicides is said to have grown tenfold under the tyranny).

The EPO does not need scorn; it needs our help. It has been hijacked by malicious actors and nefarious interests. If the EPO cannot be rescued from this self-serving, money-draining tyranny, Europe as a whole and science as a whole will suffer dearly.

Recent Techrights' Posts

A Note on SimilarWeb
Or why SimilarWeb is meaningless for more than 99% of the sites on the Web
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
 
Traf-O-Data, the Company That Jeffrey Epstein's BFF (Bill Gates) (Co)Founded 53 Years and Went Out of Business Due to Heavy Losses
Who will die first, Bill or Microsoft?
Why Microsoft's Shares Sank Almost 20% in Recent Months (the Bubble is Imploding)
verified press reports from the past 24 hours
GNU/Linux Rises to Almost 5% in Algeria While Windows Sinks to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux grew tenfold
Where to Get More Gags
A valued reader recommended that to us
Links 04/04/2025: Tech Stock (Inc. GAFAM) Fall, Google Pretends to Do End-to-End Encrypted Emails (With Google in Control)
Links for the day
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025
Microsoft's Trouble in Africa and Asia
A new all-time high for GNU/Linux
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: Books and Cold Tea
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: More Layoffs, Nokia Again Takes Advantage of Illegal and Unconstitutional Patent Court With Nokia Staff as 'Judges'
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: Seizures and Returns to Windows of 24 Years Ago
Links for the day
LLM Slop Helps Obscure and Distort News About Layoffs (IBM, GAFAM)
It's hard to find accurate information
Links 02/04/2025: Microsoft Developers Are Threatening to Go on Strike, World Backup Day Noted
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Has Growing Appeal (the Web Got Too Bloated and Full of LLM Slop)
For any "data plan" with bandwidth limits or "tiers" it would be cheaper to use/browse Geminispace
The Web Can Survive LLM Slop, But Only If We Collectively Shun and Discourage Serial Sloppers
Doing nothing ought not be a possibility
Amid Secret Shut-downs and Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (4 Waves of Layoffs in 3 Months of 2025) Some Microsoft Staff Expected to Go On Strike
workers going on strike
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: No more on Mastodon and Gemini Mention Script in Go
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 01, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 01, 2025
My Motion Disbarring or “Striking Off” Brett Wilson LLP for Enabling Violent Americans Who Try to Crush Microsoft Critics in the United Kingdom by Multiple SLAPPs
"Guns for hire" (for Microsoft people who received Microsoft salaries)
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Hijacked Again by Patent Litigation Industry, as President Cheeto Prioritises Aggressors
The "mafia" has taken over the "industry" and the Federal system (justice and constitutions trampled upon)
Ubuntu Slop and FUD Manufactured With LLMs and Funded (by Oneself) 'Studies'
Slop and FUD are ruining the Web