Bonum Certa Men Certa

The 'New' IP Kat on Patents: A Front Group for Team UPC (Bristows) and CIPA (British Patent Microcosm)

Bristows EPO



Summary: Another quick look at today's output from IP Kat, which turned from a proponent of EPO staff into a proponent of Battistelli's oppressive agenda

THERE is a lot to be criticised/said about what happened to IP Kat, a site or blog that covers various issues/themes/topics including trademarks and copyrights. As far as patents go, it's no longer what it used to be. Coverage of EPO scandals is now suppressed as a matter of principle, since the EPO sanctioned the site about a year ago. Over 10,000 articles were blocked with the flip of a switch at the EPO, leveraging great power over the site's operator and perhaps sending a warning sign (threats of lawsuits, like those we received from the EPO's lawyers after identical sanctions).



As a media critic myself (in areas other than patents too), I come across lots of manipulation in the media (I worked as a journalist a decade ago and saw the censorship from the inside). Today alone, for example, one can find this puff piece (borderline press release about US patents) and here is today's example of 'articles' that are not. They're just ads/spam, this time for the patent 'industry'. It's incredible that stuff like this even gets published, let alone in official media. Here is local media in the US turning a 'shopping list' of patents into a puff piece; pointless 'article'.

"Coverage of EPO scandals is now suppressed as a matter of principle, since the EPO sanctioned the site about a year ago."Former IP Kat insiders have expressed similar concerns about IP Kat. It's just not what it used to be; it's "marketing" (their word, not mine).

As an example of this, consider what was published there only hours ago. Very belatedly (almost a month too late) proponents of patent trolls and the UPC write about EPO changes. Yes, it's one Bristows employee quoting another (Gemma Barrett and Annsley Merelle Ward) and it's just the latest reminder that IP Kat has in many ways (especially when it comes to patent coverage) been taken over by Bristows. Comments too are being deleted (if deemed "unwanted" by Bristows) and they do the same thing in other blogs.

Among the comments on the dysfunctional patent office we have this: "In its decision Art 23 1/16 the EBA explicitely stated that it felt threatened by the President of the Office, and not protected by the Administrative Council, in a disciplinary case which a few weeks ago culminated in the dismissal by the AC of a member of the boards of appeal, in violation of Art 23 EPC. Can anybody in these circumstances reasonably expect the boards to question the new rule?"

"Comments too are being deleted (if deemed "unwanted" by Bristows) and they do the same thing in other blogs."Then comes CIPA lobbying promotion (it lobbied for patent maximalism, before the announcement on the above came out). The next comment says: "The new rule is illegitimate. CIPA have produced an excellent position paper on this: http://www.cipa.org.uk/policy-and-news/latest-news/observations-of-cipa-on-proposals-to-exclude-organisms-produced-by-biological-processes-from-patentability/"

The next comment says: "If I understand those smart folks at CIPA correctly - its not just odd, but cat-on-hot-tin roof odd!!"

"Not the same people are writing the blog (quite a few writers left)."To make matters worse, IP Kat is now literally occupied by a top official from CIPA. It's occupied by the patent microcosm and was even upfront about it. There are posts from CIPA on matters pertaining to patents and a lot of this invites commentary about the EPO. The latest, for example, says "that "solution" is not an option for EP patents, I'm afraid. The EPO forces applicants to delete any passages in the description that cast doubt upon the scope of the claims. See, for example, the Guidelines at F.IV, 4.4 (https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/guidelines/e/f_iv_4_4.htm). To me, this kind of suggests that the SC and the EPO do not fully agree on the interpretation of Article 69 EPC... but then what do I know?"

It's sad to think that just about a year ago IP Kat was still fighting for justice at the EPO. Now it does the very opposite (injustice) by pushing for the UPC, essentially helping Battistelli [1, 2]. Not the same people are writing the blog (quite a few writers left).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Peter Moon's (Computerworld) Interview With Richard Stallman
Stallman: If you want freedom don't follow Linus Torvalds
At What Point Does Outsourcing Constitute Malpractice?
Brett Wilson LLP's new staff page is misleading
From Do Your Own Research to Do Your Own Search
The Web is full of garbage; search engines amplify this garbage
 
