Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO as a Kakistocracy of Lies and Bribes

Kakistocracy



Summary: Kakistocracy best describes the state of today's EPO (the management) and the lies told every day in its Twitter account show that insincerity has simply become the norm, accompanying the endless misconduct

THE European Patent Office (EPO) has long promoted this illusion that it can outclass the world regardless of how bad a policy it adopts. The non-scientific presidencies (even predating Campinos and Battistelli) have meant that decisions were made by the clueless, who instead of promoting science sought to appease the litigation giants, listening only to them and their self-serving wishes (more patents, more lawsuits).



"The examiners are humans, they're scientists and they tend to derive personal pride not from money but the contribution of their work to science, to progress, to innovation."It typically takes a high court (e.g. Supreme Court on 35 U.S.C. €§ 101) to put an end to such office-wide coups. It's a sobering moment for many.

The examiners are humans, they're scientists and they tend to derive personal pride not from money but the contribution of their work to science, to progress, to innovation. Compare them to the top-level managers who are corrupt monsters, picked for nepotistic purposes, ruthlessness, and willingness to cover up crimes of predecessors. The former group was supposed to occupy top-tier positions as well (examiners turning into gentle and attentive management), but not so at the EPO...

Today's EPO is a classic case of "friend brings a friend..." (even at present time; it didn't end with Battistelli's departure)

"Today's EPO is a classic case of "friend brings a friend..." (even at present time; it didn't end with Battistelli's departure)"Earlier this week AdrianPatent wrote: "Cillian Ó Donnabháin of gave some valuable insights into the work of Examiners @EPOorg in Liverpool today @TheCIPA Merseyside meeting - turns out they *are* human after all..."

They're good people, but they're managed by corrupt people. This, in turn, can corrupt them against their will. Some leave, whereas others are desperate to stay (family relocated to another country already). The EPO retweeted the above and also this recruitment propaganda (as if the EPO is still recruiting examiners; it reduces their numbers).

I told them that "even EPO examiners tell people NOT to look for a job at EPO because it is corrupt and most staff have depression, partly because of corruption at the top..."

This is a typical 'EPO day' in Twitter. Lots of lies and nonsense all around.

The EPO has just resurrected a myth when it wrote: "140 years ago, Thomas Edison received a patent for the electric lamp. Here you can have a look at his patent document..."

"This is a typical 'EPO day' in Twitter. Lots of lies and nonsense all around."But Thomas Edison was somewhat of a patent troll who ripped off people who actually invented things and amassed patents on things he exploited without doing the work. This is actually well understood by today's scientists and historians. People like Tesla are far more worthy of credit and gratitude.

But never mind facts... the EPO has long favoured myths.

"If you're a #startup," the EPO tweeted, "IP rights can improve your competitiveness."

There's no such thing as "IP" (they meant patents I assume) and these are NOT rights. They're simply NOT. The EPO sounds like a law firm rather than a patent office. "Having grown up with digital technology at their fingertips," it wrote, "GenerationZ-ers think & act differently. Join us in Madrid to discuss their goals and how the IP world can adapt to their needs."

They've used stock photography of young professionals -- also the following day (same image) -- to make this page (warning: epo.org link) entitled "IP for the next generation" -- crafted like a marketing agency rather than a patent office.

"The EPO sounds like a law firm rather than a patent office."We probably shouldn't be so shocked by this (not anymore anyway), knowing that the EPO is run -- at the management level -- by people who haven't a clue what they're talking about and what kind of institution they run. Until his mid-fifties, for instance, Battistelli probably didn't even know what patents really were. He probably still doesn't know. His CV speaks for itself.

