Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO's War on Justice and Assault on the Law -- Part 2: Just Another Pro Forma Rubber-Stamping Exercise?

Previously in this series:



The kangaroo judges
G 1/21 is likely to be just another pro forma rubber-stamping exercise.



Summary: Half a decade after Benoît Battistelli 'kidnapped' and then defamed judges (it started in 2014) António Campinos has done nothing to restore lawfulness at the EPO, as controversial referral case G 1/21 shows; in fact, they recently approved European software patents after pressure from Campinos himself

This time the story is connected to the "new normal" at the EPO and plans of the management to impose oral proceedings by videoconference, in particular in circumstances where the parties don't consent to the use of such a procedure.



The case is G 1/21 (warning: epo.org link) and the crucial referral question reads as follows:

"Is the conduct of oral proceedings in the form of a videoconference compatible with the right to oral proceedings as enshrined in Article 116(1) EPC if not all of the parties to the proceedings have given their consent to the conduct of oral proceedings in the form of a videoconference?"


Back in February of this year, IPKat began reporting on the case under the headline

"BREAKING: The legality of Board of Appeal oral proceedings by video conference has been referred to the EBA".

This was followed up by two further posts in March:

"BREAKING: Board of Appeal in T1807/15 continues with ViCo oral proceedings referral"; and

"Chairman and Enlarged Board criticised for lack of impartiality in ViCo oral proceedings referral (G1/21)".

It seemed like the blog was finally starting to show signs of awakening from its Kat-atonic torpor and recovering some of its long-lost critical faculties vis-à-vis the already deeply entrenched and ongoing erosion of the rule of law at the EPO.

"Even the normally censorious Rose from AstraZeneca has been allowing EPO-critical comments to filter through."In particular, IPKat recognised that the "hasty scheduling of the oral proceedings with limited time for third parties to comment, and (…) the potential conflicts of the appointed members of the Enlarged Board" had given rise to a significant amount of legitimate public criticism.

Even the normally censorious Rose from AstraZeneca has been allowing EPO-critical comments to filter through.

Much of the criticism in the comments following the articles has been directed at Carl Josefsson.

"It should be noted that the decision adopted by the EBA in such a case is a final decision which is not subject to review by any further instance."In his capacity as President of the Boards of Appeal, Josefsson was directly involved in the introduction of the disputed amendments to the Rules of Procedure. His involvement in the amendment procedure is foreseen under Rule 12c(2) EPC (warning: epo.org link).

It seems that Josefsson is now insisting on playing a key role as Chairman of the Enlarged Board in deciding whether or not the amendments which he himself proposed are compatible with the European Patent Convention.

It should be noted that the decision adopted by the EBA in such a case is a final decision which is not subject to review by any further instance.

As things stand, the procedure in G 1/21 is unlikely to be anything more than another pro forma rubber-stamping exercise.

"But even if the outcome seems like a foregone conclusion at this stage, the case has generated a significant amount of public interest and controversy and will, in all likelihood, continue to do so in the lead-up to the hearing scheduled to take place on 28 May."The only useful purpose which it is likely to serve is to provide a further "exhibit" in the mounting pile of evidence of a serious erosion of the rule of law at the EPO and a failure by the organisation's main judicial body to comply with even the most elementary standards of judicial independence and procedural fairness.

But even if the outcome seems like a foregone conclusion at this stage, the case has generated a significant amount of public interest and controversy and will, in all likelihood, continue to do so in the lead-up to the hearing scheduled to take place on 28 May.

In the next part we will present the composition of the judicial panel entrusted with deciding the controversial referral case G 1/21.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Alex Oliva, the Potential 'Successor' of RMS, Has a New Web Site
More freedom for Alex Oliva
Azure is Turning 17 This Year, Still Losing Money and Staff
Hallmark of pyramid schemes, deriving "value" out of things that do not really exist?
 
