Bonum Certa Men Certa

Today's European Patent Office (EPO) Works for Large, Foreign Pharmaceutical Companies in Pursuit of Patents on Nature, Life, and Essential/Basic Drugs

A butterfly



Summary: The never-ending insanity which is patents on DNA/genome/genetics and all sorts of basic things that are put together like a recipe in a restaurant; patents are no longer covering actual machinery that accomplishes unique tasks in complicated ways, typically assembled from scratch by humans; some supposed 'inventions' are merely born into existence by the natural splitting of organisms or conception (e.g. pregnancy)

THE EPO used to be so much better than the USPTO. I personally used to like the EPO and was proud to say we had the best patent office in the world. It was strict, it was pedantic, and it assured limits on patent scope. That is no longer the case, however, as many EPO insiders can attest to as well. They too complain about the collapse in patent quality that we've just revisited.



"...billionaire drug lords are using patents to profit from the very disease which they themselves created (drug addiction)."Looking across the Atlantic, it's not hard to see patent scope going (or already gone) insane. Some of the things being patented are outright laughable (we'll deal with these in a separate post later on) and they would be funny/amusing if they didn't cause so much agony/pain for legitimate, practicing companies. In the area of patents on natural things, how about this new "settlement"? Bausch Health blackmailed a rival until the rival gave up. They try to drive competitors out of business using patents alone. Is this good for the so-called 'free market'? What would be the impact on people in need of medicine?

In other news that gained traction lately, billionaire drug lords are using patents to profit from the very disease which they themselves created (drug addiction). It is not even remotely ethical. These people should be in prison, but they are billionaires who are well connected. We mentioned this yesterday and it's good to see that the public now scrutinises the USPTO over it.

Speaking of evil patents, how about the EPO's decision to uphold a notorious patent last week? For those who haven't been keeping abreast of it, read "António Campinos Needs to Listen to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) et al to Salvage What’s Left of Public Consent for the EPO" (published a few days ago).

Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review (LSIPR), a propaganda site of the patents-on-life lobby, wrote about the subject yesterday. It started as follows:



The European Patent Office (EPO) has upheld a patent covering Gilead’s hepatitis C medicine sofosbuvir, despite opposition from humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Speaking to LSIPR, the EPO confirmed that it has “maintained in an amended form” European patent number 2,604,620 on Thursday, September 13.

The decision was announced following oral proceedings in Munich, Germany. The EPO advised that it will publish the full decision here once the Opposition Division has written its ruling.


We certainly hope that these people at the Opposition Division understand their impact on many lives, especially poor people. It's a dark day for the EPO. It's even darker for a lot of people with darker skin.

"Putting aside DuPont’s historic role in genocide, we’re rather concerned to see the trend of patenting organisms, genetics and so on."Now, looking at the US, the Federal Circuit dealt with a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) inter partes review (IPR) and patent maximalists responded as follows yesterday: "The new DuPont v. Synvina decision is important for its specific application obviousness of claim ranges. It also creates some amount of tension with prior cases — particularly Dynamic Drinkware and Magnum Oil – regarding burden shifting within Inter Partes Review proceedings. [...] On appeal, the Federal Circuit holds here that the traditional obviousness burden-shifting associated with ranges applies to IPR proceedings. To be clear, the patentee never has the burden of proving non-obviousness. But, once a prima facie case of obviousness is established, the claims will be cancelled unless the patentee provides evidence to support its position."

Putting aside DuPont's historic role in genocide, we're rather concerned to see the trend of patenting organisms, genetics and so on. This should not be happening. Earlier this month Wired published this article titled "Crispr’s Epic Patent Fight Changed the Course of Biology" and as we noted earlier this year the EPO's Opposition Division fought back against it. Making life "owned" using patents sure "Changed the Course of Biology"... for the worse. From the article, which names the role of the Federal Circuit:

After three bitter years and tens of millions of dollars in legal fees, the epic battle over who owns one of the most common methods for editing the DNA in any living thing is finally drawing to a close. On Monday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decisive ruling on the rights to Crispr-Cas9 gene editing—awarding crucial intellectual property spoils to scientists at the Broad Institute of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The fight for Crispr-Cas9—which divided the research community and triggered an uncomfortable discussion about science for personal profit versus public good—has dramatically shaped how biology research turns into real-world products. But its long-term legacy is not what happened in the courtroom, but what took place in the labs: A wealth of innovation that is now threatening to make Cas9 obsolete.


So they'll be evergreening their patent portfolio if they get their way. The concept that all of life should be patented isn't so controversial among patent law firms. Kevin Noonan, for example, constantly promotes this agenda and yesterday he wrote about another case of the Federal Circuit with an important outcome:

The varying appellate fortunes of patentees regarding the question of obviousness is illustrated nicely in the Federal Circuit decision in Orexo AB v. Actavis Elizabeth LLC handed down earlier this month. The statute, 35 U.S.C. ۤ 103, was intended to tether the question of obviousness to the prior art (and untether it from judicial whim regarding "inventiveness" or "invention" as found in several Supreme Court decisions stating with Hotchkiss (and, to patent law's detriment, resurrected under ۤ 101 by Justice Breyer and in other recent decisions from the Court). Nevertheless, there cannot help to be a subjective aspect to the issue of obviousness, which is illustrated by this decision when placed in contrast, for example, with other recent obviousness determinations by the Federal Circuit (see, for example, "Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. v. Roxane Laboratories, Inc.").

