Bonum Certa Men Certa

Jo Johnson's Departure is Another Major Blow for Team UPC (Unified Patent Court)

Recent: Battistelli's 'Mole' Lucy Neville-Rolfe is Still Trying to Push Unitary Patent (UPC) Through in the United Kingdom

Jo Johnson



Summary: Proponents of the UPC, notably patent law firms that are based in London, do not want us to know that Jo Johnson is leaving, thereby assuring that any remaining prospects of UPC ratification are in formal disarray

Jo Johnson knew all along that the UPC was an impossibility, but Team UPC kept lobbying and misleading him. Battistelli even went to London to do photo ops with him (posted in the EPO's site at one time).

"In principle, his words/promises too have become more or less invalid, just like Lucy's (in 2016)."People have already noticed (this week) that Johnson's shuffle will impact what he said or promised. In principle, his words/promises too have become more or less invalid, just like Lucy's (in 2016). Are they going to shuffle every single year?

Jo Johnson is out the door. He's moving. This means that UPC is very dead now. Not just in the UK but everywhere. No matter the lobbying. Even if Germany someone miraculously ratified (some time in the distant future), London's absence would make it untenable.

One new comment said: "Jo Johnson moved sideways to transport. Haven’t seen if he keeps his IP brief but presumably not. So time to educate another junior minister?"

"Jo Johnson is out the door. He's moving. This means that UPC is very dead now."The response to that is that he's being "replaced by Sam Gyimah, who campaigned for remain, according to the Guardian."

Lucy and Jo have lasted such a short time on the job. Will Gyimah even last more than 6 months?

The UPC is dead irrespective of "leave" or "remain" for various reasons we've covered here before. In fact, UPC is not even on the radar in the UK. The EPO has, so far this week, posted lots of #IPforSMEs nonsense like this, perhaps hoping to perpetuate illusions like "UPC for SMEs" rather than just "IP for SMEs" (both are falsehoods). Earlier today the EPO wrote: "Annual gains of EUR 14.6 billion in trade and EUR 1.8 billion in FDI could be generated by improved harmonisation of Europe's patent system."

"The UPC is dead irrespective of "leave" or "remain" for various reasons we've covered here before."This links to that old and disgraced 'report'. "No need to keep pushing this report you paid to produce for UPC lobbying," I told them. Some people alleged that the purpose of this paid-for 'report' is to help lobby the German court.

Meanwhile, Watchtroll is promoting the UPC in a so-called 'webiner', so we instantaneously know it's good for patent trolls, not for science or for industry (Watchtroll is worse than IAM in that regard). Yesterday it even promoted Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs), just like Team UPC habitually does.

As we shall show in the next couple of posts, the UPC lobby of Battistelli also works behind the scenes; with little effort we can expose/unearth that too. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

Intercontinental Brigading - Part XIV - Six Years of Learning Irish, But the Real Issue Was Microsoft-controlled 'Secure' (Restricted) Boot
Had I not opposed back doors in Linux, not of this would come about
Microsoft Sort of Tried to Sell XBox Piecewise (Offloading Microsoft)
XBox is in a morbid state
Linux is Not Controlled by Linus (Torvalds)
Torvalds has become "90% marketing hype"
 
It's Slop
Maybe we'll exclude It's Slop from our curation. It's a Linux Foundation outpost of sorts, an apologist of sloppy code and plagiarism.
Gemini Links 25/10/2026: Moana (2026) and OpenBSD Updates
Links for the day
The Netherlands Fast to Adopt GNU/Linux, "Market Share" Rises to Two-Digit Value (on Desktops/Laptops)
It peaked at around 20% yesterday
DST Still Needs to Get Abolished
Get rid of DST, efficiency will improve and systems will become more reliable
PHP2Shell as Paid-for FUD Campaign (Intended to Help Sell Slop and Fake "Market Value" of Slop Pushers)
PHP2Shell considered overhyped [...] Remember all the paid-for hype regarding Mythos? What happened to all that?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 24, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, October 24, 2026
Gemini Links 24/10/2026: Arch Linux Journey and Amin Bandali's Priorities
Links for the day
Bluewashing as a Form of Silent Layoffs
IBM will continue to shed off loads of workers while its debt climbs
Turning 20 in 2 Weeks and Upcoming Network Maintenance
That ought not interrupt our anniversary
Microsoft Shutdowns Accelerating, More Shutdowns Revealed (Not Connected to Gaming)
Silent layoffs disguised as "voluntary" "exits"
Links 24/10/2026: Microsoft Blackmail and Lingering Unrest in France:
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/10/2026: From Bendigo to Kerang, Enshittification of Radio and Music in the UK
Links for the day
Red Hat Sinks With the Blue (IBM) Ship
As IBM's debt continues to soar so do the silent layoffs
The "No Pain No Gain" Expectations in Publishing
Sometimes truth hurts; but that does not mean it mustn't be told
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
More Shutdowns at Microsoft, Hundreds of Workers Impacted Shortly
It's not the entire wave, just part of it
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