Bonum Certa Men Certa

An Illegal Practice: The EPO Continues to Grant Unlawful Patents and Then Brag About These

EPO delivery



Summary: The EPO very well understands that it grants illegal patents and it silences those who point this out; it remains rather incredible that in a developed continent such as Europe this is allowed to carry on for so long

THE U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), taking 35 U.S.C. €§ 101 into account, either does not grant software patents or barely grants these (only for patent courts and judges to throw them out later). Here in Europe, however, software patents are being granted more than ever, owing to European Patent Office (EPO) presidents like António Campinos and Battistelli, who proudly break the law. Then they even look to reward those who amass many of these illegal patents. It is really as bad as that sounds; patents on mathematics are being granted by the EPO in spite of EPO management being well aware those are illegal.



Yesterday the EPO wrote:

The EPO will be at the #WebSummit2019 for the first time! Stay tuned as we reveal what we will be up to in Lisbon! Who’s joining? https://bit.ly/2Js5SzE #WebSummit pic.twitter.com/2kR7eV2eXL


"Your speakers are promoting illegal software patents that cause a lot of damage to everybody," I responded, having reviewed this list (of just 2 people).

"It is really as bad as that sounds; patents on mathematics are being granted by the EPO in spite of EPO management being well aware those are illegal."From the page in question (warning: epo.org link): "The 2019 EIA Lifetime achievement finalist dedicated her career to inventions that enable fast, high quality streaming. Named as inventor in almost 130 granted European patents, Karczewicz's technologies have transformed the video entertainment industry and made video streaming on laptops and mobile devices available to a wider audience."

Those patents are fake patents; they cover mathematics and they're used to actively harm the computer industry. The EPO is promoting lies of Qualcomm instead of actually assessing the impact of these patents. This is the first entry in the list and there's another one for Microsoft (Alex Kipman), a big booster of software patents all around the world

The EPO later added: "We’re happy to announce that EPO President António Campinos will join a panel discussion at #WebSummit on “ #Patenting the future: The next big invention” on 6 November!"

"Those patents are fake patents; they cover mathematics and they're used to actively harm the computer industry."He does not even have technical qualifications for this. "Web Summit is a meeting point for people and companies that are redefining technology," they say about this event. Campinos has nothing to do with technology. So "Web Summit" has been compromised in the sense that now it is a platform for patent zealots without any common sense. They don't value the Web, they value patent mazes.

We have meanwhile found fresh criticism of these illegal patents that the EPO keeps granting, recently under the guise of "AI" (a buzzword/vague acronym). Benjamin Henrion noted that by "[e]nd of this week, the EPO will extend software patents to AI without a public debate. This is how broken this institution is..."

"The EPO is making up these guidelines while knowingly and consciously breaking the law that gave it its very existence," I responded. Albert Cohen ("Research on compilers, programming languages, code generators, performance and correctness. Free software advocate," by his own description, as per his profile at Twitter) also responded to Henrion by stating: "The last paragraph is very problematic: training a neutral net, or other AI algorithm, is patentable if part of a larger design with "technical" effect. This could go extremely wrong."

"We have meanwhile found fresh criticism of these illegal patents that the EPO keeps granting, recently under the guise of "AI" (a buzzword/vague acronym).""Worse," I said, "it's illegal. But the EPO illegally grants software patents using false, bogus justifications that are in essence facilitating violations of the EPC every day. Nobody holds them accountable."

Is the EPC just a dead and obsolete document now? It's violated in various other ways, e.g. judges being punished by exile to Haar.

If the EPO refuses to obey the EPC, then immunity must be withdrawn and the whole institution 'rebooted' (all management removed and replaced, maybe punished as well). On Monday morning Daniela Ampollini showed that courts in Italy recognise the EPC (lots about this in the second paragraph, included previously in our Daily Links), unlike the EPO which violates it every day. Why are courts across Europe following the EPC, whereas the EPO is allowed to flagrantly violate it? Because of immunity? Then remove it. Put an end to this corruption.

Yesterday the EPO spoke -- in a new tweet -- of "computer programs" followed by "AI" (that in itself is "computer programs"). This means that either EPO tweets are written by chronic liars or the people who write this are endlessly clueless and unfit for the job. Choose one.

"If the EPO refuses to obey the EPC, then immunity must be withdrawn and the whole institution 'rebooted' (all management removed and replaced, maybe punished as well)."The tweet said: "Can you patent computer programs, GUIs and artificial intelligence at the EPO? This recorded #webinar will shed some light on the topic: https://bit.ly/2mCzO3X"

"You can," I responded, "but those would be fake patents courts would invalidate because EPO is a rogue, corrupt institution that breaks the EPC, its governing law."

The EPO also wrote: "European patent applications related to autonomous driving have grown 20 times faster than those across all technologies. View the figures in this report: http://bit.ly/SDVstudy #SelfDriving #FutureOfCars pic.twitter.com/96CamDck9d"

"You just make up categories, buzzwords and acronyms," I told them, "that 'justify' you granting illegal, fake, bogus, bunk software patents and other patents..."