Sadly, nobody in the media talks about it anymore. It used to be occasionally mentioned here and there, but those who covered the subject and were capable of it have been threatened and/or bribed by the EPO. This includes IP Kat, which is never even mentioning EPO issues anymore, only advertising EPO agenda of the management and censoring comments critical of António Campinos and perhaps Battistelli too (it's hard to see everything that they delete). The other day Riana Harvey advertised the "European Patent Office's "East meets West" Forum 2020" (she also promotes lots of Watchtroll articles, i.e. the most overzealous blogs). It's another event of the patent maximalists with "hey hi" (AI) hype included. To quote: "The EPO's annual 'East meets West' forum returns! The forum, which will provide an update on the most important developments in patent information and IP knowledge in Asia and other jurisdictions will discuss other topics of interest, from how to cope with the growing amount of patent data from Asia, and how to maximise opportunities made available by AI and new search tools, amongst others."

"Sadly, nobody in the media talks about it anymore."Meanwhile, the bananas (so-called 'IP News Center') published a repost of the EPO's press release, bragging about bribery of academia. It's entitled "EPO publishes six search [sic] reports" (they must have meant research, not search) and it says: "The European Patent Office (EPO) published six Research Reports that were developed with funding from its Academic Research Programme. The Academic Research Programme was launched by the EPO in 2017 with the objective of encouraging research in the field of patents and to promote the dissemination of research findings. A total of 300,000 Euros were awarded for the research projects. The final results of the research were presented at a workshop that was recently hosted by the EPO in Munich. During the research period, researchers used patent data to delve deeper into topics such as financing for innovation, knowledge transfer, trade, tracking inventions in the marketplace, and the growth of technologies to tackle climate change."

"Why is the EPO controlling research now? Is it a patent office or what?"Why can't anyone see what's wrong with it and point it out in the media? This is NOT what a patent office is supposed to do. It is corrupting poor scholars in exchange for biased 'research' -- the same thing oil giants do. Earlier this week it bragged about this at least twice. The first tweet said: "Igor Bagayev of @ucddublin has investigated how international #technology diffusion encourages local exports. His project was funded by our Academic Research Programme. You can read his findings here: https://bit.ly/38P7DkN"

Why is the EPO controlling research now? Is it a patent office or what? Is it ERC (European Research Council) or EPO? Another newer tweet: "Gaétan de Rassenfosse at @EPFL has used data science tools to build a database that tracks #innovations into the marketplace. You can read the results here: https://bit.ly/38P7DkN His project was funded by our Academic Research Programme" (to associate patents with so-called 'innovation').

Not only EPO bribes scholars in exchange for propaganda. As someone correctly noted this week: "Always refreshing to have a lobby meeting and you learn that all civil society and academics in Europe are basically funded by Google in order to provide research that is in the interest of Google, and against the music industry..." [sic]

We've long complained about companies such as Google and Microsoft funding scholars in exchange for something, i.e. bribing them. It's a sick game that ultimately harms the reputation of academic institutions, collectively.

The EPO just doesn't seem to care about facts.

"The EPO just doesn't seem to care about facts."One new example of it is this tweet which says: "3Dprinting is set to revolutionise conventional approaches to design, materials, processes & products. The potential for #innovation will change and diversify accordingly."

"3Dprinting," I responded to them, "is one of the BEST known examples of patents retarding progress for a number of decades. Hard to understand who in EPO thought this area would be a good marketing, it is a rout..."

If that's not embarrassing enough (for the EPO), consider who the EPO associates with these days. The EPO's management has again found its match in Cambodia... with zero European Patents. What does that do for science or for public interest? Nothing.

The Phnom Penh Post has issued this puff piece, which helps the image of Cambodia a lot more than it helps the EPO. To quote:

Cambodia will renew its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the European Patent Office (EPO) to boost investment from Europe, the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts said.

The decision was made during a meeting between Minister of Industry and Handicrafts Cham Prasidh and EPO president Antonio Campinos on Monday.

[...]

Prasidh said Cambodia works with Singapore, Japan, China and the EU to register and validate patents.

Since 2015, the ministry has received 816 patent applications, of which 150 have been finalised.

The EU has filed 230 patent applications in Cambodia.


