Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Management Exacerbates Its Patent Invalidity Crisis by Rushing Examination Even Further in New Pilots

Justice doesn't matter. The only thing that matters now is speed and volume of patent "delivery" (grant).

A sick EPO
A morbidly sick kakistocracy is what the EPO turned into (in less than a decade)



Summary: The printing/litigation machine that the Office has devolved into is certainly good for patent trolls, but not for anybody else; those who don't play along are sooner or later ousted (for caring about proper examination and underlying justice)

IN THE PREVIOUS EPO post we spoke about the collapse in patent quality and silencing of all sources of criticism. Team Campinos/Battistelli has long been more interested in squashing and muzzling media/bloggers than it was in solving the stated (by media/bloggers) problems. Last week's leak (a program euphemistically-named “Collaborative Quality Improvements”) shows that collapse in patent quality is now branded “Collaborative" and "Quality Improvements”. More marketing than substance. More PR than science.



"More marketing than substance. More PR than science."Our newly-published leaks are obviously ignored by the European media (don't even bother trying to get the media interested), which the EPO gives money to (it helps keep it silent). We get some truly explosive material about the EPO published almost each and every week. The corporate media refuses to even touch it. They stonewall. They'd rather not say why the issues aren't being covered. Such is the impact of the officials buying silence from this media (at our expense). It's corruption that in effect extends to the media. It's disturbing and troubling to me, both as a European citizen and one who spent decades writing about injustices. I've never seen anything like that (when covering Microsoft abuses the media at least showed interest). Days ago we added another leak about mass-demoted Directors. Media response? Nothing! They didn't even tweet about this. Nothing. What ought to have been front page news in some circles (e.g. sites about patent 'news'*) was simply ignored. As someone put it this morning: "Meanwhile, Angel Aledo and Diego Eguidazu (http://techrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/DEA-LinkedIn.pdf …), having destroyed many people€´s careers, enjoy a huge salary at @EPOorg without ever passing an #epso @EU_Careers competition, just because they are under the Campino€´s Mafia http://techrights.org/2019/06/01/antonio-campinos-isnt-change/ … #EqualRights"

Donald Zuhn has meanwhile been spreading to syndicated 'news' sites (actually, lawyers' sites treated by Google News as "news") this latest post of his from Patent Docs, a patent maximalists' site. It's about another pilot (notorious like all the rest). Can we call it "globalisation" wherein the goal is lowering labour standards, examination thresholds/practices, and patent quality (e.g. calling bunk software patents "hey hi")? In his own words (notice the recurring theme, words like "Cooperation" and "Collaboration" again):

In a Patent Alert e-mail distributed last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that beginning July 1, 2019, the Office would once again be accepting new International applications to the IP5 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Collaboration Search and Examination (CS&E) pilot program. In a notice published in the Federal Register last year (83 Fed. Reg. 30147), the Office announced its first year of participation in the pilot program, which ran from July 1, 2018 until June 30, 2019. The second year of the Office's participation in the program begins tomorrow and runs through June 30, 2020. The pilot program was initiated to assess user interest for a CS&E product (i.e., an International search report and written opinion prepared by collaborating examiners from the IP5 Offices), as well as whether the collaboration results in efficiency gains by the IP5 Offices.


And here comes yet another pilot, belatedly posted with an older date (probably a CMS/editing error) (warning: epo.org link) to show how the EPO prioritises patent trolls and/or presumption of guilt (leapfrogging justice). What an awful strategy which values/favours parasites and litigators, not innovation.

So the EPO says it wants patent trolls et al "obtaining patents more quickly and efficiently" irrespective of underlying facts, legal validity etc. In its own words:

With effect from 1 July 2019, the European Patent Office (EPO) will be extending its PPH pilot programme with IP Australia, thus enabling applicants at both offices to continue obtaining patents more quickly and efficiently.

The PPH pilot programme is being extended for three years until 30 June 2022, and the current conditions and requirements for participation will continue to apply.


Anyone who thought that Campinos might be "hope" or "change" or "improving things" must rethink things quickly. He's already deranking/demoting dozens of Directors he does not like (replacing them with his minions) and planning to fire a lot of people, under the guise of "sustainability" or "efficiency" or "agility" (like he did at his former employer). It's quickly escalating and it will inevitably become a dictatorship (or takeover) of patent maximalists like never seen elsewhere (not even in China). ____ * We don't really cover these matters as closely as before anymore, but the good news is that patent maximalists' sites/blogs are deteriorating and perishing.

Managing IP is deteriorating along with Patent Docs, Watchtroll (back to ranting about very old 35 U.S.C. €§ 101 cases in "Federal Circuit Cellspin Ruling Provides Important Clarifications on Aatrix and Berkheimer"), IAM and Patently-O. They lost many of their key writers and don't have much to write, so they yank out 'meta' articles like this one instead. Managing IP -- a de facto think tank of patent maximalists and Battistelli -- is stacking panels again in order to stage bogus debates where one side of the debate is excluded, as usual.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
 
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025