See this new article from Managing IP. Do they recognise already that software patents "on a car" aren't legally valid and therefore resort to secrecy (while criminalising knowledge of their employees)? Anything for monopoly/protectionism?

"The EPO gets to break the law every single day and nobody gets punished. Illegal orders must be obeyed because of diplomatic immunity."This has become so banal and typical that it's almost depressing. The EPO gets to break the law every single day and nobody gets punished. Illegal orders must be obeyed because of diplomatic immunity. We've meanwhile taken note of this upcoming 'webinar' in which an IBM-connected front group (IPO) has some real nerve promoting software patents alongside "Open Source" (there's a part there about "Open Source, Software Related Inventions"). It's just IBM's usual promotion of software patents -- even by lying about Open Source and saying it was possible owing to such patents.

Henrion has meanwhile blasted OIN, arguing that "OIN [is] lobbying the Gnome Foundation to use prior art instead of Alice to avoid the subject matter eligibility #oin #ibm #swpat"

I told him that "this is so that IBM can keep lobbying for software patents all around the world and that lobbying won’t be disrupted by the troll that got its patents from a Microsoft troll (nobody talks about it!)..."

We covered this subject numerous times in the past. Here's all the coverage we've found about it so far. As oiaohm put it moments ago in our IRC channels, Alice "can take out complete classes of patents in a single pen stroke." This is what IBM is hoping to avoid, or at least front groups such as OIN.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slop Nihilism is Funded by Big Oil
Eventually human civilisation will destroy itself
Professor Eben Moglen Recovering From Open Heart Surgery
From his public pages (this is not secret)
There Are Red Hat (IBM) Layoffs, But Google News is Infested With Slopfarms
It contributes a lot to misinformation and it encourages plagiarism
USA Not a Place for Free Speech
In America, as in the US, the attacks seem more enhanced or advanced these days
 
