Bonum Certa Men Certa

'SIPO Europe': More Low-Quality Patents at Lower Costs

'System Battistelli'

SIPO and Battistelli References: Battistelli and China, 2016 [1, 2]



Summary: As 'demand' declined (the number of applications for European Patents was falling) the EPO lowered prices and it's doing it again, basically assuring more low-quality, low-value applications to be followed by more low-quality patents granted, externalising the cost of patents to the public and outsourcing examination to courts (where lawyers make the most money)

THERE are persistent rumours about EPO layoffs; it's more of a question of when, not if. What the EPO neglects to speak about are discounts it gave to spur or 'create' applications, irrespective of quality. China, with a tiny share of EPO patents/applications (about the same as Korea and about a third of Japan's), was the main talking point. Is the EPO becoming another SIPO? China's SIPO is globally notorious for its very low bar; and few even know what's in there because it's in Mandarin. It's a patent-printing machine which devalues the 'currency' which is patents, but WIPO loves it because it helps fake/create an illusion of considerable growth.

"Is the EPO becoming another SIPO?"Judging by yesterday's official announcement (warning: epo.org link), complete with the obligatory Battistelli plug/quote, the EPO foresees/wants lots of low-quality patents to help pretend that the number of applications grows. In the EPO's own words:

Acting on a proposal of the European Patent Office, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation, had approved the fee reduction for patent applications in December 2017.


So even the Administrative Council is all over this. They can only pretend not to understand the objective of such policies; but examiners know very well what that means in practice. The examiners are typically guardians against bad patents that enable abuse (like patent trolls who bypass the court system); now they're not allowed to do this kind of job because of so-called 'demand' or "efficiency".

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: All Those New 'Articles' Are Fake and Crafted by Chatbots (LLM Slop)
Google News is promoting these as "Linux" news; they're not even made by humans
They Will Never Leave Linus Torvalds Alone, Rust is Just Another Way to Cause Instability and Infighting in Linux
We already identified the Rust "community" as troublemakers more than 5 years ago and we wrote about the evidence
 
Links 15/02/2025: University Price Hikes and Copyright Action Against Slop Companies
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 14, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 14, 2025
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Mysterious Friend and "Eight by Eight"
Links for the day
Apple: Social Justice or Social Nationalism?
Remember to buy Apple, folks
Links 14/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Sophos, Chatbots Failing Very Badly, "DOGE as a National Cyberattack"
Links for the day
Moving Away From Certificate Authorities (CAs) Like Let's Encrypt Means Taking Away From the US Government the Power to 'Censor' Sites by Revoking Certificates
Gemini capsule is cheap to run and easy (easier than a Web site) to maintain. More people disillusioned and frustrated with social control media flock to it.
BetaNews' Managing Editor Wayne William Took Charge of GNU/Linux Articles and His Articles Are Real (He Actually Wrote Them)
We are frankly relieved to see that Wayne William recognised the problem and did something about it
Links 14/02/2025: Publicity Rights Violated (ByteDance), Bribes to Trump Passed via Social Control Media 'Settlements' Again
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Constitution, Cosmic DE, and More
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles Published by Bots, Dominating Google News
So a lot of the Web is Microsoft chatbot-generated anti-Linux FUD
Links 14/02/2025: Measles Outbreak in Texas, Zelensky Warns Russia Will Attack a NATO Country
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 13, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 13, 2025
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: gwit and Restart
Links for the day
Links 13/02/2025: Algorithm Bots and 'Teleport' Breakthrough
Links for the day
EPO Staff Representatives Confront the President Who Says 'F--king' in Front of Female Workers Over Measurable Discrimination Against Female Colleagues
Central Staff Committee versus Lukashenko's sponsor
IBM Layoffs in 'RTO' Clothing Reported by Thomas Claburn
This "hey hi" (AI) nonsense is just a go-to excuse that IBM and GAFAM (and many others) use
Still Waiting for the EU to Abolish the Illegal and Unconstitutional Court Linked to EPO Corruption and Lobbyism by the Patent Litigation Industry
Sadly, all the blogs that used to talk about those issues have been infiltrated and then completely hijacked by the very perpetrators of the illegality
Social Engineering of the Free Software Movement is a Corporate Takeover With Code of Conduct (CoC) to Drive Out or Expel Dissent
Richard Stallman (RMS) covered "cancel culture"
Links 13/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Google (Disguised as "Buyouts"), Telecoms Price Hikes as Collusion/Price-Fixing
Links for the day
[Video] Richard Stallman Questions and Answers Session in Google's YouTube or Invidious
From last night
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: Broken Watches and Naming Types
Links for the day
Corrupt Bill Gates Worming His Way Into Richard Stallman Videos in Google's YouTube
Reputation laundering riding other people's names?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 12, 2025