The exploitation of COVID-19 for extreme patent agenda (fast lanes, procedural shortcuts and lobbying under the guise of "emergency") is the biggest and most comprehensive ploy since their leveraging of "HEY HI" (AI) extravaganza/hype

List of "GOLD SPONSORS" of IAM's IPBC, which took place just two weeks ago. Those are the firms (and patent trolls) that sponsor IAM's 'reporting'... or elaborate paid-for deception (the other sponsorship tiers aren't any better and may in fact be a lot worse, with lots and lots of patent trolls and their front groups).

Summary: The second-largest institution in Europe is quick to exploit, based on deliberate falsehoods, a national and international health crisis; instead of it being a proof of the detriments of the current system it's shrewdly spun as 'proof' of its validity and collective importance (as if what we need right now is more monopolies); so-called 'news' sites like IAM and Managing IP accompany this propaganda and it's very clear who's funding that

I only partly joke when I say the that media is dead. Technically, some good reporting still exists, but its proportion is decreasing fast and approaches zero owing in part to the pandemic (many layoffs, newsroom hardly function anymore). As recently as days ago I saw Managing IP's sponsored spam again (every week) that's marketing disguised as 'news' [1, 2]. They also published a bunch of truly ludicrous stuff about COVID-19. It's like Managing IP is 101% patent propaganda (they've also just added a so-called 'podcast' that's 102% propaganda, but we're omitting links to it). Here's another new example (days old) of corporate nonsense: "Michelle Park, senior counsel at Google, delves into how patent strategists should take a use-case-driven approach to building a portfolio" (yes, "building a portfolio...")

"It's like Managing IP is 101% patent propaganda (they've also just added a so-called 'podcast' that's 102% propaganda, but we're omitting links to it)."The headline says: "How many patents do we need? Enough to suit our goals"

Whose goals? The public's? No. Google's. Patents as protection racket for monopolists, who are of course building for us... "building a portfolio" (mind the sarcasm).

Any time I want to witness the laughable state of so-called 'journalism' in the area of patents I just need to access the sites of IAM or Managing IP (what's not hidden behind a paywall, limiting access to the choir). Even IP Kat has become rather appalling; look at the affiliation of people who run it...

"Even IP Kat has become rather appalling; look at the affiliation of people who run it..."Remember how early in June IAM was spreading quality lies for the EPO, based on some opaque self-selecting survey that asks questions not about patent quality but something like "speed" or "services" (like providing law firms with patents as fast as possible). Today's EPO staff will say it openly: patent quality is a catastrophe (but bribes help hide that, or media partners such as IAM). Opportunistic greenwashing by EPO management soon followed (warning: epo.org link) and some damage control from AstraZeneca at IP Kat... hours after the highest British court threw out European Patents (like those which AstraZeneca is interested in). See this comment (one among several of interest) in relation to another such case: "With the patent having been revoked by the EPO opposition division and the Board of Appeal having set a hearing date of mid-December 2020, there would appear to be no reasonable grounds to grant a preliminary injunction anyway and the October trial should be moved to the new year to avoid wasting the court's time."

This is about the lower court (lower than the Supreme Court) and it deals with cases where few monopolistic firms try to control access to medicines, i.e. deprive poor people availability of treatments (severe reductions in affordability). They literally pursue embargoes and target generics, too.

"The EPO itself is the virus, and it has been exploiting this virus to do many more illegal things, as EPO staff explained publicly and internally."As usual for a Friday, the EPO had the audacity to drop a bunch of lies, this one arrogantly entitled -- by the entitled -- "Fighting coronavirus – EPO supports researchers with patent information". (warning: epo.org link)

The EPO itself is the virus, and it has been exploiting this virus to do many more illegal things, as EPO staff explained publicly and internally. Watch the very same Office that grants monopolies (which restrict and impede research) taking credit for the solution/s:

The EPO has today, 26 June 2020, published the first two parts of a series of resources designed to help researchers and decision-makers benefit from patent information in their fight against the new coronavirus.

The EPO as a world leader in supplying technical information has taken the initiative to support researchers, businesses and decision-makers in these challenging times by sharing patent information on technologies which are useful in combating the new Coronavirus or treating COVID-19. Technical information in patent documents are often published nowhere else.

The first two data sets released by the EPO today relate to antiviral vaccines and pharmaceutical therapeutics, with more resources to be released in the coming weeks covering, for example, diagnostics and medical technologies and devices.

As is widely known by now, the EPO granted patents to an actual fraud and then offered an extra award for that fraud (Theranos); the patents ended up in the hands of a patent troll, which in turn viciously attacked European researchers looking for a solution to COVID-19. And yet the EPO has the audacity to write nonsense like the above.

The only thing the EPO is "fostering" these days is self-serving propaganda, perpetuated by ridiculous sites that print propaganda and call themselves "news". We included some examples in the Daily Links published one hour ago. ⬆