[...]

The opinion illustrates the District Court's error in accepting as evidence supporting obviousness testimony that, if selected, citric acid as a carrier particle would have been expected to work, citing In re Gordon, 733 F.2d 900, 902 (Fed. Cir. 1984) ("The mere fact that the prior art could be so modified would not have made the modification obvious unless the prior art suggested the desirability of the modification."). A similar error arose regarding the District Court's dismissal of Orexo's argument regarding preserving the 4:1 ratio of buprenorphine to naloxone, the panel stating the error to be the District Court's finding that "there is nothing in the prior art which would have discouraged a person of ordinary skill from following the path set out in the various references" instead of recognizing that "no reference or combination of references proposes the path of the '330 Patent." Put more succinctly the opinion states "[t]he question is not whether the various references separately taught components of the '330 Patent formulation, but whether the prior art suggested the selection and combination achieved by the '330 inventors."

Finally, the opinion turns to the objective indicia, which "guide the analysis of obviousness," citing Leo Pharm. Prods., Ltd. v. Rea, 726 F.3d 1346, 1357–58 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Without expressly stating it, the Court here finds clear error in the District Court's discounting these factors, for example, stating that a 66% increase in buprenorphine bioavailability was "more than a trivial 'degree.'"


Well, it is our view that any patent on life should be regarded as obvious and fail the obviousness test, as well as prior art test. Life is, after all, not an invention but something that always existed or evolved on its own (an act of nature). When laws are drawn up by lobbyists of law firms and pushed by politicians bribed by big pharmaceutical firms, however, laws make no sense. It's like companies are basically buying laws. Those laws are designed for nothing except boosting their profits and eliminating competition, including competition in the form of disruptive (to their cash cows) research.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: The OSI Does Not Respect Anybody's Privacy
The surveillance mafia that bans dissent or key people (even co-founders) with dissenting views
The LLM Bubble is About to Implode, Gimmicks and Financial Shell Games Cannot Prevent That, Only Delay It
To inflate the bubble MElon is now doing the classic trick of buying from oneself for a fictional value
 
LLM Slop Piggybacking News About GNU/Linux and Distorting It
new examples
Links 31/03/2025: Press and Democracy Under Further Attacks in the US, Attitudes Towards Slop Sour
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/03/2025: More X-Filesposting and Dreaming in Emacs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 30, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, March 30, 2025
Links 30/03/2025: Security Breaches, Crackdowns on Dissent/Rival Politicians
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/03/2025: London Soundtrack Festival, Superbloom, gmiCAPTCHA
Links for the day
Phasing Out Vista 10 in Nations Where ~90% of Windows Users Still Rely on It
Recipe for another Microsoft disaster
The Cost of Pursuing the Much-Needed Reform/Shield Against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”
Links 30/03/2025: Contagious Ideas, Signal Leak, and Squashing Lousy Patents
Links for the day
Links 30/03/2025: "Quantum Randomness" and "F-1 Visa Revoked" in US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/03/2025: US as a Threat, Returning to the WWW
Links for the day
Links 30/03/2025: Judge Blocks Dismantling Of VOA, Turkey Arrested Many Journalists
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 29, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, March 29, 2025
Judges Would Never Rule for Men Who Strangle Women or Against Women Who Merely Wrote Articles About Abuse They Had Received From Men
We don't intend to do "trial by media", so we won't be disclosing claims and defences until it's over
Windows is an Unnatural Disaster, It is Also Avoidable
there's a wide window of opportunity opening
Gemini Links 29/03/2025: Less YouTube and More Station
Links for the day
In Some Countries, Such as Thailand, Firefox is Already Measured at Less Than 2% (One Day Firefox Will Get Blocked, Not Only Lack Support)
Web consolidation around Chrom-isms will doom the Web as we know it
Killing the News With Spam and Slop Benefits Those Whose Desire is an Uninformed Population
adoption of Free software depends indirectly on political activities/activism
Links 29/03/2025: Trademarks Battles, Fires Destroy More Than 3,000 South Korean Homes
Links for the day
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: An Introduction
Perhaps tomorrow or perhaps next week we'll share more information about what happened and what was reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency
Links 29/03/2025: More Crackdowns on Science, "Hey Hi" Slopping is Flopping
Links for the day
IBM's BS (Bait, Switch) Regarding Ways to Stay Onboard
PIPs, RTOs, and forced relocations are just an illusion of choice (or ability to recover)
Costa Rica Almost Bankrupt Because of Microsoft
the incidents in Costa Rica are Windows incidents
Gemini Links 29/03/2025: Art of Looking, Wireguard, EMacs
Links for the day
Links 29/03/2025: Attacks on Social Security and War Updates
Links for the day
Banned evidence: Ars Technica forums censored email predicting DebConf23 death, Abraham Raji & Debian cover-up
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 28, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, March 28, 2025