How many Cambodian applications were filed in the EPO? Better not tell. That would make a void article.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why Techrights Cannot be Vilified (and Instead It Gets SLAPPed Repeatedly by Microsoft People)
Attack dogs are all "bark"; because they have no actual "bite"
Links 25/06/2025: Elon Musk’s Lawyers Caught Lying, WhatsApp Faces More Bans
Links for the day
Wayland Pushers Lose the Argument, Use LLM Slop and Chatbots to Make Up Arguments for IBM
Another new low and low blow
What is "MATA"?
Think of it as GAFAM or "Meta"
WebProNews is a Slopfarm
Please avoid linking to WebProNews
Another "Told You So!": XBox Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Many Recent Reports Were Chaff and Spin), Many Other Divisions Affected
With mass layoffs at Microsoft the world would be much better
 
The 'Case' of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft is a Lot of Copypasta (Maybe Also LLM Slop) From the Matthew Garrett 'Case'
5RB deserves to know and the matter shall be properly reported in due course (when the time is right)
Austrian GNU/Linux Usage Up to About 5% as More of Europe Abandons Microsoft
Since inauguration day the Austrian people have adopted more and more of GNU/Linux
Why the "Wayland People" and "Rust People" Will Lose Hearts and Minds (Same Reasons)
Wayland pushers are fast becoming like "Rust People"
5,600 Pages/Articles Per Year
So far this year we've kept all the promises
BetaNews Beginning to Show What Its True Goals Are
The 'new' BetaNews won't be about journalism. It's trying to sell things.
Microsoft Has Lost "The War"
We'll soon see the 9th or 10th wave of Microsoft layoffs in 2025 alone
Slopwatch: A Wreck and a Dreck, "Flooding the Zone With Dreck" or Flooding the Web With Junk
"Slopwatch" continues today because we have many new examples
Links 25/06/2025: Thwarting More Software Patents, Overlap Grows Between EPO Corruption and Illegal Kangaroo Patent Courts in EU
Links for the day
Brian Fagioli Created Another Slopfarm Targeting "Linux" After BetaNews Became a Slopfarm of Phantom Accounts and Pseudonyms
Mr. Fagioli even had slop about a dead Torvalds (hypothetical) as clickbait
Wayland is Perfect, Nobody Can Escape Its Perfection! (Or Not)
Do not form on opinion on Wayland based on politics
Moral Duty for "Linux Sites" to Speak Out Against LLM Slop
My wife has long complained about "Linux bloggers" keeping quiet and thus passive about a growing problem: slop
In Recent Hours Google News Promoted at Least 3 Slopfarms That Relayed Linux Foundation Propaganda Made by Bots or LLM "Bullshit Generators" (as Dr. Stallman Dubbed Them)
Google is circling down the drain and Google News too is hopeless
Linux Journal is a Slopfarm, It's Experimenting With LLM 'Authors'
Is Slashdot next?
Microsoft LinkedIn is Dying and Many More Layoffs Are on the Way
LinkedIn is just a failed acquisition of Microsoft. It causes losses and debt.
Gemini Links 25/06/2025: Combinatorial Music and Self Hosting
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Coming Back to Europe This Autumn to Give More Talks
His last talk in Europe attracted about 400-450 people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Social Control Media, Technology & Catholicism: Synod on Synodality review and feedback
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
How Many More Women Will Managers at Microsoft Strangle and Tell to Kill Themselves (or Try to Kill)?
The world needs to know what happened
The New BetaNews: 7 New 'Articles', All of Them LLM Slop
BetaNews is basically defunct. Nobody writes there anymore.
statCounter Estimates Only 1 in 300 Iranians Would Use Microsoft for Search
Iranians don't quite trust Microsoft
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: ftpd on FreeBSD and Online Small Web Magazine
Links for the day
Google News Does Great Harm by Promoting Slopfarms as Legitimate News Sites
Slopfarms are sites which are 100% LLM slop
Links 24/06/2025: Trouble at "Open" "AI" and ‘Siarhei is Free’
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: Stimulants and Subscription Costs for DRM
Links for the day
