THE European Patent Office (EPO) has just ended EPOPIC. We wrote about the second and first day (more on the latter) because of the EPO's promotion of software patents in Europe.
"It's no secret that UPC is for patent trolls; its most vocal proponents and most aggressive pushers are technically serving patent trolls from the US."The event was finished around midday today and no controversial talks were scheduled (we can agree with most of what was said there, focusing on patents as information sources that need to be linked, searched, and made accessible though open data).
The EPO wants this event to be more of an echo chamber next time and the only time it mentioned "AI" (earlier today) it was in relation to search, not patent scope. The EPO rewteeted this: "Honored to have the chance to contribute our thoughts about the future of #ArtificialIntelligence for #patent search at the #EPOPIC alongside three great speakers. https://twitter.com/epoorg/status/1062387433348710402 …"
It's worth noting that at no point did the EPO mention the UPC, at least not in tweets. It's almost as though it's presumed dead.
One person remarked on the EPO's promotion of software patents in Europe by saying: "1) On June, 2015 the Paris High Court, said: “Article 52 of the EPC is perfectly clear and does not require any interpretation: computer programs as such are excluded from patentability, and the reason for this is that they are covered by copyright". https://www.april.org/en/paris-high-court-reaffirms-ban-software-patents …" (there's more there)
I replied by stating that "today's EPO is an enemy of judges and courts, yet it wants to dominate the courts themselves..." (UPC)
A few days ago Jean-Baptiste Thiénot (CMS Francis Lefebvre Avocats), i.e. litigation 'industry', was spreading typical lies about the UPC right from the first sentence when he said: "Awaiting the decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court, we are only one step away from the entry into force of the Unified Patent Court…"
No, there are more barriers and regarding the UK (one among several additional barriers), these people keep pretending it's about to 'stay' in the UPC/A (which does not even exist). It cannot and it will not. But guess who creeps in? Sam Gyimah. He changed his job again, just as his predecessor did (he currently dissents against Brexit, but that's outside the scope of this site). Gyimah is being either dishonest or foolish, having already shocked people with what he did [1, 2].
"Impossible is nothing," one UPC sceptic wrote regarding this tweet: "Science minister @SamGyimah has insisted it is possible for the UK to remain part of the forthcoming unitary patent system after #Brexit, despite this only being open to European Union member states. rsrch.co/2K6Lq6J pic.twitter.com/W12LiOfTpH"
Again, Gyimah is being either dishonest or foolish (or both). Maybe he listened too hard or paid too much attention to last month's stacked debates, which were stacked by Team UPC. Sam Gyimah continues to perpetuate UPC lies like Team UPC's taking points and to make matters worse, what he does here is clearly and truly detrimental to science (of which he is minister!). Similarly, the EPO is supposed to help science, but nowadays it does the exact opposite.
It's no secret that UPC is for patent trolls; its most vocal proponents and most aggressive pushers are technically serving patent trolls from the US. Now that patent trolls from the US struggle in the US they explore the possibility of preying on Europe, just as they do China. Some patent trolls now try to call themselves "ethical" [1, 2] and Managing IP, which attended EPOPIC, helps them, just as it helped UPC advocacy. These patent trolls are looking to prey on China next (they should know that China sometimes arrests trolls) and Managing IP has just trolled its readers with a loaded question as a headline: "Are NPEs good for China’s patent system?"
Of course not; it's behind a paywall, but we can guess who's behind it, at the very least based on the amount of money. "Brian Yates, CEO of iPEL, came out all guns blazing when he spoke with IAM about the NPE, which launched at the end of June with $100 million of money raised from what he described as “a hedge fund comprised of sophisticated investors”," IAM wrote some months ago, noting the focus on China. Managing IP wrote:
A US company backed with $100m is making a big push to monetise Chinese patents, against a backdrop of rising IP tensions between the two countries