Bonum Certa Men Certa

Buzzwords and Three-Letter Acronyms Still Abused by the EPO to Grant a Lot of Patents on Algorithms

EPO examiners aren't shy to admit this decline in patent quality and abrupt departure from the European Patent Convention (EPC) [1, 2]

EPO quality letter



Summary: Aided by Microsoft lobbying (with its very many patent trolls) as well as corrupt Battistelli, the push for software patenting under the guise of "artificial intelligence" ("AI") carries on, boosted by Battistelli's own "Pravda" (which he writes for), IAM Magazine

THE EPO and USPTO both use the buzzword (acronym) "AI" to go about granting software patents. Law firms and their clients are patenting software by consciously invoking this vague buzzword while EPO management sets up events to promote the practice (they also say "ICT", "CII", "4IR" and so forth).



This is not normal. It's not acceptable. They are bypassing laws and misleading everyone. The latest example of software patents being disguised as "AI" to fool patent examiners is about a day old (a press release that says "FICO Awarded Seven New Patents for Analytic Innovations in Fraud Detection and AI," then "FICO has been awarded seven new patents for fraud detection, AI and analytics"). FICO basically gets a bogus -- i.e. likely invalid -- monopoly on abstract ideas (courts would reject these patents), but unless PTAB receives a petition (IPR) FICO can engage in patent shakedown against rivals.

"FICO basically gets a bogus — i.e. likely invalid — monopoly on abstract ideas (courts would reject these patents), but unless PTAB received a petition (IPR) FICO can engage in patent shakedown against rivals."This week's Microsoft- and patent trolls-funded event of IAM also promotes software patents and here's Microsoft doing its 'share' of the task, dubbing software patents "AI".

"Microsoft’s Nicolas Schifano very clear on why much of AI is patentable," IAM wrote (and there's a photo there as well). There's still not a word from them about Battistelli's talk in support of software patents (using the latest buzzword); he was definitely there as scheduled. What's noteworthy is that IAM is now legitimising the judge-bashing Watchtroll. They're all in this together. A lobby of shame.

Unfortunately, words (or terms) like "AI" can be problematic even if examiners recognise these and throw away the papers (applications). Line managers, for example, can use Battistelli's buzzwords du jour (e.g. "ICT", "CII", "4IR") and then demand from patent clerks/examiners that they issue a patent/grant. The way things are going right now are profoundly depressing; the examiners are losing any pride associated with their job (work that is hard to replace because of exit conditions and the nature of contract they signed).

Yesterday we saw AA Thornton & Co's Leonita Paulraj writing about the EPO's patent assessment criteria, which are mostly overlooked/ignored by corrupt Battistelli (who only wants lots of grants in order to game the system). "In the recent past," Paulraj wrote, "the EPO appears to have become more strict with the requirement of plausibility, and therefore it is advisable not to be in a hurry to file an application, especially in the fields of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, without any clear evidence which supports that the invention has some technical advantages."

She emphasises that it's about pharmaceuticals and biotechnology way upfront:

This article considers how the EPO views the requirement of “plausibility”, which can arise during both the assessment of “sufficient disclosure” of the invention and “inventive step” in proceedings before the EPO, particularly in relation to inventions in the Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences field.

The EPO Guidelines for Examination (EPO Part F-III, 12) state that if the claimed invention lacks reproducibility, this may become relevant under the requirements of sufficiency of disclosure or inventive step. If an invention lacks reproducibility because its desired technical effect as expressed in the claim is not achieved, this results in a lack of sufficient disclosure, which has to be objected to under Art. 83 EPC (sufficiency). Otherwise, i.e. if the technical effect is not expressed in the claim but is part of the problem to be solved, there is a problem of inventive step, which has to be objected under Art.56 EPC (inventive step).

[...]

The EPO has issued a number of decisions on plausibility, however, none of these decisions are conclusive. The question of plausibility is assessed by the EPO case by case.

From the decisions discussed above, it appears that even if a claim is non-obvious with respect to the prior art or in the absence of any prior art, the EPO could still refuse a case if it is not plausible at the date of filing that the invention does solve the problem it purports to solve.

Likewise, the requirement of sufficiency of disclosure must be met at the date of filing and if the application or patent is found later that it does not meet the requirement, it is no longer possible to correct this deficiency.

In the recent past, the EPO appears to have become more strict with the requirement of plausibility, and therefore it is advisable not to be in a hurry to file an application, especially in the fields of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, without any clear evidence which supports that the invention has some technical advantages.


From what we can gather, based on what sources tell us, the EPC is being violated routinely in the domain of software, with people like Grant Philpott on top of this colossal failure. Software patents are nowadays being granted routinely by the EPO, often in defiance of examiners' desires and sometimes in part due to buzzwords such as "AI", "ICT", "CII", "4IR". This is going to cause tremendous agony to Europe's already-weak (compared to the US) software industry. The US is meanwhile removing many of these artificial barriers (Alice, which we shall cover in our next post, axes many software patents), spurring a boom in investment for software businesses.

Recent Techrights' Posts

'Tech' Gimmicks Are for Advertising, Not for Usability
In the case of Microsoft, they latched onto slop
BetaNews Sacked Brian Fagioli and Deleted His Comments, But He Still Tries to Use the "BetaNews" Brand for Self-Affirmation
Fagioli takes the work of other people
[Meme] Hard to Be a Better Person?
Sooner or later they'll realise that for each pound I spend they need to spend about 1,000 times more
New US Editor for The Register is a Microsoft Booster
"Avram Piltch has served as US editor for The Register since July 2025."
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled
Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
We all remember that rather well, don't we?
 
Gemini Links 24/07/2025: Forgejo Woes and Smolnet Directory Week
Links for the day
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
Links 24/07/2025: Storage Tapes Still Kicking, Windows TCO 'on Steroids' (Microsoft-Induced Catastrophes)
Links for the day
Bobby Borisov (LinuxIac) Has Apparently Begun Experimenting With LLM Slop, So We Cannot Trust LinuxIac Anymore
So did LinuxIac become a slopfarm? Maybe not yet, but it's getting there
Informa TechTarget's ITProToday is Becoming a Slopfarm Generated by Microsoft Chatbots
Busted.
The LLM Con Artists Are Highly Destructive
Who will ever be held accountable for this scam?
Too Bribed by Microsoft to Move to Free Software?
Microsoft lies and Microsoft bribery (in politics)
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
“Inhumane” and “Disgusting” Mass Layoff Execution, According to Microsoft Staff
The workers are looking for other places to work
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
The freedoms are what's most important
LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
All are run by the same people
Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
Links for the day
Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
Links for the day
New and Old
On Ageism in Tech
Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
Links for the day
Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
Links for the day
Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
Examples of white-collar trolls
Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
"Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
Links for the day