When the Microsoft Aggressors Rely on Several Law Firms ('Attack Dogs', 'Guns for Hire'), Not Just One, Lawyering Up Against Techrights (Acting on Behalf of Americans Against UK Publishers)
From serving customers at some restaurant he has moved on to bullying people with demand letters
Links 24/06/2025: OpenAI [sic] May Soon Die (Too Much Debt) and Social Control Media Accused of Being Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda Amplifier
Links for the day
Nirbheek Chauhan in Planet GNOME Explains Why Wayland Pushers Are Losing
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
Polygamy, from Catholic Synod on Synodality to Social Control Media & Debian CyberPolygamy
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Only a Third of or 1 in 3 Web-Connected Devices is a Desktop or Laptop, According to statCounter
we can expect Android to widen its lead
The Days Are Getting Shorter, the First Half of 2025 is Almost Over
We're gratified to see significant increase in traffic and also positive feedback on the work we do
Turning GNU/Linux Into a Political Football
X (not the site) is Free software
X Server Still Works for Many People
A lot of people will grow suspicious of Wayland boosters/pushers if they persist and insist on using these tactics
Exactly a Week Ago "BetaNews Staff" Said "Betanews Is Growing Alongside You". Since Then Every Article (All by "Camila Nogueira") Has Been LLM Slop.
BetaNews is basically a slopfarm
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 23, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 23, 2025
The "Tarzan Effect" in Compilers and Software
What happens when you forcibly make things 'work', either by hacks or by disregarding warnings (like those that compilers tend to issue)?
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: Mass Tourism, Hair Love, and Google Gemini as a Googlebomb
Links for the day
Law Firm Burgess Mee Does Not Fully Deny Participating in Abusive Litigation for Serial Strangler From Microsoft
I am not unfamiliar with these tactics
The Modus Operandi of Wayland Pushers: Make It Political
do what I say or you're a nazi...
Links 23/06/2025: RFE/RL Contributor Vladyslav Yesypenko Released, Recording Industry Cutbacks
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Solicitors (M): Over 99.9% of Our E-mail is Self-Marketing, We Send You 3.5MB E-mails for Less Than 1KB of Text
Why would tech people entrust legal matters to such people?
Peter Moon's (Computerworld) Interview With Richard Stallman
Stallman: If you want freedom don't follow Linus Torvalds
At What Point Does Outsourcing Constitute Malpractice?
Brett Wilson LLP's new staff page is misleading
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sailing to GNU/Linux, According to statCounter
countries in that region will quickly learn the price of neglecting digital sovereignty
From Do Your Own Research to Do Your Own Search
The Web is full of garbage; search engines amplify this garbage
More People Moving to Geminispace?
at age 6+ Gemini Protocol seems to have gained some maturity and it seems like more people use it
Permutation in LLMs Does, Inevitably, Change Meanings and Therefore LLMs Cannot Properly Rephrase or Summarise Texts
LLMs lack actual grasp or comprehension of what they spew out
Links 23/06/2025: Many Security Breaches, Population Declines
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: "America at the Crossroads" and OpenWRT Surgery
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 22, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 22, 2025
Pure Dove
Different means different, and sometimes those who "deviate" from "the norm" have a point
Censorship is a Sign of Weakness Which Invites More Censorship Attempts
revolutionaries don't succumb to pressure from bullies
Why It's Unlikely That LLM Slop Will Dominate the Web in the Long Run
Slopfarms will eventually perish (they have no actual value) and "survivors" on the Web will be sites that never depended on search engines and social control media
GNU/Linux in Argentina Now Measured Near 5%
Like in central Europe, they must be seeing an increasingly hostile US
BetaNews is Fake News, Composed by LLM Slop
nothing in BetaNews is written by humans anymore