Bonum Certa Men Certa

News Sites That Talk About Patents Have Become Shameless Self-Promotion 'Plugs' by Law Firms (and Sometimes Outright 'Spam' for Litigation)

Video download link



Summary: The sources of news about patent affairs have dried up; sites that actually used to investigate and report facts have since then shut down or defected to the Public Relations/marketing industry

THE PAST 20 years I've spent a lot of time reading news sites, with growing focus on patents over time, especially 15 years ago. I grew up on the Web, which was there when I was a teenager. In the early days of the Web (before and during the Netscape days) we'd go to sites like Download.com and News.com (some might know the history of these domains and the ill fate of CNET). There used to be a "golden era" of transition from newspapers to "online news", except the classifieds sections weren't quite there, so business models needed to urgently change. In the late 90s and well into the start of the millennium there was still investment (capital) in online news, but with Web monopolies and social control media (over a decade ago) many news sites languished and ebbed away. They never truly came back. IP Kat and Watchtroll were early at the scene, but they too have languished and the founders of both are no longer there. They're like 'satellite' sites with fluff and sometimes clickbait...

Litigation firms now sponsor Patently-O. It even admitted so openly a few weeks ago.

"IP Kat and Watchtroll were early at the scene, but they too have languished and the founders of both are no longer there."It's saddening to me, it really is...

What works in our favour is that we don't have a 'business model' and we don't need one. We're all volunteers fighting the good fight, even in the face of smears and discreditisation campaigns (corporations have attempted to 'cancel' us since the site was months old).

The video above is a rant about the lack of media participation in covering EPO abuses. EPO insiders are smart enough to know why this is happening (in the Benoît Battistelli days there was still some media left and some of that same media defected and became a lapdog/censor of António Campinos).

"Same publisher, different agenda."In part 13 of the current series we'll show the sorts of puff pieces produced by JUVE for 'access' to EPO management. They just never expose EPO abuses anymore. Same publisher, different agenda. The video shows two 'reports' from this morning; one from Konstanze Richter and another from Christina Schulze, who once upon a time wrote and even exposed EPO scandals. Now, as we noted in the latest Daily Links, we cannot say anything without insulting or offending both of them. Because this isn't journalism, it just isn't. We've been filing many more examples in Daily Links (not meriting a whole article about them; there's really not that much to say) and it's concerning to see JUVE becoming just another IAM. Will the fate be the same as IPWatch and IPPro Patents? I've not seen Barney Dixon online since last year* (some British publisher) and it's a shame because he actually did some good work and he gave a voice to EPO staff, just like the original 'Kats' at IP Kat. _____ * To quote this page: "Recent news related to Asset Servicing Times, Captive Insurance Times, Securities Lending Times, IPPro Magazine (Closed December 2019) or IPPro Patents (Closed January 2019)" (all the articles were lost, too).

Recent Techrights' Posts

SLAPP Censorship - Part 80 Out of 200: Having Run Out of Time to Meet a Judge's Deadline, Microsoft's Graveley Had Garrett's Lawyers Argued My ~190-Page Defence and CounterClaim (DCC) Was Unclear About My Position
Nothing could be further from the truth
 
Links 18/05/2026: Slop-induced Shortages, Solicitors Regulation Authority Says It's Unable to Deal With Complaints Load (So Regulation Does Not Really Exist)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Ghost Essay and World Wide Web Considered Broken
Links for the day
Cooperation and Collaboration, on a More Personal Level
Rianne, to me, isn't just a wife; she is also my best friend
IBM Has Payroll Problems (Just Like Microsoft)
It's a good thing that many nations around the world are, accordingly if not proactively, divesting from GAFAM
Links 18/05/2026: 25 Years of OLDaily and Dangers of "Living With Too Much Tech"
Links for the day
Trips to London
London isn't a bad place, but it's a long journey and we'd rather stay in Manchester and write about technology
Working in the Shell (and Fish)
Yesterday we spent about 5 hours on the shells and fish
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVI - Campinos Has Put Unfit-for-Employment Drug Addicts in Charge of the European Patent Office (EPO)
How many months has Campinos got left before the delegates show him the door?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 17, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, May 17, 2026
Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Poetry, Sauna, and GNU Taler
Links for the day
"The Society of Media Lawyers" (UK) is a Truly Malicious Anti-Media Lobby Which Helps Rich/Abusive Americans and Hostile Countries Attack Actual Media Workers in the UK
They typically source their money from aboard to besiege domestic actors (like honest journalists or independent outlets that document suppressed beats/topics)
Slop Still Waning, Its Momentum is Driven by Companies That Stand to Lose a Lot (or Everything) When the Bubble Pops
When it comes to LLM slop disguised as news, it's just not working out
Gemini Links 17/05/2026: arXiv Brings Down the Hammer, UnderPOWERed, and Slopping With Tcl/Tk
Links for the day
Links 17/05/2026: Amazon Employees Herded Into Slop, Taiwan Sold Down the River by Cheeto
Links for the day
Links 17/05/2026: Society of Media Lawyers (Brett Wilson LLP et al) Lobby for More SLAPPs in the UK, “Courage in Journalism Award” Given in Oppressive Country
Links for the day
Finland Needs to Dump Microsoft (Microslop) for National Security Reasons and the Same is True for Hundreds of Countries
"I don't see why Ryssäs would want Finns to use microslop products..."
Cyber Show UK is Already Available Over Gemini Protocol
This past week the total number of active Gemini capsules hit all-time records several times
Fight Til the End
This comes to show that persistence pays off
SLAPP Censorship - Part 79 Out of 200: They Will Soon Reach the 100 KG (Kilograms) Milestone; Wheelbarrows, Not Justice (Quantity of Legal Papers Sent to Us)
It's about the quality, not quantity (unless your sole aim is to drown out or "flood the zone")
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXV - Not Bringing Intelligence to the EPO, Not 'Artificial Intelligence' Either (But Intelligence-Eroding Drugs)
The EPO was meant to be about science and law. In practice, however, it's about breaking the law and being stoned.
The Cyber Show on Why Coding is Important and Slop Cannot Change or Replace That
Hand-crafting one's site has plenty of advantages
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 16, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, May 16, 2026
Gemini Links 17/05/2026: Music Theory, Reticulum Git Repos, and Releasing Kiln
Links for the day
Links 16/05/2026: Cuba Plunges Into Darkness (Energy Wasted by Nonsense), Googlebooks as Slop Nonsense (Energy Waste and Time Wasted)
Links for the day
Links 16/05/2026: Climate Issues, Free Speech, and Monopolies/Monopsonies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/05/2026: Retreat and Devuan Manuals
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 78 Out of 200: Slandering Me for Saying the Truth About Graveley and Garrett's Abuse of Processes, Stacking Dockets
These are the sorts of things British taxpayers ought to talk about
"AI" Became a New Name or Placeholder for Debt
Because they will only ever lose money for this thing with "tokens" or "potential"
"Microsoft Goodwill and Intangible Assets" Down Two Years in a Row, According to Microsoft
Microsoft cannot sell these, so what is their real relevance?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 15, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, May 15, 2026
IBM: Shares Down 30%, Mass Layoffs, IBM Says "Goodwill" Grew by 10% to Over a Third of the Company's Total "Worth"
According to IBM
Microsoft LinkedIn Layoffs "Very Likely Higher" Than 1,000 People
Microsoft is bleeding