Bonum Certa Men Certa

In October, Silence in the Media Regarding EPO Scandals Turned From Self-Censorship Into Censorship

2 years ago: Did the EPO Spike a BBC Story Regarding Discriminatory Practices, Legal Bullying of Bloggers, and/or Microsoft Bias?

China censors discussion of North Korea's bomb test
Reference: China censors discussion of North Korea's bomb test



Summary: Censorship of information regarding EPO oppression has extended from media to blogs and now applies to blog comments too (peak censorship, China style)

THE EPO will say "Goodbye" (or "Good riddance") to Battistelli is just under eight months. We don't know if the Office can ever recover after him, but we certainly hope so. We're pro-EPO, not anti-EPO (we're anti-UPC, which is different altogether) and Battistelli's pro-UPC agenda has truly damaged nearly half a century's worth of reputation.



Press coverage regarding the EPO is virtually non-existent. Nobody wants to say much about the EPO scandals, with very few exceptions here and there. A week ago people were still speaking about IP Kat's self-censorship, which culminated in censorship too (removal of all comments on this matter). Days ago came the following comment, which passed moderation:



"However, before complaining that the IPKat is no longer concerned, have you considered that the blog's panel of contributors changes over time, and that each contributor tends to post on topics that happen to interest them? The lack of posts about EPO governance may simply be due to changes in personnel, rather than a deliberate policy of discouraging debate."

I regret to say that I cannot entirely concur with you on this.

One may indeed take the position that the blog's panel of contributors are entirely free to pursue their own particular hobby horses and that this may account for the lack of attention to EPO matters.

However, if this really is the case it would - in my humble opinion - amount to a decline into "idiocy" in the classical Greek sense of the word.

"In ancient Greek society, an idiotes was a layperson who lacked professional skills. The idiot contributed nothing to public life or the common good. ... This contrasted with the status of the public citizen, or polites, such that to be an idiot was to be withdrawn, isolated and selfish, to not participate in the public, political life of the city-state. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/opinion/trump-and-the-true-meaning-of-idiot.html

The point here is that the EPO is a public inter-governmental institution and its governance is a legitimate matter of public interest and -consequently - a legitimate subject for public comment.

If the blog's panel of contributors have decided for whatever reason that matters concerning the governance of the EPO are no longer worth writing about then by all means let them pursue other subjects of interest which take their fancy.

Unfortunately according to the Greek model referred to above such a state of affairs would arguably relegate the status of the blog to that of the "idiotes" rather than the "polites".

It may well be that times have changed but those of us who can fondly remember the bygone days when IPKat seemed to be more "polites" than "idiotes" must be excused for feeling a bit disappointed by such a development.


We can imagine that more strongly-worded comments were posted and not approved (or that published comments were self-censored by the submitters, for fear their comments would be rejected). This is how censorship works. Yesterday, the blog carried on with the maximalists' agenda; IP Kat wrote about SPC -- a controversial subject which is under the microscope again. Nothing was said about the EPO abolishing holidays. Nothing. Apparently that's of no interest to their European readers. Apparently.

Two days ago we saw this press release which said "TiGenix strengthens European IP protection around lead development program Cx601 [...] In addition, the EPO has also granted TiGenix the divisional European patent EP 2944688..."

This company presents itself as a "cell therapy company with a proprietary validated allogeneic expanded adipose-derived stem cell," i.e. more patents on life at the EPO (because under Battistelli, anything goes, except human rights or justice or transparency et cetera).

Another article was published on Thursday by Hazel Ford from Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP. She is, as usual, overlooking the serious governance issues and focusing on patent assignment changes. To quote:

The process of recording assignments with the EPO is likely to be quicker and simpler if supporting evidence of authority to sign is provided when the assignment document is filed at the EPO. Because the EPO requires the signatures of both the assignor and assignee, it should be ensured that the relevant evidence of authority is obtained from both parties when an assignment is completed.


Yesterday an article by Kevin Kabler and Andrew Whitehead resurfaced. They work for Fenwick & West LLP, who are patent maximalists that promote software patents. Now they are setting up lobbying events in which they try to foist/impose patents on life, even in Europe. These are people to whom a lot of litigation means a lot of money. These are the sorts of people (like Team UPC) who Battistelli works for.

Since IP Kat picked some writers from the litigation 'industry' (CIPA for example) we can imagine why they prefer to no longer even mention Battistelli, let alone anything related to him. Regarding the UPC they will only ever say positive things (otherwise, nothing at all).

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Un-cancelled the Best People, Just in Time for the Big 4-0
Mr. Oliva should have been there all along (since 2019)
Most "Modern" Technology Makes You Slower and Dumber
Because proprietary software makes you worse off
"What Comes After Free Software?" Wrongly Insinuates We've Reached the Goal (Prison is Not the Goal)
The oil tycoons use similar tactics against environmentalists, giving them fake "wins"
Making More Work Space
I learned the hard way that less is more in circumstances where more means distraction
MAHA is a Lie, Public Officials Never Valued Citizens' Health (They Still Value Private Businesses, Their Sponsors)
Reject demagogues
New Techrights Turns 2
Today starts the third year of the SSG-based Techrights
What Scares Them the Most is Independent News Sites That They Cannot Control and Censor
Wikileaks was a good example of this
If You Don't Control Your Online Platform, Then Someone Else is Controlling You
be (or become) independent
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
 
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part II - UK SLAPPs for Americans, SLAPPs for Profit
Brett Wilson LLP has a track record of this kind
Mayday: Optus emergency calling crisis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/09/2025: Massive Data Breach, Slop Versus Productivity, and Vista 11 Update Breaks Things Again
Links for the day
Code of Censorship
Extortion is peace
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Press Kit for the Weekend After Next Weekend (40th Anniversary)
miles better than social [sic] media [sic] quips, moderated by narcissists and oil tycoons.
Microsoft Had Two Waves of Mass Layoffs This Month (That We Know of) and It'll Get Worse for Microsoft Soon
Will the axe fall again by month's end?
Gemini Links 23/09/2025: Happy Equinox, Photronic Arts, and Perception Cognition
Links for the day
Lessons We've Learned After 17 Years of American Hosting
GAFAM is "all-in" with the "Trump agenda"
Back to Normal Now, We Plan to Do More In-Depth Series (or Multi-part Stories)
Articles (or series thereof) that contain philosophy are important to us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 22, 2025
Microsoft Media is Panicking Amid Mass Layoffs Every Month, H-1B Fees, and "Seattle’s Tech Scene in Trouble"
In "late stage Microsoft", copyleft becomes proprietary
The Next Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs Being Discussed Already
Red Hat is sort of disappearing the way Tivoli did
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025