The EPO is like a family business or the Mafia (in countries controlled by their underworld)
READERS of Techrights hurriedly contacted us yesterday regarding this typical late Friday fluff (warning: epo.org link) from European Patent Office (EPO) management or Team Campinos/Battistelli. It looked shallow on the surface and indeed it turned out to be just a statement on the subject of UPC, merely a "parade of suits". No substance, only lies. Corrupt people do corrupt things and want to corrupt courts (to protect themselves), whereupon they strive to violate constitutions and so on...
"Corrupt people do corrupt things and want to corrupt courts (to protect themselves), whereupon they strive to violate constitutions and so on..."So okay... what was actually said there? The summary (below the shallow headline/title) states: "António Campinos, President of the European Patent Office (EPO), and his team met today with the Chair and members of the executive group of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Preparatory Committee, as well as with the Chair of the Unitary Patent Select Committee, to take stock of the state of play of the preparations to implement the Unitary Patent package."
So they had... a meeting! Wow. Shocking. That Team UPC is in bed with the EPO (one might say steers the EPO) is hardly a secret. This coup goes quite some time back. Also notice some of the people named there; they're indebted to Battistelli, for reasons we mentioned before. Aside from loud proponents of software patents in Europe we seem to be seeing rather openly corrupt officials and now they want to enforce/impose their corrupt and illegal acts on the court system, too.
"That Team UPC is in bed with the EPO (one might say steers the EPO) is hardly a secret."Will they get it? Naaaa... incredibly unlikely. They know it themselves (deep inside they've nearly given up), but they fake positivity and enthusiasm. It's their lobbying strategy.
The EPO then tweeted : "EPO President Campinos: “We are confident that the necessary steps can be accomplished in time for the Unitary Patent package to become operational at the end of 2020.” More on today’s meeting on the status of the preparations of the #UnitaryPatent here: https://www.epo.org/news-issues/news/2020/20200110.html …"
This was "liked" by CIPA and others (the 'usual suspects').
"...they want to enforce/impose their corrupt and illegal acts on the court system, too."So I responded (which I rarely do directly, i.e. in direct response form): "There's not much to be said about 'unitary' patents and EPO granting any as nothing actually happened but a photo op, a group photo op, with text to accompany the lobby. The usual nonsense. This is the first time in a long time something is said about the subject and they may have dragged into people who aren't even associated with it just to give fictional scale, an illusion of broad support..."
It didn't take long for Benjamin Henrion to respond separately and independently: "CJEU won't have a say on patent law, how foolish is that?"
He had elsewhere stated: "If no-CJEU is Boris redline, i wonder how it plays with biotech patents and the UPC London court, where the CJEU has the last word."
Of course they don't wish to talk about CJEU; it's one of several elephants inside their room.
"Of course they don't wish to talk about CJEU; it's one of several elephants inside their room."I later pointed out "the law does not exist in today's EPO. It's violated as a matter of routine. They moreover have kangaroo courts to justify Battistelli's illegal acts and media is being bribed to not report on that. [...] JUVE reported that the number of applications decreases and all the good examiners are leaving or have left. Institutions die when the people who run them abandon."
Ask EPO insiders. They know it. They're aware. They admit it. They're rightly concerned. SUEPO's "January 2020 press articles" (posted yesterday or thereabouts) has in it “The 10 most popular articles in 2019: EPO guidelines, EPO unrest, SPCs and UPC” (Kluwer Patent Blog).
"Ask EPO insiders. They know it. They're aware. They admit it. They're rightly concerned."Ulf Leckel and other cheerleaders for the litigation agenda ended up copying the ridiculous headline of the EPO ("The EPO and representatives from EU Member States call for the speedy implementation of the Unitary Patent package"), which isn't just assertive but also somewhat delusional.
Delusion you say?
Yup.
Over at Kluwer Patent Blog, "Kluwer Patent blogger" (usually Bristows) said that "[t]he meeting made it clear that the EPO is ready to register the first Unitary Patents and that the Preparatory Committee has advanced its work as far as possible."
Delusional much?
"What on Earth has happened to the EPO? It's behaving like a government of a very primitive and brutal country."Team UPC has quoted from that: "Maybe Campinos, Ramsay, Debrûlle wanted to convey a message of hope to supporters of the UP system, but leaving out any reference to these 2 elephants in the room will not help to convince that the UP & Unified Patent Court will really start functioning at the end of this year."
So even Team UPC is aware that it's unrealistic. First comment quotes: "Our users – and in particular SMEs – will strongly benefit from it because it will make Europe more competitive in relation to the United States and Asia.”
The commenter said it "reminds me of “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.” Honestly, how on earth could the UPC be beneficial to SMEs? Do these people really believe that nonsense? I can imagine the UPC to benefit quite a few parties, but the SMEs are not among them to be sure."
Jan Van Hoey then said: "After Brexit, the AETR caselaw will kick in. AETR was used during the EPLA discussions to legally exclude non-EU member states like Switzerland. Italy should use the AETR to reclaim the London court in Milan. And this EPO and other NPO press release looks like “We want the unitary renewal fees in our pockets”. The UK cannot stay in UPC, it has to be renegotiated so that art6-8 (supremacy of the CJEU) is reestablished."
As Henrion told me (quoting the above or paraphrasing): "the latest EPO article on UPC can be seen as "UPC will give us renewal fees in our pockets".."
"It's totally embarrassing and it tarnishes Europe's image."These people are totally insane and corrupt. They crush our laws and constitutions for money.
What will they tell us on January 31st? For at least 13 years they've told us that UPC was just around the corner (consider this article from 7 years ago, as it did not age well, under the headline "The unitary patent: coming soon to a European country near you")
Define "soon"...
Aside from the delusional press release and tweet from the EPO we saw (on Friday) more greenwashing and other tweets that are lies, myths, bluff and fluff, decorated with wind power photos (stock photography for greenwashing). What on Earth has happened to the EPO? It's behaving like a government of a very primitive and brutal country. It's totally embarrassing and it tarnishes Europe's image. ⬆