Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Case of UPC Misinformation and Propaganda Campaigns: The Web (and Google News) as a Noise and Disinformation Machine of Lobbyists and Oligarchy



Summary: This morning we're seeing lots of misleading and misinforming 'news' coverage regarding the Unified Patent Court (UPC), including many paid-for or financially-motivated puff pieces that drown out the signal (actual information that is accurate and up to date)

THIS morning I stumbled upon some truly ridiculous flood of misinformation from Team UPC, perhaps as should be expected based on past events. They totally dominate the media (or all media coverage regarding the UPC). The video above gives one notable example of this, but we'll have more in the next batch of Daily Links.

"Is it merely a political apparatus used for financial gain by few Eurocrats?"In the meantime we've also taken note of the latest spammy 'news' from the EPO's site (EPO.org), which apparently acts like EPO is a corporation now and merits an EPO.COM domain. They posted a 'news' item on the 23rd of the month, prefaced with text and containing many new links about 'ViCo' (we'll spare the link/s).

EPO customersThe image on the right shows what the reader is presented with when clicking on at least one of those links. Other than the unnecessary personification (making António Campinos, who is very new at the EPO, seem like a patent guru), pay careful attention to the choice of words, which we've highlighted. Benoît Battistelli did not know patents until he was in his fifties and as far as we can tell Campinos too barely has any experience with them. Why does the EPO make such people 'flag bearers' for the Office? Is it merely a political apparatus used for financial gain by few Eurocrats? Or is that a scientific institution?

As side notes to the above issues, as we'll note in Daily Links, this page says that the "European Patent Office (EPO) has released updated information on conducting remote oral proceedings before the Boards of Appeal," never mind if they're legal or not (based on the EPC). As the 'news' from EPO.org makes clear (posted a day before Christmas Eve), they've quit caring about legality. They think they can just do everything over webchats (they cannot, at least not legally) and patent scope no longer seems to exist or matter to the Office.

Marks & Clerk LLP, a patent litigation firm, is (as usual) promoting illegal software patents at the EPO using a bunch of buzzwords and meaningless hype waves ("on a computer" or "tech" as 'novelty' in its own right -- akin to "over the Internet" or "in a car"). This one marketing piece uses two propaganda terms from the EPO, "Digitisation" and "MedTech"... (both seem to increasingly exploit the pandemic to make patents on software seem like a "public good").

It has also been noted that the "European Patent Office has announced that its offices in Berlin, Munich and The Hague will remain closed atleast until the 10th of January 2021 from December 24th, 2020 due the COVID situation across most of Europe. Most countries in Europe such as Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece to name a few have already announced a lockdown between now and the 7th of January 2021."

"Lobbying for the UPC is rapidly becoming an awful public relations strategy."That does not say that they force everyone to work from home regardless. Here in the UK many receive pay leave if there are severe closures. The EPO doesn't offer anything like that...

Speaking of the UK, with the expiry of the Brexit transition period one law firm has just noted that the "European Patent Office (EPO) is not an EU institution and hence European patents will be unaffected by Brexit. European patent applications will continue to designate the UK, and we will remain European Patent Attorneys able to represent clients at the EPO."

They don't mention the UPC (EU), do they? Well, why would they? They too realise that it's dead and buried; even the article shown above (link here) was changed as soon as the constitutional complaints became publicly known. They're trying to save face now, as did many other boosters of the UPC. Lobbying for the UPC is rapidly becoming an awful public relations strategy.

As for Google News, it's gamed by lobbyists and law firms. It's not news. For many topics it is marketing noise.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
 
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text)
The Web is really getting bad; it's also overwhelmed by fake material or plagiarised material, wherein the plagiarism gets disguised/hidden by LLM sausage factories
Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan
Links for the day
Linux is Already Dominant (Android), Let's Make GNU/Linux Dominant in Desktops/Laptops as Well
"Dr. Stallman recently warned everybody about Microsoft."
The Loyalty to Microsoft and the Salaries From Microsoft (Funding SLAPPs Against Techrights and Tux Machines)
Garrett always knows better. He knows everything best.
Windows Falls in Italy as GNU/Linux Jumps to 5%
Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google
Windows down to almost nothing in Africa's largest population
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond
"More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster"
Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June
Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 02, 2025
Last Article From Australia's Sam Varghese Was a Year Ago and It Covered the Release of Julian Assange, Who Will Apparently Come Back as 'Politician'
It'll soon be exactly 12 months
Hungary Seems Hungry for Linux
Windows down by a lot
Like in Europe, Bad News for Microsoft in US and Canada
If it loses those "regions", then what's left?
About 8 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in 2025 (in Less Than 5 Months), Now Vista 11 "Market Share" Decreases
Really bad news for shareholders of Microsoft
statCounter Sees Bing "Share" Falling Over 0.5% in One Month, Now Lower Than Before the ChatGPT/Bing Chat Hype
Bing has been part of the mass layoffs for quite some time
After Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia Android (Linux) Will Dominate Asia Completely
Windows probably peaked in "XP" or "2000"
Microsoft's Demise is a Global Phenomenon
mass layoffs justified using mindless buzzwords
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux in EU and the UK, All-Time Lows for Microsoft
Combining ChromeOS and GNU/Linux, it adds up to and almost reaches 6%
India: Windows Falls to 50% in Desktops/Laptops and 8% Overall
laptops/desktops fell to 16% of the whole
statCounter: GNU/Linux Up to 4.7% "Market Share" This Month
30,000 Microsoft jobs may be eliminated by year's end
Microsoft is in Trouble and Microsofters Know It
"I've been happy on Win 3.11 for years."
[Video] New Introduction to Richard Stallman's Contributions Including GNU Emacs, GNU/Linux, and Software Freedom
from the channel previously bullied for supporting RMS
Links 02/06/2025: South Korea to Vote, Russia Blitzed From Within
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Political Leftovers, DRM, and Patents
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Microsoft Spins Layoffs as "Slop", Frontier Settles Lawsuit
Links for the day
When You Publicly Boast About Wanting to Violently Attack People (Even Colleagues) Finding a Job Will Prove Difficult
there's a lesson to be learned here
The Web We Lost, the Information Lost Due to Microsoft's Attacks on Companies Like Yahoo! (Before the LLM Slop Frenzy)
When it comes to news sites, what can we say?
Covering Corruption in Poland, Including a War on Science (Due to Bad Politicians)
What we're about to show is that skilled and experienced scientists in Poland are besieged by bureaucrats
Gemini Links 02/06/2025: "Star Wars Day" and "Security Day"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 01, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 01, 2025