Law Firm Burgess Mee Does Not Fully Deny Participating in Abusive Litigation for Serial Strangler From Microsoft
I am not unfamiliar with these tactics
The Modus Operandi of Wayland Pushers: Make It Political
do what I say or you're a nazi...
Links 23/06/2025: RFE/RL Contributor Vladyslav Yesypenko Released, Recording Industry Cutbacks
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Solicitors (M): Over 99.9% of Our E-mail is Self-Marketing, We Send You 3.5MB E-mails for Less Than 1KB of Text
Why would tech people entrust legal matters to such people?
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sailing to GNU/Linux, According to statCounter
countries in that region will quickly learn the price of neglecting digital sovereignty
More People Moving to Geminispace?
at age 6+ Gemini Protocol seems to have gained some maturity and it seems like more people use it
Permutation in LLMs Does, Inevitably, Change Meanings and Therefore LLMs Cannot Properly Rephrase or Summarise Texts
LLMs lack actual grasp or comprehension of what they spew out
Links 23/06/2025: Many Security Breaches, Population Declines
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: "America at the Crossroads" and OpenWRT Surgery
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 22, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 22, 2025
Pure Dove
Different means different, and sometimes those who "deviate" from "the norm" have a point
Censorship is a Sign of Weakness Which Invites More Censorship Attempts
revolutionaries don't succumb to pressure from bullies
Why It's Unlikely That LLM Slop Will Dominate the Web in the Long Run
Slopfarms will eventually perish (they have no actual value) and "survivors" on the Web will be sites that never depended on search engines and social control media
GNU/Linux in Argentina Now Measured Near 5%
Like in central Europe, they must be seeing an increasingly hostile US
BetaNews is Fake News, Composed by LLM Slop
nothing in BetaNews is written by humans anymore
Links 22/06/2025: Giving Up on Smartphones and 'Jaws' at 50
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Furniture Construction and Bubble for Comments
Links for the day
Links 22/06/2025: Windows TCO Tales and YouTube Getting More Hostile to Users
Links for the day
The FSF Board and FSF Beard
So the FSF's Board has grown
Law Firms Facing the Consequences for Patently Abusive Litigation on Behalf of Microsoft Employees Who Got Arrested for Strangulation and Had Done Even Worse Things
Having spent 1.5 years bullying me with patronising letters on behalf of Microsofters, last week they got served a massive bill and, in effect, lost the Hearing
New Report From the EPO's Staff Representatives in The Hague (LSCTH) Reveals Many Unsolved Issues
Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) wrote to staff just before the weekend
LLMs Breaking Everything
Computing and the Net became a playground for scammers and "bros", like people who "invented" fake currencies and also try to tell us that LLMs spewing out things will have some real value
Links 22/06/2025: More Slop Lawsuits (Copyrights) and "America’s Oligarch Problem"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Gigantic Toolchest and Annoying Bots
Links for the day
The Calling
Persist and persevere, justice will come your way
So Far Every BetaNews 'Article' is LLM Slop, So BetaNews is Officially Just a Slopfarm
They just don't seem to value what they have
IBM Rumour: Mass Layoffs (RAs) Lists Being Made for Consulting, With Effect in July 2025
Bogus companies with no viable products and no world-leading (in their field) staff are doomed to perish
Links 21/06/2025: Data Breach With 16 Billion Passwords, Dutch Government Recommends Children Under 15 Stay off TikTok and Instagram
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Notes about Typst (and LaTeX) and Opos
Links for the day
Microsoft's Competition Tactics: Sabotage GNU/Linux Installs, Block Chrome
Edge is dying
1989: Free Software as "Open" Software (OSI Didn't Coin "Open Source", It Also Predates Linux)
"One man's fight for Free software"
The Microsoft OOXML Modus Operandi: Throw 1,000 Pages of Other People's Work for a Judge to Read Ahead of a One-Hour Meeting
No time to discuss this - that's the point
Formalities Officers (FOs) at the EPO Are in Trouble, Reveals Internal Report
We already know, based on an HR pattern we saw at IBM and elsewhere, that reallocating roles can be prerequisite for dismissal and those who do so expect many to resign anyway
The Web is Slop and FUD, Let's Go to Gemini Protocol
Lupa sees self-signed capsules at 92.4%
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 20, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 20, 2025
Links 21/06/2025: Phone Bans for Concerts, Tensions in Taiwan Strait
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Spoilers, Public Yggdrasil Node, Changes to AuraGem Search
Links for the day