Bonum Certa Men Certa

Bogus European Patents Kill Cancer Patients, But EPO Still Has the Audacity to Ride the Wave of World Cancer Day



EPO Cancer support in LinkedIn



Summary: Management of the EPO has no sense of shame; in spite of abundant evidence that it contributes to cancer deaths (through monopoly), it is publicly expressing solidarity with the victims

LAST week we wrote about the European Patent Office (EPO) killing literally poor women who have breast cancer. Years ago we dealt with these ethical problems [1, 2] that disturb EPO insiders, who thought they would be doing what's morally right when they joined the Office. Less than a day ago the EPO started playing with cancer again when it wrote: "On #WorldCancerDay we want to show the world some of the great minds that are working intensively to find a cure for this dreadful disease. http://bit.ly/2DSez3N Please spread the word!"



Notice and pay attention to what picture they use in there. It's that same one they used years ago (see above). They're reusing and recycling their propaganda, much like the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) does on occasions.

"This is not what the patent system was conceived for (e.g. denying access to life-saving cancer treatments)."Philipp Widera, writing in Kluwer Patent Blog, has just recalled what the EPO did regarding "patients with breast cancer" -- basically helping to deny them access to life-saving treatment they can afford. To quote Widera: "It all started in May 2017 when Östrogenblocker (in English: “Estrogen Blocker”) had been handed down (docket-no I-2 W 6/17). The case can be regarded as a precursor of the Fulvestrant-decision as it concerned the PI-proceedings mentioned above. The underlying patent protected the use of Fulvestrant in the preparation of a medicament for the treatment of a specific group of patients with breast cancer (i.e. a Swiss-type claim). Based on the Pemetrexed-decision of the German Federal Supreme Court (docket-no X ZR 29/15, also known as Actavis v Eli Lilly), the Court of Appeal made it clear that Swiss-type claims are to be treated in the same way as so-called EPC 2000-claims. Hence Swiss-type claims are to be regarded as purpose-limited product claims (and not method claims)."

It is getting hard to tell, more so these days, if these European Patents are fake and void, as corrupt management at the EPO intentionally rushes/prods examiners to grant, passing the cost (or deaths) to the public. We'll say more about this in the next couple of articles. Here's another new example from IP Kat (also yesterday):

The patent EP (UK) 2073862 at issue claims a process for the preparation of a cell composition, comprising the steps of centrifuging whole blood in a separator tube, removing half of the platelet poor plasma from the top and re-suspending the remaining plasma and buffy coat to produce enriched platelet rich plasma (PRP). The claim specifies the type of separator tube and the centrifugal force to be used. In particular the claim specifies that the separator tube is either (1) a glass tube containing thixotropic gel and 0.10 M sodium citrate, or (2) a polyethylene terephthalate separator tube containing a highly thixotropic gel formed by a polymer mixture and anhydrous sodium citrate at 3.5 mg/mL. The inventive concept of the claim was said to reside in the resuspension step, which permits preparation of PRP from whole blood using only one centrifuge step.


