LAST week there was some discussion about the future -- or lack thereof -- of UPC. It was towards the end of the week and there has been virtually nothing in the media about it. After all, reporting about the absence of something is hard. Benjamin Henrion kept an eye on that; there was nothing to report.
"Even Bristows has said nothing for a whole month and over the past 4+ months only Myles Jelf and Gregory Bacon said anything at all about it."The EPO isn't quiet because things are well and it cannot be blamed on holidays/summer, either. It's not like people are flying places; António Campinos is going nowhere (no photo ops in a very long time), Benoît Battistelli could last been seen more than a year ago in public, and over the past few days Kluwer Patent Blog and IP Kat had not so very positive things to say about the quality of service at the EPO (the comments in particular were rather telling).
Systems perish when they discredit themselves, harming their legitimacy and capability of recruiting talent. In the case of the UPC, all the lying and dirty tricks have not paid off; one might say that they backfired as soon as states realised that they had been misled, even blatantly lied to.
"In the case of the UPC, all the lying and dirty tricks have not paid off; one might say that they backfired as soon as states realised that they had been misled, even blatantly lied to."If the EPO wishes to return to its noble days, it needs to hold accountable all the crooks who gambled its money away, issued flawed patents (to fake so-called 'production') and canned workers' rights. There's a very slim chance this can ever happen, especially with the likes of Mr. Breton in the Commission.
Europe is slowly recovering from COVID-19 -- with or without vaccination (remember it takes many years to not only develop but also properly test a vaccine; patents aren't helping!) -- but the EPO isn't recovering and the UPC already ran out of oxygen. It's clinically dead.
"Remember that CIPA was a major driving force behind UPC. These people are rogue. Their exam is a sham or a scam. People feel very strongly about it."Based on what we're being told, EPO workers already navigate their future by planning for a post-EPO career. It's not clear what will happen to European patent systems as a whole; we just hope there will be a return to patent quality, not quantity. It's not a numbers game. Seeing the many comments about PEB (and CIPA) in IP Kat this month, we can tell for certain that everyone in this profession is concerned. "CIPA is poacher and gamekeeper," one new comment said, "keeping the defective exam system going for decades is all part of the rotten and corrupt process for restricting the numbers." There are even comments more blunt than this one. Remember that CIPA was a major driving force behind UPC. These people are rogue. Their exam is a sham or a scam. People feel very strongly about it.
Techrights does not oppose patents; it opposes bad patents. Not every patent that gets granted has a net positive effect. That much is very obvious. ⬆