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Flashing LineageOS and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Long COVID Study, "Exposing Pegasus", and Chatbots Exposing Sensitive Data
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Secret Settlement for Internet Archive and Google’s LLM Slop Summaries Attracting Lawsuits
Links for the day
The True Cost of 'Generative Models'
Funded and promoted by the companies that profit from the waste
'Big Slop' Attacks Contemporary Information/Knowledge and Creative Works, 'Big Copyright' (Cartel) Attacks the Old
Someone at IA will hopefully "blow the whistle" on what they actually agreed
Why We Find It Difficult to Trust Rust
A comparison between C/C++ and Rust
Watching the OSI: Our Series Will Carry on Irrespective of the Chief's 'Resignation'
the OSI isn't even the real guardian of the term "Open Source"
Just What LibreOffice Needs? Another Language? (Rust)
what's all this concern about memory safety?
Many Microsoft Managers Are Leaving
"Hey hi" chaff or chaff about "hey hi" cannot eternally distract from the difficulties inside the company
Tomorrow, Microsoft's Tim Anderson's 'The Register MS' Offshoot Will Have Been Inactive for 2 Months (There's Also a Slop Problem)
We've already caught The Register MS using LLM slop for articles
Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Leaves Microsoft After Nearly 30 Years
And not retiring
Even Windows Users Are Having Problems With "Secure Boot"
When it comes to security - Microsoft strives for the very opposite
Another Competition Crime of Microsoft, Long Facilitated and Advocated by a Bad Actor, Who is Funded by a Third Party to Commit Extortion Against People Who Have Correctly and Repeatedly Warned About It for Over 13 Year
We must always go back to the core issues
3 More Reasons to Replace Mozilla Firefox With LibreWolf
Thankfully there are de-enshittified versions of Firefox
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Links 17/09/2025: Google Layoffs in "Hey Hi" (AI), Perplexity Hit With More "Hey Hi" (Plagiarism) Lawsuits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Reclaiming Things in a Digital Age and Moon Phases in CGI
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News is Slop, Google News is Plagiarism, Google News is Dying
Google is off the rails
Links 16/09/2025: "The Censorship Alarm Is Ringing in the Wrong Direction" and ASRock Does Microsoft E.E.E. on GNU/Linux
Links for the day
Serious "Breach of Confidentiality of Personal Data" in Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the EPO
Yes, the same EPO that routinely uses "data protection" and "GDPR" as a pretext for hiding or covering up its corruption and white-collar crimes (it even uses that as an excuse for refusing to obey courts' orders)
Adrienne Rockenhaus Says Her Husband Was Arrested for Running Tor and Denied Basic Rights in the United States
the US seems to be getting "russified" in its approach towards Tor
This is What Happens When Microsoft Canonical Lets Decisions on Ubuntu be Made by a Youngster From the British Army (Where He Did Mass Surveillance)
"Is Ubuntu Compromised?"
Back Doored Windows Giving GNU/Linux a Hard Time (Under the Guise of 'Security')
Is this complication intentional? Most likely, yes
Links 16/09/2025: Science, Security, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/09/2025: Command-line Options in POSIX Shell and Introducing Acre 0.9
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Secure' Boot Versus Dual Boot With GNU/Linux
they're meant to assume everything is OK
Links 16/09/2025: While Oracle Pretends to be Rich It's Firing About 70 MySQL Workers, "Oracle's Revenge" (Faking Demand With "AI")
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Published a New Web Page About "Secure Boot Update Process" (Microsoft Also Admits Issues; PCs Can Stop Booting)
Why was this page issued and published only hours ago?
Microsoft Lunduke: I Spread Hate and Then I Receive Hate
Cry us a river, Microsoft Lunduke
"Use Wayland" Isn't a Bugfix for X (X11 is Still Necessary)
They tell us X is "dead" and we must all be herded into Wayland ASAP
"Disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Wipe and Start Over."
At least they didn't say, buy a new computer...
The Oracle Ponzi Scheme
Oracle isn't doing well, but it's nowadays fashionable to say "clown" and "hey hi" to prop up one's stock, even based on nothing at all
The New Head of OSI is an "Hey Hi" (AI) Obsessed Person
when Bryant says "AI" that doesn't mean AI
Taking Out the Battery, Opening Up Your Computer, Just Like a "Normie" Would
At this stage, any person who still says "enable Secure Boot" is misguided or persuaded by companies that sell rootkits
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News (Fake 'Articles' About "Linux" Spreading FUD)
searching for "Linux" today yields a lot of FUD
"Governments, local authorities, schools and hospitals can lead by example by procuring only Free Software"
Crossposted from Tux Machines
Cindy Cohn Leaving the Electronic Frontier Foundation While Its Co-founder John Gilmore, Whom She Apparently Helped Oust, Will Celebrate 40 Years of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
EFF has been busy hoarding GAFAM money, whereas the latter is where all the real activism is done
The Reach of Techrights Has Broadened
We nowadays cover a broader range of issues
"Google is Googlebombing KDE's Project Banana"
So is Google googlebombing KDE's Project Banana? You decide.
Complicating Things for No Actual Benefit, Just Added Risk and More Difficulties Adding GNU/Linux and BSDs
Watch what it's like for people who wish to use BSDs
Some Very Large IRC Networks Are Growing
IRC will turn 38 next year
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 15, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 15, 2025
Links 16/09/2025: Autumn Party, RPG Planet, and Optical ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Geminispace Growing at Pace of Over 10% Per Year
Contrary to what some pessimists try to claim
Linux Mint Forums Today: Disable 'Secure Boot', It Doesn't Improve Security, It's Just a Microsoft Obstacle to GNU/Linux Users
They also mention MOK
What Ruben Amorim and Stefano Maffulli Have in Common
Censors Wikipedia and Social Control Media
Microsoft Won't Cooperate in Trying to Tackle EPO Corruption (Microsoft Profits From This Corruption)
Use something like BigBlueButton, Jami, Ring, and Jitsi instead
Solved Less Than an Hour Ago: Trying to Escape Windows, 'Secure Boot' Gets in the Way
'Secure Boot' wasn't meant to even exist in the first place
Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative, Resigns or Gets Removed (We'll Continue Covering OSI Scandals)
A dozen mentions of "AI", not much about "Open Source"
Andy Has Just Nailed It (Regarding Complexity and Failure, a la UEFI)
The users no longer own or control what they buy
Compatibility Support Module (CSM) Versus GNU/Linux Simplicity
what Andy recently called "solutionism"
Links 15/09/2025: "Postal Traffic to US Down by Over 80%" and 'Smart' Spinozacampus Laundry Room Goes AWOL
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Dungeon Hustle and Deleting Oneself From the Net
Links for the day
Breach of EPO's Duty of Care or Cigna Reimbursement Issues
This is the sort of thing that motivated Luigi Mangione to assassinate a CEO
Ask Ubuntu About "Secure Boot" Violation and Laptops That Don't Boot GNU/Linux
Does anyone still believe that "Secure Boot" has anything at all to do with security?
We Are Sad to Hear the Story of Jonathan Riddell, Champion of KDE and GNU/Linux on Desktops/Laptops
I have enormous respect for Jonathan and everything he has done
Talking About the Problem vs Talking to the Problem
Wanting an audience is never a good excuse for compromising one's values and principles
Focusing on Patents
The reason we cover the EPO so much is that it's close to home
"Secure Boot Violation": The 'Joys' of Fake Security Gone Wrong
Not everyone reboots every day
Links 15/09/2025: Russia Invades Romanian Airspace, Penske Media Sues Google Over LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 15/09/2025: Bitcoin ATMs Scam and "Conservative Cryptography" (Backdoors Fantasies)
Links for the day
EPO Imitates Microsoft: "Three Days or More Per Week" Inside the Office to Get a Desk to Work on; "the Office Breaches Its Promise Towards Staff and Acts in Breach of Its Duty of Care"
The EPO serves no actual function in Europe
Links 15/09/2025: Political Affairs, Censorship, and Copyrights
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Music Genres, Invisible Networks, and Akademy 2025
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 14, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 14, 2025