Bonum Certa Men Certa

Actions Against EPO Corruption and Unitary Patent (UPC) Injustice/Lobbying

Patent terrorism



Summary: The EPO is apparently going on strike again and an action against the UPC is scheduled for later this week (protest in Brussels)

WE are generally pleased to see/read news about patents in the US because 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101 endures many challenges (another one reported on yesterday; it's in Daily Links). USPTO-granted software patents won't withstand scrutiny. Moreover, the USPTO can be sued (as habitually happens). But as long as software patents are being granted in Europe and Team Battistelli/Campinos tries to swap European courts with something that the European Patent Office (EPO) better controls there remains a real threat. Campinos recently pressured judges at the EPO to allow software patents. It's really that crude and blatant. Is the President of the EPO also the chief judge? Or a whole panel of judges? That would of course be a serious violation of the EPC at every level*.



"Is the President of the EPO also the chief judge? Or a whole panel of judges? That would of course be a serious violation of the EPC at every level."We are grateful to each and every patent examiner who participated in the recent strike ballot. We imagine that virtually all of them voted for a strike. To quote the couple of comments from RIP Kat (Märpel's anonymous blog), "Anonymous" said: "Not really correct: 54% participation and 83,2% of the participants in favour of a strike. About 3000 epo staff voted in favor of a strike. In view of the enormous efforts by Campinos to convince staff of the non- existence of the alleged gap, this shows that he clearly did not convince a big part of epo staff and shows a clear failure of his so-called transparent communication strategy."

"Anonymous Concerned examiner" said (with our emphasis added): "Märpel could also have written that only 417 voted against the strike and for Campinos project. That is little more than the top floors of the Isar building.

"As an examiner, however, I like that the figure is presented as "83". It reminds me of Article 83 EPC, the one we use when an application document is so unclear that we can't do anything with it. Maybe it is a symbol of Campinos financial studies?"

Well put, well framed. So we know that technical people at the EPO aren't happy. They want things to change. From those we've spoken to we always learn that examiners also oppose software patents. But they're under pressure to grant some, even if they know it's in violation of the EPC (like the EPO's guidelines themselves).

"The EPO continues to lie about its impact on SMEs, denying the fact that in reality they’re discriminated against and barely get/pursue patents.""What are the latest trends in self-driving vehicle innovation? This EPO study reveals the most-active companies too," the EPO tweeted yesterday.

"Way to frame software patents as "Cars" -- one of several tricks ("Hey Hi", "Blockchain", "IoT") for painting illegal patents as ground-breaking," I responded. They also tweeted their usual nonsense about "SMEs". The EPO continues to lie about its impact on SMEs, denying the fact that in reality they’re discriminated against and barely get/pursue patents.

Our FFII friends at Brussels are meanwhile preparing action on the ground. As Benjamin "NO Software Patents" Henrion put it yesterday, quoting Richard Stallman: "The volunteer activists drifted away, thinking the battle won, but the corporate lobbyists for software patents were paid to stay on the job. Now they have contrived another sneaky method: the "unitary patent" system proposed for the EU..."

"Demonstration against Unitary Software Patents" is planned, Henrion told me yesterday, setting the time and place as follows: "thu 12dec@12h00, Brussels regional parliament (PRB)" (the same time Brits are voting).

"We are calling for a demonstration against the UPC this thursday at noon," he said, "in front of the Brussels Parliament. UPC is on the agenda the day after."

This didn't happen overnight, as he first told me about it last week and yesterday he tweeted: "We are preparing a demonstration against the Unitary Patent Court (UPC) and its patent trolls, stay tuned!"

Henrion is still preparing this protest (same day as British election) and needs to interact with those who attend. There's lots at stake and having just earned television coverage in Belgium (an event he organised), one can hope the UPC protest can accomplish something similar. _____ * Incidentally, Rose Hughes (AstraZeneca UK litigation team) has just published this 'Katty' post about T 2037/18. The 'Kats' used to write a great deal about the fact that judges had come under attack and lost their independence. But not anymore. From the EPO's Boards of Appeal that totally lack independence:

T 2037/18 is an EPO Boards of Appeal case that considers how much an opponent needs to prove in the Notice of Opposition itself. The case related to a dispute between Bombardierand Siemens regarding Bombardier’s EP patent (EP2619063) for a train carriage. Siemens cited a train (the TDR Series 460) as prior art against the patent, alleging prior use by Bombardier’s customer Transregio Deutsche Regionalbahn (TDR). The case centred around whether the transfer of the train from Bombardier to TDR could be considered to have taken place under conditions of confidentiality. Crucial questions in the case were a) on which party the burden of proof should be laid and b) whether this burden was on the opponent in the Notice of Opposition. Another key question was whether the burden of proof placed on Siemens in opposition had been the equivalent of asking them to prove a negative (or more philosophically speaking, had it been like asking the opponent to prove the existence of the philosophical "celestial teapot").

