Source: one year ago, SUEPO publication.
THE QUALITY of patents granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) will go down as long as the EPO silences those who speak about it.
European Patent Office (EPO) fee increases come into effect 01 April 2020. The EPO usually reviews official fees every two years. Most of the rises are moderate increases in the order of 4% or 5% and in-line with inflation. Some are higher and worth noting.
Notable increases include:
- Appeal fee - for most appellants, this rises by close to 20% (€450) to €2,705.
- Requests for copies of documents - certified copies of applications, priority documents, communication of file contents and additional copies of documents cited in search reports; all more than double in cost.
The EPO recently announced their fees are to increase on the 1 April 2020. This is in line with their typical practice of increasing fees every two years.
The average increase will be 4% for most fees including for the appeal fee for specific entities*, however the appeal fee for larger appellants increases by 20%, from €2255 to €2705.
In the majority of cases, the EPO fees are associated with a payment deadline. The fee you pay is determined by the currently active fee schedule, rather than the fee schedule that may be in force on the day of the deadline.
This means that regardless of whether a fee deadline falls due on or after the 1 April 2020 (when the fee schedule is due to change), you may be able to pay the fee before the 1 April 2020 and thus at the current, lower, rate.
[...]
Also, if a party is considering filing an appeal against an issued decision, they may wish to do so before the fee increases on 1 April 2020.
"We're not pessimistic; seeing how the UPC collapsed, partly due to EPO corruption (courts have seen ample evidence of it), we're certain there's more 'karma' to come."The EPO cannot hide its demise forever (as judged by validity or legitimacy of granted patents). Campinos still lies to the media, which seems perfectly happy to print the lies (more examples of that shortly), especially when the EPO bribes the media (clear misuse of EPO money).
Days ago the EPO was bragging about transparency (openwashing) and it boils down to the fact that it must, as a matter of law, share patent information (this is, after all, the whole point of patents, never mind if that's causing harm like treble damages for infringement).
The EPO retweeted this openwashing (Open Data), but it is still not transparent because it is profoundly corrupt and true transparency would expose the corruption -- another subject we'll cover later today.
We're not pessimistic; seeing how the UPC collapsed, partly due to EPO corruption (courts have seen ample evidence of it), we're certain there's more 'karma' to come. Wait and watch...
Benjamin Henrion has just recalled that software patents opponent Pieter "Hitnjens [sic] said in his last video interview that the patent system was a giant lie, and based on beliefs..."
He also quoted this bit about "EPO “small inquiry” to the German government by the FDP fraction in the German Bundestag deserves to be mentioned..."
The complaint at the FCC (there are several concerning the EPO, including UPC/A) will likely yield some interesting press coverage soon, not like the puff piece Campinos netted in Spiegel some days ago. ⬆