The original paper is here [PDF]

The opening page with amendment noted

What the report actually covered

How patent propagandists framed it all (this site is very often used for EPO propaganda, since the Battistelli days)

Summary: Fear of China is being leveraged to promote an agenda of patent maximalists; the general idea they promote is that granting millions of low-quality patents is the only way to compete, even if in reality that merely handicaps the whole market

THE previous post bemoaned (yet again) the state of journalism -- if any still exists -- when it comes to patents. Almost all coverage is just lobbying and propaganda of litigation firms. One can even follow the money and reassure oneself that it is funded by them.

Based on the above report, one gets the impression that the EU acts as mouthpiece for patent maximalists including the European Patent Office (EPO). It uses an image of António Campinos and says "Poor IP [sic] protection [sic] in China causes ‘irreparable harm’ to EU companies" (the same line habitually used by US litigation giants...)

"To ignore the sheer number of Chinese patents -- no matter their low quality -- is to be dishonest to oneself."It's actually easier to get software patents in China than in Europe (despite deviations from the EPC) and in the USPTO (despite 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101 being snubbed by Iancu) and even the litigation giants say so. In the area of copyrights, China also went further than the West and allowed copyright coverage of computer-generated stuff (it was all over the news earlier this month and they called it "Hey Hi").

To ignore the sheer number of Chinese patents -- no matter their low quality -- is to be dishonest to oneself. The real issue isn't China but the declining quality of patents in the West. The other day there was this press release about a mere patent grant that said:

Synedgen, a biotechnology company using glycochemistry to develop drugs that enhance and mimic the innate immune system, today announced the award of a new patent by the European Patent Office (EPO), covering aspects of the treatment of mucositis in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract with Synedgen’s glycopolymer platform of molecules (EP 2555760).

We never see any press releases (at all) bragging about the Chinese patent office granting a patent. Why? Because it's widely considered to be a very weak yardstick of merit. Now, to be fair, the same is becoming true when it comes to European Patents because the EPO nowadays follows the trajectory of China. If these patent maxmalists get their way -- owing in part to alarmist nonsense like the above -- patents as a whole will lose their legitimacy (and value). What good -- or what source of pride -- is a patent if millions get one each year? The problem isn't China; the problem is patent scope. ⬆