The Opposition Division (OD) did not consider the information provided by Siemens on the TDR 460 train to be enough to substantiate the opposition. The OD particularly considered that the process of transfer between Bombardier and TDR should be considered as having taken place under conditions of implied confidentiality. The OD thus found that the burden of proof had been on Siemens to demonstrate the lack of such conditions of confidentiality between Bombardier and TDR in the Notice of Opposition. In the absence of any such proof the opposition was considered inadmissible.

The appeal case explored the issue of whether the burden of proof really should be viewed as resting with the opponent in such a case.


There's more in there on what was decided on "existence of confidentiality agreements"; as usual, Hughes conveniently ignores the fact that the decision may lack legitimacy due to judges lack of autonomy -- an issue they themselves have repeatedly complained about.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why We Still Love Gemini Protocol
Gemini Protocol may seem like something "old" (it's actually very new) and something "nobody would use", but many people use it
This is the Man Who's Attacking Linus Torvalds et al in "a Disease" (Social Control Media)
One thing that Richard M. Stallman and Torvalds can agree on is that Social Control Media should be avoided
Unlike GAFAM, Free Software Serves You, It Does Not Serve Governments and MElons (Overlapping Forces)
Tired of oligarchy controlling your life through gadgets and "apps"?
When It Comes to Social Control Media, Linus Torvalds is Channeling Techrights
GAFAM workers know exactly who to aim at
New EPO Paper: Promoting (Rewarding) People Who Grant Many Illegal European Patents to Make More Money (at Europeans' Expense) While Patent Courts in the EU Are Themselves Illegal
now the coup is sort of complete and even the "courts" are part of the corruption
Slopwatch: Carnival of LLM Slop and FUD Spewed by Bots, Pasted in by MaKenna Hensley and Day
Welcome to the Web in 2025. Articles about "Linux", "Security", and the Web (e.g. "Firefox") are fake.
 
Richard Stallman (RMS) Does Not Have Media Companies and Lobbyists on His Side, But His Message Spreads Regardless
The message of RMS is spreading in spite of all the smears
GNU/Linux Rises to All-Time High in Chile
sharp rise for GNU/Linux in Chile
Links 09/02/2025: Hottest January on Record, Panama Blackmailed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/02/2025: "Died as a Mineral" and Game Interface for a Non-Game
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 08, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 08, 2025
Links 08/02/2025: UK Back Doors and Religious Fundamentalists in Positions of Higher Power
Links for the day
Today's IBM (Red Hat) Isn't the Company That Fought a Microsoft-Sponsored SCO in Court
IBM is nowadays in a state of rapid disintegration
When You Simply Rebrand Almost Everything as "Hey Hi" ("AI"), "Hey Hi Workloads", "Hey Hi Datacentres" and Whatnot
The "growth" has been a growing lie for years if not decades
Microsoft Windows Falls to 12% in Myanmar
Remember that Microsoft is virtually 0% in mobile
Gemini Links 08/02/2025: "Thought Leaders" and Returns to Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Links 08/02/2025: MElon Coup, Mass Layoffs at Facebook, and PlayStation Network Down
Links for the day
On Wars Against Founders
We need to insist that founders remain
Links 08/02/2025: News Corp Admits Traffic Declines, Wildlife Trafficking Tackled
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/02/2025: Lamp and Notions
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 07, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 07, 2025
Links 07/02/2025: Amazon’s Stock Collapses and US Government Being Dismantled (Still)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/02/2025: Mid-level Details and Simple Code
Links for the day
Links 07/02/2025: US 'Demolition Crew', e-ID Loopholes, and Sanctions
Links for the day
Professor Eben Moglen on How Social Control Media Metabolises Humans and Constrains Freedom of Thought
Nothing of value would be lost if all these data-harvesting giants (profiling people) vanished overnight
Social Control Media is Narcissism
Nowadays there's a lot more literature and even press coverage explaining the harms of Social Control Media
Debian Left Twitter (MElon "X"), We Think the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Should Do the Same
What would the FSF really lose if it stopped posting there?
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Share Doubling in China Over the Past Year
It'll be interesting to see what data in the coming months shows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 06, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 06, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Confirms Next Week's Talk in Europe
He gave at least 2 talks in Europe last month
Nationalism As A Service (NaaS) by Microsoft Azure, Gutting the US Government for Profit
Will Microsoft be receiving bailouts as a reward for all this?
Rumours of IBM Layoffs Apparently Confirmed Yesterday, IBM Canada Consulting Impacted (as Rumoured)
when IBM has layoffs we must also read it as Red Hat layoffs