Bonum Certa Men Certa

Wasting (Misusing) Money on 'Researchers' and So-called 'Studies' Only Reinforces the Perception That the EPO Attacks Science With Its Money, Just Like Climate Deniers and Big Tobacco Lobby

Is the EPO morally any better than Exxon?

A university



Summary: The above-the-law monopoly which is based on Munich not only silences dissent but also bribes for self-serving propaganda (distorting public opinion and corrupting science) -- something it knows it won't be held accountable for

THE European Patent Office (EPO) does not bring much pride to Europe. It used to, no doubt. I used to be a bit of a fan prior to the software patent debacles (back when the office wasn't run by politicians, either [1, 2]; not to mention family members/other relatives and military people). Today's EPO is rather absurd; a quick review of the career record of people who run it ought to suffice. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) -- with all its flaws -- never experienced such a credibility crisis. I've never come across people promoting spouses there (only in-laws, albeit that too is rather rare).



"Those people are patently ignorant about what it takes to actually run a patent office."It should not shock anyone -- not even the EPO's own examiners -- that low patent quality is covertly the goal (when they speak about "quality" they mean speed, i.e. the opposite of quality). Those people are patently ignorant about what it takes to actually run a patent office. These "superiors" are less qualified than many of their "inferiors" -- examiners who would certainly have done a better job running this office (than these bureaucrats who love wine and gambling).

Just before the weekend we saw this new press release [1, 2] about "Intention to Grant" stem cell patents -- only a week or so after CRISPR patents were thrown out (not by the Office but the Boards, which are only in theory "independent" from the EPO). To quote this press release: "BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BCLI), a leading developer of adult stem cell therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, today announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has communicated its intention to grant a European patent titled 'Methods of Generating Mesenchymal Stem Cells which secrete Neurotrophic Factors'. Allowed claims cover the method for manufacturing MSC-NTF cells (NurOwn€®)."

This is that same old slippery slope. In the US, for example, Myriad and Mayo showed that the highest court (SCOTUS) isn't tolerating patents on life or nature.

"Just ensure the patent application has a real person's name and not something like "DABUS"."As for the EPO?

Anything goes nowadays.

Almost anything.

Just ensure the patent application has a real person's name and not something like "DABUS".

As one EPO insider put it in response to our article about the latest incident on Dutch territories: "The decisions they have made so far regarding the construction of the new building, their published reports and studies are not worth the paper it's written on. No joke. [...] EPO top management (with the exception of a handful) is a huge failure and, to put it nicely. They're a bunch of incompetent cowboys. [...] As the saying goes, the decisions where made by monkeys (EPO management) but approved and signed off by Donkeys (Administrative Council of the European Patent Office)."

Look at the people who make up the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (not Office); they're usually just lawyers from national patent offices (NPOs). Only few of them are scientists and they're in bed with the litigation industry in their country and abroad.

"Look at the people who make up the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (not Office); they're usually just lawyers from national patent offices (NPOs)."It is hardly shocking that all we've said above isn't being touched by mainstream media. For one thing, as we've shown before, the EPO bribes the major publishers. It buys silence and puff pieces. We have many concrete examples of this. Expect nothing but puff pieces in Dutch media about the 'wonderful' new building of the EPO, based on "published reports and studies [that] are not worth the paper it's written on," as the above EPO insider put it. Even the EPO's internal gazette is full of puff pieces about it (we covered this years ago). Some fine work of engineering, eh? What does it say about the EPO if it (itself!) cannot put together a simple building with cubicles for staff? Even at a massive budget, which was quickly overspent. In past years we wrote about the missed schedules, the massive losses (sheltered by the private firm, not the EPO), the injuries and many defects. Even Berlin Airport hasn't suffered that many flukes.

But never mind facts, never mind reality. The EPO can afford to buy itself a parallel reality. Last month we wrote a number of articles on this topic. Management of the EPO bribes scholars and then it brags about it. It's like those oil companies that fund 'research' for their bottom line, corrupting the integrity of academia in the process.

Just before the weekend the EPO tweeted: "Martin Wörter of @ETH has categorised technological fields to distinguish between process & product #inventions. You can read his results here: https://bit.ly/38P7DkN His project was funded by our Academic Research"

Who benefits from this so-called 'research'? The EPO of course. This was likely a condition for this bribe grant.

This wouldn't be the first time the EPO corrupts academia, even outside this so-called 'programme' it called "Academic Research Programme" (it sounds better than "bribe"). In past years it also bribed scholars for UPC propaganda and while the EPO actively harms SMEs it bribes some corruptible scholars to manufacture a fictional tale saying the exact opposite. The EPO has just tweeted this: "Italian company Cosmed has built its reputation for laboratory-based medical device products on a sound IP portfolio. You can read how they did it here: http://bit.ly/epoSMEstudies ..."

"Suffice to say, patent offices are not supposed to be in the 'business' of research grants; that's what the ERC and others are tasked to do (with safeguards in place to protect against mischief like the above)."So-called 'SME' 'studies'; many of these SMEs aren't exactly known for creating anything.

Oh, how about PR 'on the cheap' with an academic veneer? Here we go, greenwashing services for the EPO; "Julie Lochard of @UPECactus set out to measure the impact of environmental regulation on innovation in #climatechange mitigation technologies," the EPO has just tweeted. "You can read her results here: https://bit.ly/38P7DkN #greentech Her research was funded by our Academic Research Programme."

It doesn't take a genius to understand that patents in this area merely harm the planet (offering monopolies on mitigation techniques), but bribed scholars will mislead everyone for cash. This is not EPO "generosity" but overt abuse.

In a lot of ways, the EPO's behaviour resembles that of Big Oil-funded scholars whose task is to seed uncertainty and doubt about independent climate research, making the topic seem like a "controversial" "debate" with "political" slant. Suffice to say, patent offices are not supposed to be in the 'business' of research grants; that's what the ERC and others are tasked to do (with safeguards in place to protect against mischief like the above).

Recent Techrights' Posts

PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled
Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
We all remember that rather well, don't we?
Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
 
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
“Inhumane” and “Disgusting” Mass Layoff Execution, According to Microsoft Staff
The workers are looking for other places to work
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
The freedoms are what's most important
LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
All are run by the same people
Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
Links for the day
New and Old
On Ageism in Tech
Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
Links for the day
Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
Links for the day
Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
Examples of white-collar trolls
Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
"Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
Links for the day