Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Plans to Replace Examiners With Software, Yielding Poor Results

Related: The EPO Does Not Want Skilled (and 'Expensive') Staff, Layoffs a Growing Concern

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently”

--Friedrich Nietzsche



Summary: European Patents (EPs) will no longer be worth the money, as the work associated with studying (prior art), granting, and 'gardening' patents is reduced to appalling quality that assures neither certainty nor value

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY nothing that the Battistelli regime won't say to save face. Lies have become routine and sometimes we see people who repeat these lies. "Found on LinkedIn," told us an EPO insider, was the following post.



"Martin Schweiger, Schweiger & Partner on promo tour?

"Please fill in..."

Well, EPO insiders probably know the issue with that statement, especially now that EPO stakeholders openly speak about the declining quality of EPO 'products'.

Martin Schweiger, Schweiger & Partners



The leaks from Vacca help contradict him by demonstrating that the end result is appalling and does not merit actual payment for a 'service'. It's a ripoff. In fact, insiders have long worried about Battistelli, an unscientific boss, trying to throw everything at machines with no human supervision/operators and with virtually no human judgment. There's already a detailed explanation of why this would not work. Not even the USPTO ever attempted something crazy like that. Battistelli was probably 'sold' on some pseudo-science.

Now that EPO receives a decreasing number of applications it's not clear if there's much of a future beyond Battistelli. All he brags about are deals with countries like Cambodia (a former French colony with no European Patents) and days ago we saw an 'article' by Shilpi Saxena from Khurana and Khurana. It said this:

The second amendment came into existence on January 23rd 20174 when Cambodia signed an agreement of validation with the European Patent Organization (EPO) and became the first country in Asia to do so. This change will be effective once it is incorporated and adopted into the law of kingdom of Cambodia, possibly by July 1st 2017. Based on this amendment, the European Patent applicants will be able to submit in future a request for validation in the kingdom of Cambodia, where the European Patent will have the same value and effect as a Cambodian national patent application and will be subjected to national law. The 2 major amendments discussed above will now be discussed in more detail below.


All that talk about "European Patent applicants", but Cambodia does not even register on the radar at the EPO. It's somewhat symptomatic of what the Battistelli regime will leave the EPO with -- a legacy of shame and disgrace, not to mention brain drain and layoffs. We can't help wondering what companies that invested millions if not billions in EPs think these days. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

More Shutdowns at Microsoft, Hundreds of Workers Impacted Shortly
It's not the entire wave, just part of it
 
Linux is Not Controlled by Linus (Torvalds)
Torvalds has become "90% marketing hype"
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XIII - Censorship by All Means Available in a Continent So Far Away, as 'Secure' (Restricted, Restriction by Microsoft) Boot Has a Crisis of Legitimacy
it's about America controlling sites and computers everywhere
Links 24/10/2026: Oligarchs Already Buy US Elections, GAFAM Front Group "EFF" Speaks of "Vulnerability Apocalypse"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/10/2026: Automobile Differential Tire Movement, Samsung Washer Woe, and Slop Scraping
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 23, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, October 23, 2026
As Usual, Late on a Friday XBox (Microsoft) Releases Evidence of Its Demise
We covered several such Friday announcements earlier this year
Gemini Links 24/10/2026: Break/Fix and OpenStreetMap
Links for the day
Links 23/10/2026: Slop "is Scaling Transnational Repression" and Infringement and DMCA Suits Against Suno/Anthropic (Plagiarism Blenders)
Links for the day
The Register MS: About 60 Mentions of "AI" in One Day Are Paid-for Spam (Sponsored Hype, Composed by the Companies Covered)
The Register MS is a dying site
Links 22/10/2026: MElon (Elon Musk) Election Interference and Perl/Raku Foundation by the Numbers
Links for the day
Techrights Audience Grew as a Function of the Intensity of Attacks on Its Existence
We try to publish fewer stories but better (not necessarily long but at least important) stories
TechRepublic is Becoming a Slopfarm
It seems like TechRepublic became LLM slop (maybe all of it, maybe only some of it for now)
Techrights is Not About GNU/Linux, Tux Machines Is
When we say "GNU/Linux" we emphasise the GNU
The World Needs Activists With Social Skills and Perseverance
An everyday activist makes life better for everybody, everywhere (not for personal gain or even credit)
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XII - Lawfare to Cover Up Microsoft's Restricted Boot Calamity (Microsoft as Authority Over Linux), Garrett Wants to Talk About Penises Instead
When lawsuits become a political weapon
Without Microsoft's Monopoly (and Monopoly Rents) the Inevitable Microsoft Mass Layoffs Carry on Endlessly
Microsoft Windows is not retaining the dominance it once had
IBM's Debt Grew About $2 Billion in 3 Months
The silent layoffs still seem to impact Red Hat
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 22, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, October 22, 2026
Gemini Links 22/10/2026: Solar MiniBBS, Building Major Tom, and Zig
Links for the day
Links 22/10/2026: Busan’s Celebrity Shark in Canal Again
Links for the day
Links 22/10/2026: "Software Developers Have Been Promoted Into Incompetence"
Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XI - Losing Over a Million Pounds (Borrowed Money) to Try to Silence Critics of Restricted Boot With Microsoft-Controlled "Certificates"
Garrett is also very jealous of Daniel Pocock
Links 22/10/2026: eBay to Lay Off a Tenth of Staff (Again), Node.js and PHP Security Crises, Climate News
Links for the day
Red Hat Layoffs Still Going on This Week (Whilst IBM's Debt Grows in Spite of Mass Layoffs)
IBM is bluffing/cheating the shareholders again
IBM's Debt Continues to Increase While the Company Rapidly Shrinks
This is what a dying company looks like
Linux Kernel Needs Diversity and Diversity of Good Code, Not LLM Slop
Linux (and Linus) are kicking a can down the road
Microsoft Shrinks Every Year
Microsoft will try to spin or twist this as "efficiency"
Gemini Links 22/10/2026: Holiday Inn and Emacs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 21, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 21, 2026