Bonum Certa Men Certa

JUVE Has a Prank 'Survey' That's Just UPC Lobbying (As Usual)

A multiple choice paper



Summary: The idea that UPC will inevitably materialise (and the sole question is, in what form) is still being perpetuated by publishers whose sole goal is UPC lobbying (serving litigators) rather than truth and societal/scientific advancement

NO Web site is perfect and no survey is 100% objective and pure. There tend to be ideologies and motivations; we have those too, but we try to stay close -- as close as possible -- to underlying, verifiable facts.



The scandals at the European Patent Office (EPO) culminated around 2015, i.e. half a decade ago when Battistelli assaulted a number of staff representatives, not just a judge. Back then JUVE did very good work reporting on those matters (that changed around the time António Campinos was 'groomed' to replace Battistelli) and we were privileged enough to receive -- and occasionally also publish -- EPO leaks from trusting readers. Truth be told, we no longer receive as many leaks as we used to. Nor do we write as much about 35 U.S.C. €§ 101, seeing that the American courts -- irrespective of the USPTO -- toss out the vast majority of software patents. We included new examples in yesterday's Daily Links.

"The pseudonym "Merpel" is nowadays an obedient mouth of the patent maximalists, not of EPO critics."We previously took note of the profound changes at IP Kat -- a subject we'll touch again or revisit in a later post. The pseudonym "Merpel" is nowadays an obedient mouth of the patent maximalists, not of EPO critics. The staff changed beyond recognition and still includes leading Bristows liars, who to this very date deny the reality of UPC's death. We wrote about that latest bit from Bristows last week and Sarah Morgan at World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR), a Team UPC megaphone, seems to learning to accept that the UPC is dead. The headline is "UPC membership 'incompatible' with future EU relations: UK IP minister" and the article may be stuck behind a paywall already (depending on age).

Morgan is no ordinary journalist but somewhat of a megaphone for the litigation 'industry'. Days ago in a sister site of WIPR (one that's lobbying for patents on life and nature) she called notorious patent trolls "patent monetisation company Rembrandt Diagnostics."

Whatever; "patent monetisation..."

"The UPC has been practically dead since 2016 (Brexit) or 2007 (German Constitutional Court receiving a potent complaint)."Al Capone was "threat monetisation..."

This is typical World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR) in 2020. But half a decade ago the staff was different and it occasionally covered EPO scandals. Not anymore. The bosses there did not like that. They put a stop to that.

Now this takes us to JUVE, a site that used to do excellent journalism rather than 'excellent' lobbying, i.e. lying. The UPC has been practically dead since 2016 (Brexit) or 2007 (German Constitutional Court receiving a potent complaint).

Facts do not matter to bribed, corrupt, lying media however (it is their business model to deny or refute facts). Cranks on YouTube have more credibility than these people, who spent several weeks lying about what had happened about a month ago (see index of our rebuttals).

I was disappointed but hardly surprised anymore to find this article from JUVE last week in their English lobbying site.

"UPC is dead, but we're supposed to think that the sole choices or possibilities are, which form it'll take."Basically, anyone with a sense for truth or common sense knows that the UPC is dead, but necrophiles of Team UPC will jog on and pay publishers to keep pretending otherwise (a lobbying strategy which will merely alienate their clients and harm public trust).

A loud UPC proponent (even calling his Twitter account "UPC") wrote: "From JUVE by-email: „The momentum is gone for good. That is the current mood in the European patent community on the Unified Patent Court...""

This summary sounds sincere, but what follows is not. Amy Sandys continues to pay lip megaphone service to Team UPC. This is what JUVE became. This site seems to have been set up purely for lobbying with Team UPC in mind and there's hardly exception to it. Is it a lobbyist front or a news site? The headline speaks of "IP community" and that alone is three words that are lies in a row. JUVE puts those right there in the headline for its biased 'survey' (push polling and loaded questions). UPC is dead, but we're supposed to think that the sole choices or possibilities are, which form it'll take.

To be fair, the article does contain a few quotes from UPC critics. Benjamin Henrion (FFII) pointed out a few of these, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4]: "There can be no room for further objections, otherwise the dream of a European patent court is over. [...] As a lawyer, I have always been against the UPC which is an SME-killer. It’s too expensive, too quick, forum shopping, foreign language. [...] It is time for a fundamental re-think based on simplicity and access by SMEs. The law should not be designed to reflect what large international corporates want. [...] A European initiative for a patent court system is needed, but none of the options mentioned in your survey is convincing. It should rather be an EU system, without the UK and without non-EU EPC countries, similar to the working EU system for trademarks..."

They seem not to speak to anyone outside the so-called "IP community" though; as if nothing in the world exists but lawyers. This creates a mindset bubble, like a religion...

"JUVE played a huge role in the lying in recent years."Did they bother speaking to SMEs? Nope.

"As if patents were designed for SMEs in the first place," Henrion wrote.

"The EPO mentions "SMEs" every day to distract from how much it is harming them," I told him, later noting, as per this page, that "the JUVE Web site is malware disguised as information. Not only lots of sponsored "articles" (ads) but also surveillance capitalism (you cannot opt out)..."

The introductory paragraphs state the following:

In recent years, those responsible for the Unified Patent Court project have often spoken of the importance of momentum for the launch of the European patent court. This meant above all the support of politicians in the 25 participating EU states, but also of representatives from in-house patent departments, the legal profession and patent judges.

The mood and support in the patent community has fluctuated considerably in recent years depending on the amount of progress the project made or the number of setbacks it suffered. The Brexit referendum in June 2016 put the first big question mark over the Unified Patent Court and the participation of the UK. Almost as soon as the result came in, many in the patent community began to doubt the UPC would launch. However, the project made headway and gradually gained more support in the years following. But then, the German Constitutional Court rejected the German UPC legislation on 20 March this year.


They speak of "momentum", which they manufactured -- at times illegally -- by advertising fake job ads and lying to politicians, to media and so on. JUVE played a huge role in the lying in recent years. It published obvious lies, sometimes even as headlines. It seems to have opted for propaganda (a big and potentially very profitable sector) rather than journalism. What a waste of potential and momentum thrown away. I used to actually respect JUVE.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
 
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Snowy Photos and utism is a Spectrum
Links for the day
Microsoft-Sponsored Xenophobia and Nationalism
IBM is very similar in this regard
Vintage is Sometimes Better
Why can't we get back to "simple" if (or where) "simple" means better?
Climate Breakdown Means We'll be Publishing More, Not Less
Press freedom will be a common, recurring theme
Our 5-Year Geminispace Anniversary is Coming Up
I still remember when Gemini Protocol was quite new
It's Right to Point Out Violence From the Right
Violence is a recurring theme
Tentative Summary of Things to Publish in Project 2030
I'll still be in my forties by then
Web Browsers That "Do Hey Hi" (AI)
State-of-the-art plagiarism or "autocomplete on steroids" (not coined by us, nevertheless a nice description) don't have much/any prospect
Links 20/09/2025: Hardware Projects in View, Some Independent Publishers About Russia Prosper After Cheeto Cuts Funding
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Options and TV Time Machine
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Retrocomputer, Antique Phone Experience, and More
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day