THE European Patent Office (EPO) -- we cannot emphasise strongly enough -- barely mentions the UPC any longer. António Campinos mentioned it at most a couple of times since becoming the EPO's President back in July. Sure, Campinos actively promotes software patents in Europe -- patents that aren't legitimate (that's why they try to replace the current court system with the UPC, which the EPO has more leverage over).

"Sure, Campinos actively promotes software patents in Europe -- patents that aren't legitimate (that's why they try to replace the current court system with the UPC, which the EPO has more leverage over)."Yesterday we spotted an article titled "Sind Ihre Produkte vor patentrechtlichen Angriffen und „Trollen“ sicher?" in German media. It's about the UPC, which has been de facto dead for nearly a year, thanks in part to the constitutional complaint in Germany. There are several other factors in the mix, one of which is Brexit.

Team UPC's Jane Lambert wrote yesterday on Twitter, in light of leaked Brexit documents: "The section on IP in the leaked political declaration in @TheGuardian__ makes no mention of British participation in the #UPC after the transition period and leaves no room for it so ratification and spend on rent and fitting out Aldgate East has come to 0 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/22/brexit-leaked-political-declaration-in-full …"

There's "no need to kick this dead horse and businesses in the UK do not want it anyway, only trolls and litigators," I told Lambert.

"It's about the UPC, which has been de facto dead for nearly a year, thanks in part to the constitutional complaint in Germany."Bristows has meanwhile promoted the delusion of Italy magically replacing the UK (that would require a massive overhaul and it's impractical). "Italy’s Council of Ministers approves amendment of IP Code to implement unitary patent and UPC system," it wrote, citing itself (see rebuttal in this earlier post). To make matters worse, Bristows has apparently just paid to spread its lies to news feeds. It is the first time in months that they say anything at all about UPC.

The reality of the matter is, UPC is dead, which means that courts will continue to reject software patents and reject the gross misrepresentation of the EPC (the EPO keeps trying to justify patents on algorithms this way, snubbing courts).

Yesterday the EPO wrote: "Last chance to register for our “Global patenting and emerging technologies” conference. Don’t miss out on an inspirational day..."

"It was bad enough that OIN legitimised software patents in the US; is it doing the same in Europe now?"By "emerging technologies” the EPO means algorithms, which are not patent-eligible (but today's EPO ignores the law and the rules anyway). It then wrote: "What does the IP landscape look like in the area of #blockchain? Mirko Boehm from the Open Invention Network, Benjamin Bai from Ant Financial Services Group, Klaus Haft from @HoyngRokh and Richard Bennett from Schwabe Sandmair Marx will discuss that here: http://bit.ly/EPOblockchain18"

Shame on OIN for participating in patent trolls-infested events of the EPO where software patents are promoted and disguised by hype waves. We have totally lost respect for OIN. It was bad enough that OIN legitimised software patents in the US; is it doing the same in Europe now? ⬆