Last month, seeing a report about patents on blood and vessels, I joked that one day they would patent every component of the human body, including blood plasma. How far will patent maximalism go and what will be its human toll (casualties)? This is not what the patent system was conceived for (e.g. denying access to life-saving cancer treatments).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 29/10/2025: "US Military Is Destroying the Planet Beyond Imagination" and Boat Strikes Deemed Unlawful
Links for the day
Quality Comes First (Techrights Search)
It's generally working already, but we wish to polish it some more
Techrights Party Countdown
Late next week we'll be holding a party near our home
European Parliament and Council Directive on Privacy is Vanishing
"edited / censored some time more recently"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 28, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Slopwatch: The March of Slopfarms, From UbuntuPIT to Linux Journal and to Various Fake Sites Still Promoted by Google News
It's so worrying to see what the Web has become
Links 29/10/2025: CISA, Ukraine, and Amazon Problems
Links for the day
[Teaser] The EPO's Spokesperson, a Cocaine User, Fancies Young Women
How's that for "optics" in the EU and Europe's second-largest institution?
How Will António Campinos Respond to the EPO's 'Cocainegate'?
That's the same thing we saw and still see when the press deals with enablers and partners of Jeffrey Epstein
Join Us Now and Share the News - Part IV: There Cannot be Free Software Without Free Press and Free Information
One day, one can hope, more people will recognise that for Software Freedom we need free press and free thinkers
Join Us Now and Share the News - Part III: Principled Stance Is Never Cheap
Protecting the truth and insisting that the general public is made aware of things that really happened isn't cheap
Join Us Now and Share the News - Part II: Because Scarcity of Accurate Information Breeds Collective Ignorance
we too will strive to share information that's aggressively suppressed
Gemini Links 28/10/2025: More New Arrivals at Geminispace, xkcd on "Document Forgery"
Links for the day
Join Us Now and Share the News - Part I: Defence of the Truth
This year we make a very strong, firm statement for truth, even if that means explaining our work to the top media judge in the country
Links 28/10/2025: Meta and Fentanylware (CheeTok) Age-Restricted Down Under, "Britain Needs China’s Money"
Links for the day
Links 28/10/2025: Mass Layoffs at Amazon and Charter to Cut 1,200 Jobs
Links for the day
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part II: The Person Who Planted Paid-for Fake News for the European Patent Office (EPO) is a Cocaine User, Friend of António Campinos, Now on Record as Having Been Arrested
Background: High-level manager at the European Patent Office caught in public with cocaine, arrested
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 27, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 27, 2025
Google News Drowning in Slop (and Slopfarms That Hijack About Half the Results)
Google News seems to be drowning in this stuff
Gemini Links 28/10/2025: "How to Maximize Your Positive Impact" and ASCII Art and Artist Attribution
Links for the day
PETA and Activism
Being staff or volunteer in PETA isn't easy
Big Blue, Huge Debt
debt will soar again
Links 27/10/2025: Mass Surveillance Sold as "AI", People Reluctant to Lose Physical Media
Links for the day
Parties and Milestones Again
we've begun putting up about 40 balloons
Techrights' 19th Anniversary: Bronze
Time to go back to preparing for this anniversary
Our Latest European Patent Office (EPO) Series Will Last Several Weeks, Will Ask the EPO Management and the European Union (EU) Very Difficult Questions
If nobody loses a job (or jobs) over this, then the EU basically became no better than Colombia or Nicaragua
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, Brian Fagioli, and Google News
We focus on stories that are fake or LLM slop that disguises itself as "news" about Linux
Links 27/10/2025: Wikipedia Vandalism, Bruce Perens Opens up on Childhood
Links for the day
This Site Could Not be Done by LLMs Even If It Wanted to (Because It's Not a Parrot of What Other Sites Say)
LLMs have no knowledge or deep understanding
Microsoft is Disloyal Towards Its Most Loyal Employees
Against its most faithful enablers
19 Years, No Censorship
No factual information is ever going to be removed, more so if it is in the public interest
We Are Not a Conventional Site, That's Why They Hate (or Love) Us
Throughout the week this week we'll be focusing on the EPO
Following the Line of Cocaine All the Way to the Top
Even a million denials and spin-doctoring won't distract from the core issue
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part I: António Campinos Brought Corruption and Nepotism to the EPO, Then Came the Cocaine
High-level manager at the European Patent Office (EPO) caught in public with cocaine, the Office has some answering to do
Purchasing/Possessing Computers Isn't the Same as Controlling Computers
Let's strive to put computers back under the control of their users, no matter who purchased these (usually the users)
Gemini Links 27/10/2025: Alhena 5.4.3 and Fixing Bash
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 26, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 26, 2025
Thankfully We've Made Copies of More Interesting Data From statCounter
If statCounter (the Web site or the 'webapp') vanished overnight, we'd still have something left of it
More Silent Layoffs at IBM/Red Hat
when the media counts such layoffs or presents tallies the numbers are very incomplete