Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Fall of the UPC - Part XIII: A Death Worth Celebrating and Many Lies Worth Debunking

Scoreboard/scoresheet coming next

Scoreboard



Summary: We take stock of positive responses to the decision made by the German constitutional court (FCC) 2.5 weeks ago; we also explain why it has taken so long to piece together firm-by-firm scoresheet for UPC lies

THE UPC is dead. But it's not the end of it. Now is a good time to look back at all the lies told, not only for years prior to the death but also immediately afterwards. This site has long focused on countering lies and setting the record straight, especially in areas that are well understood by us. Well, in recent years we studied the European Patent Office (EPO) very closely, going well beyond our original scope of software patents in Europe and seeing how Battistelli broke more laws that we can recall offhand (but we have it documented, thankfully). António Campinos is more of the same, but by the time he settled in at the Office the EPO had already gotten the media "under control" (bribes and intimidation go a long way).



"This site has long focused on countering lies and setting the record straight, especially in areas that are well understood by us."Quoting some lies and borderline parody from Campinos, the EPO has made its ridiculous public statement on the topic (the UPC's death). We don't intend to revisit that anymore, unless of course those same lies from the EPO persist. There will be at least 3 more parts from what we can piece together at the moment, maybe as many as 5 more. We'll post our concluding words at the end, itemising and summarising past parts. We want this to be the most comprehensive rebuttal out there. We spent literally weeks researching this and we're getting close to the point where Techrights can do full debunkings, or further hammering regarding UPC lies, having gathered plenty of evidence of it. We'll name the lying law firms one by one. The order of the mentions matters; that's perhaps the hardest part: outlining.

"We'll name the lying law firms one by one."The key objective is to find as many legal opinions as possible, from as many firms as possible, not only prominent voices of Team UPC and pushers of Benoît Battistelli's agenda (the António Campinos policies are the same). Last month we published "Everybody Knows UPC is Over, Even Those Who Still Attempt to Lie to the Public (and to Their Clients)". Remember that there are many firms out there -- SMEs included -- that spent much of their hard-earned money on this lie. Law firms lied to them and became rich(er) by lying. This is not acceptance.

Over at FFII, an automated translation of the FCC's decision (not the formal English version) was archived. "Decision of the German Constitutional Court on UPC in english translated by Google Translate is here," wrote the FFII's President. It's probably an historic decision -- so historic that UPC boosters now dig into the personal life of the judge's wife!

The FFII's President's also revisited this old publication [PDF], nearly a decade old ("UPC: some good reading for the evening "The Unified Patent Court: help or hindrance?"..."); it's from 2012. "We heard the rumor that Mr David Cameron was asked by the large UK pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to remove the CJEU as having a say in patent law (articles 6 and 8). That was the condition to have a deal with the UK. Now that the UK has left, you know why the CJEU was removed from having a say over patent law, and software patents in particular," said the FFII's latest press release, mentioned and quoted in part here.

So one can more or less see whose interests are being pushed/advanced in the UPC. This needs to end. Otherwise the Rule of Law ends.

"So one can more or less see whose interests are being pushed/advanced in the UPC."Quoting Glyn Moody's article here: "The EPO has long been a controversial institution: it is not part of the EU, its premises enjoy extraterritoriality, and its executives are granted diplomatic immunity that effectively places them outside the law..."

Had the complaint been judged also based on its deeper substance, this issue would likely have been brought up. There are still some additional complaints about the EPO at the FCC; the aspect of illegality might be brought up by the FCC later this year or next year (because of Coronavirus).

"Also the Unitary Patent did not have compulsory licensing," Benjamin Henrion (FFII) recalled, "which is crucial in a period of pandemic..."

This is particularly relevant right now because some liars have attempted to exploit the pandemic, making bogus claims about how the UPC's fall somehow helps the virus spread. It's really laughable a claim!

The developer of Devuan, who is Italian (where the most people died from Coronavirus), wrote in light of the FCC's decision: "Software patents are a danger for small companies that cannot afford defense, especially against patent trolls. http://blog.ffii.org/eu-software-patent-court-stopped-by-constitutional-court-patent-industry-will-try-again/ … big up \o/ to @zoobab and @FFII for the hard work keeping #Europe a safe place for developers and digital innovators..."

"A UPC without the UK and without compatibility with various constitutions across Europe is a non-starter."He was taking note of a mention of the press release. There's also a mention of "UPCv2.0", citing a German and quoting him: "So there is widespread consensus that re-ratification (subsequently to renegotiation) is a question of ***when***, not ***if***. interestingly, the two patent firms as well as Patentverein say or at least imply it's also a question of ***how***" (it's not trivial as they want us to believe).

A UPC without the UK and without compatibility with various constitutions across Europe is a non-starter. They might try something else, call it something else, but that too would likely fail. They tried several times before and it always fails. Let's face it: UPC was all along a wishlist of corrupt people trying to buy the law and then milk the law. It is a sort of white-collar malpractice if not corruption that relies on bribery of the media as well (to play along with the corruption). In the next few parts we'll highlight lies from Team UPC and its media partners, which made no effort whatsoever at fact-finding and fact-checking. They're too busy trying to sell this dud called "UPC".

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

The UEFI 9/11 - Part III - Chaos is Scheduled to Happen Second Thursday of September (No Matter What the Microsofters Tell You)
The clock is ticking
Downplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
 
Activists, Including Technical Activists, Need Not Pursue Affirmation
Techrights doesn't play or participate in a "popularity contest"
Government Sites Should Run Free Software
Not proprietary bloatware with buzzwords
LLM Slopfarms Take No Breaks
When people run sites by bots they don't need to worry about "breaks"
GNOME Having a Meltdown Again
Thanks and farewell to Steven Deobald
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Low Tech and Hunchbin 1.0.6
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 29, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 29, 2025
Financiers and Sponsors of the Slop Hype (Pyramid Scheme Waiting to End, Bubble That Will Inevitably Implode)
It's also burning the planet
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Google Helps Ponzi Schemes and Slopfarms in Google News
Slopfarms are a real pain
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Retiring at 62 and URL Filtering HTTP(S) Proxy on Qubes OS
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day
Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
Links for the day
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
Links for the day
A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms