THE EPO maladministration and/or mis-governance under Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos has led to approval rates (among EPO staff) near 0%. Even Donald Trump didn't sink this low.

"It's not an institution of scientists but of barons and their lawyers."Seeing the latest pure nonsense (warning: epo.org link) from the EPO's "news" section this morning, we're reminded of who the EPO nowadays 'conspires' with instead of scientists. It's no secret that WIPO has its share of criminals and corruption (it is well documented and at times it was compared to the EPO). It's not an institution of scientists but of barons and their lawyers. They've occasionally promoted software patents (events, reports, statements), even in Europe where they're simply not allowed. Nowadays they misuse the hype surrounding buzzwords like "HEY HI" (AI) in order to push this agenda and this week is no exception. In the EPO's own words: "The two-day event was initially planned to take place in Tallinn, Estonia but moved to an online format in light of the pandemic. [...] In his welcome, EPO President António Campinos announced a new direction for the conference. Starting in 2021 the Office will organise a new "Patent Knowledge Week", offering greater flexibility as well as extended focus on topics related to patent knowledge."

"Donald Trump may be going away (maybe physically dragged out of the White House), but the same tyranny and tyrants aren't leaving the EPO. There's simply no mechanism (like elections) to remove these thugs."But here's the key part, basically rebranding algorithms or computer programs "AI-related patents" (i.e. the usual). It says this: "Another key topic at this year's event was Artificial intelligence (AI). Several sessions underlined the impact of this technology on the patent system and shared lessons on searching for and analysing AI-related data. Irene Kitsara, WIPO IP Information Officer, delved into some of the findings of their 2019 Technology Trends report on AI, including their experience in developing an AI taxonomy and other key lessons learned from searching for AI-related patents. Her talk covered AI's relationship to intellectual property, and what it could mean for the future of people, tools and administrations."

It's clear, even based on the text above, that whoever wrote and then checked it has no idea what he/she/they are talking about. This is a symptom of high offices being run by patently incompetent people, who lack not only the education/qualifications but also the training/experience required to grasp the job. We end up reading a bunch of pure nonsense, basically a salad of buzzwords, being upheld to justify illegal practices. We saw that in the (apparently outgoing) Trump administration's handling of environmental issues. Donald Trump may be going away (maybe physically dragged out of the White House), but the same tyranny and tyrants aren't leaving the EPO. There's simply no mechanism (like elections) to remove these thugs. ⬆