Links 16/02/2025: Oligarchs "Collect Your Data and Control Your World", Global Temperatures Shoot Up
Links for the day
Promoting Microsoft Windows With LLM Slop
What is the policy at BetaNews regarding LLM slop?
Links 16/02/2025: "Microsoft Is Laying Off Employees" and Internal Dissent Brewing at Facebook Over Regime Complicity
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 15, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 15, 2025
Links 15/02/2025: Harms to Health, Public Domain, and More
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/02/2025: On Autistic People, AuraGem Over HTTPS
Links for the day
The Cyber Show (C|S) Speaks of the "Rise of the Nerd Reich."
This 'Valentine Episode' is quite good
Strong Momentum for the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as Winter Approaches Its End in Boston or in the Northern Hemisphere
FSF's founder, Richard Stallman, gives another talk in Italy in 9 days from now
The 'Drunken Plagiarists' Are Harming Journalism About GNU/Linux
They lessen the incentive to do real journalism abut GNU/Linux
Female Nazis and racist Swiss women
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Richard Stallman on RISC-V and Free Hardware
Invidious is under attack by Google
Links 15/02/2025: Erasing of American Science and Tesla SLAPPing Critics
Links for the day
IDG 'Reviews' of GNU/Linux Now Contain LLM Slop
It's typically ads or commercials... or sometimes spin disguised as news
Gemini Links 15/02/2025: Spectacles and "Before Sunset", Moving Domains Out of the US
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Only $17,482 Million Left, "Cash on Hand" Sank 40 Billion Dollars in 2 Years
Microsoft runs low on money in the bank
YouTube Layoffs Mean That YouTube is Still Losing a Lot of Money (Net Income or Profit Almost Definitely Negative)
In more recent years Google defunded many vloggers
In Gopher and Gemini Protocol People Abandon Services Based in the United States
There's no resistance whatsoever
Python and Microsoft: Pandas Should Have Known OpenDocument Format (ODF) and Microsoft Excel Are Different and Competing Things
now we're meant to think that in order to open ODF files we need some functions with "Excel" in their name
Not Only Windows, Surface, and "Hey Hi" PCs; Microsoft's Hardware Ventures Are a Dumpster Fire; HoloLens Mixed Reality Hardware Now Axed Altogether and Staff is Miserable
Microsoft is in a terrible state
Certificate Authority (CA) Let's Encrypt Now Down to TEN (0.3% of the Whole) in Geminispace
The number of capsules that use Let's Encrypt is, according to Lupa, about to fall to single-digit figures
Links 15/02/2025: University Price Hikes and Copyright Action Against Slop Companies
Links for the day
Slopwatch: All Those New 'Articles' Are Fake and Crafted by Chatbots (LLM Slop)
Google News is promoting these as "Linux" news; they're not even made by humans
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 14, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 14, 2025
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Mysterious Friend and "Eight by Eight"
Links for the day
They Will Never Leave Linus Torvalds Alone, Rust is Just Another Way to Cause Instability and Infighting in Linux
We already identified the Rust "community" as troublemakers more than 5 years ago and we wrote about the evidence
Apple: Social Justice or Social Nationalism?
Remember to buy Apple, folks
Links 14/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Sophos, Chatbots Failing Very Badly, "DOGE as a National Cyberattack"
Links for the day
Moving Away From Certificate Authorities (CAs) Like Let's Encrypt Means Taking Away From the US Government the Power to 'Censor' Sites by Revoking Certificates
Gemini capsule is cheap to run and easy (easier than a Web site) to maintain. More people disillusioned and frustrated with social control media flock to it.
BetaNews' Managing Editor Wayne William Took Charge of GNU/Linux Articles and His Articles Are Real (He Actually Wrote Them)
We are frankly relieved to see that Wayne William recognised the problem and did something about it
Links 14/02/2025: Publicity Rights Violated (ByteDance), Bribes to Trump Passed via Social Control Media 'Settlements' Again
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/02/2025: Constitution, Cosmic DE, and More
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles Published by Bots, Dominating Google News
So a lot of the Web is Microsoft chatbot-generated anti-Linux FUD
Links 14/02/2025: Measles Outbreak in Texas, Zelensky Warns Russia Will Attack a NATO Country
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 13, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 13, 2025