SEVERAL days ago, in English even (we received a full translation), we wrote about the imminent debate at the Bavarian State Parliament. It's an important day ahead of us as EPO abuses will be discussed by the host country (which is quite rare; it typically just looks the other way in order to shield the cash cow).
"ow that the EPO habitually breaks the law of the land it's just too hard to ignore the impact this may have on a Germany-centric UPC."Last night, readers told us about this new blog post titled "Constitutional Law Alert for the EPO" -- a post which we are guessing SUEPO will soon notice and add to its list of recommended articles. Now that the EPO habitually breaks the law of the land it's just too hard to ignore the impact this may have on a Germany-centric UPC. As the author put it:
What can people, in particular citizens of Munich and Bavaria, do if they feel that elementary constitutional rights are infringed, not somewhere abroad and far away, but literally next door, at the Isar river banks or in the Pschorrhöfe building?
Unfortunately, this is no rhetorical question. If such things happen in the jurisdiction of German courts and under German government, German citizens can discuss them with the relevant office or authority, seek redress to court, or they can choose the political pathway and vote for a party that at least promises to deal with the violation by changing the law, if others choose to ignore it.
"Do not expect Team UPC to have any sympathy for EPO staff or have any respect for the law; in my experience, all that these people care about is money."Also, mind yesterday's article from Kluwer Patent Blog. It speaks about the UPC towards the end. The last paragraph shows that the UPC is an extremist legislation which, if politicians put their signature on it, would likely promote Stasi-type culture of raids and theft. We want to quote this entire paragraph for people who lack time to read the whole 'book' which is UPCA: "Finally, the Unified Patent Court (UPC)[4] provides for interim measures to preserve evidence and to inspect premises, which may be accompanied by sample collection or seizures of material[5]. This measure may be authorized without hearing the defendant under certain circumstances. As a result, saisie-contrefaçons are open for a significant extension within the frame of the UPC."
Got that?
Pardon the French. Here's what saisie-contrefaçons is about: "Saisie-contrefaçons are a particularly powerful tool in patent cases where evidence of infringement may be difficult to collect without entering the premises of the infringer."
"It's a recipe for patent trolls in Europe, as we have been warning for at least 7 years.""Those rules of procedure come from Mars," the FFII's President told me about this. "They have no space in a democracy. But that's a gift from UPC boosters that might make the whole project fail."
I replied: "So some patent troll from another country and continent, which does not even have an office, can merely accuse me of some #patent infringement (which I'm innocent of) and then literally send people to raid my house and steal my belongings. From another continent!"
I'm at a loss for words; what is happening to European law? This is worse than TPP and ACTA. It's borderline Orwellian.
"Team UPC is a bunch of crazy people who not only disregard truth itself -- as we habitually show -- but also disregard the law itself. Will Bavarian politicians be able to see that?"The UPC lobby often seems like a murder (or at least theft) of democracy with no consequences for the murder; massive documents are sent to politicians for signing and they don't even bother reading what they're giving a go-ahead to. The 'unitary' patent is crazy and has nothing to do with unifying anything. It's just an unprecedented power grab by the litigation 'industry' and now they strive to expand Battistelli-type powers (like raiding offices and stealing personal properly of a judges) to the whole of Europe. Team UPC is a bunch of crazy people who not only disregard truth itself -- as we habitually show -- but also disregard the law itself. Will Bavarian politicians be able to see that? ⬆
Update: SUEPO has just published what looks like an official translation of what we published some days ago.