Bonum Certa Men Certa

EU Needs to Show That It Cares About SMEs and Not 'European Champions' That Are Actually Foreign Monopolies

The UPC would be an SME killer and they very well know it

Benlogo tweet
New tweet by someone incredibly thin-skinned



Summary: Judging by the EU's nearly blind and unconditional support for the management of the EPO -- no matter how abusive and corrupt it has gotten -- one has to wonder if the ex-EU official in charge of the EPO reveals a profound democracy deficit as well as growing dangers to Europe's businesses -- the productive firms to which patent maximalism often represents far more risk than opportunity

"Assisting the Second day of the training for [EU] @IPRHelpdesk ambassadors at the [European Patent Office (EPO)] in Berlin," wrote a patent maximalist in Twitter shortly before blocking me for merely replying to him. He was retweeted by EPO PR people, revealing (yet again) close connections between the EU and the EPO. Remember that the management of the EPO insists that it is not an EU institution (it certainly predates the EU) and therefore it's above the law and nobody can hold EPO officials accountable for their corruption. That may sound OK on the surface, but the overlap and connections are very clear to see and abuses are also clear to see. So the immunity ought to end. António Campinos probably did not break laws himself, but he helps cover up Battistelli's and he perpetuates all the old crimes. He's also promoting software patents in Europe and inappropriately meddling in cases before BoA (to push for software patents). Imagine the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) meddling in PTAB cases or even Federal Circuit/SCOTUS cases regarding 35 U.S.C. €§ 101. Sure, the existing Director ignores their caselaw, but he's not attacking those judges. It's nowhere as bad as in the EPO, where judges are literally being bullied by the President of the Office and his bulldog from Zagreb.



"It's nowhere as bad as in the EPO, where judges are literally being bullied by the President of the Office and his bulldog from Zagreb."On the same day the EPO mentioned "Patent litigation, from A to Z," whereupon I said that "EPO should focus on patent EXAMINATION and SEARCHING!! NOT litigation. But today's EPO is so unhinged and debased that it goes out of its way to help bullies, trolls, and litigation conglomerates" (such as LESI).

Remember that the EPO -- like those litigation firms -- wants the UPC, which is an EU system!

"Remember that the EPO -- like those litigation firms -- wants the UPC, which is an EU system!"SMEs do not need an EU system or an EU-wide/pan-European litigation system as they don't operate outside their country (otherwise they're probably not SMEs). "There were already amendments for a cheaper path for SMEs," Benjamin Henrion noted, quoting: "6. Emphasises the need for preferential treatment for smaller actors, in particular researchers, SMEs and innovative companies, in the form of a differentiated and simplified cost and procedural structure;"

More "SME" 'tweets' from EPO have just been posted, distracting from the harm caused to them by the EPO. "Even pending patents can contribute significant business value," the EPO wrote. "That's one conclusion of our SME case studies."

Who funded those 'studies' and what was their required outcome? Are those SMEs representative of the whole? The UPC lobby spent a number of years lying about SMEs, pretending to speak for them and pretending that the UPC would favour them (the exact opposite is true).

"I am not alone to think the UPC will have to be renegotiated," Henrion wrote, "due to the departure of the UK from the list of the 3 countries that are needed in order to enter into force. UK, heavily lobbied by the patent industry, asked CJEU to not be involved in patent law [...] Yesterday, there was a smell of hope for software patents and the UPC. I learned about a bomb which I cannot tell at the moment..."

He had organised a protest against the UPC one day before he wrote that.

"The UPC lobby spent a number of years lying about SMEs, pretending to speak for them and pretending that the UPC would favour them (the exact opposite is true).""They can try to rename the whole thing again," I responded, "taking another half a decade with additional constitutional barriers as the public caught up and the litigation lobby caught by the flashlight in the dark..."

As an aside, Henrion took note of an old article regarding IP2Innovate. To quote the article: "The new industry body is primarily concerned about the impact of patent trolls on innovative companies in Europe and believes that the situation will exacerbate dramatically if and when the Unified Patent Court is put in place."

"CDU/CSU moving on software patents under the car industry lobby," he wrote, but "no abolition yet, bifurcation..."

From the said page (in English): "Patents registered in software and telecommunications in particular often turn out to be unjustified in the end. This has to be clarified quickly and legally."

"How often do SMEs enforce a patent EU-wide? Almost never.""Copying Germany as a model is not good," Henrion added. "Germany has a bifurcated patent court system which is a magnet for patent troll. German Minister is now considering removing bifurcation..."

One patent attorney who is occasionally sceptical if not critical of the UPC responded: "You have a point. I love the bifurcated system when I have to enforce, and I hate it when I have to defend..."

How often do SMEs enforce a patent EU-wide? Almost never.

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