Bonum Certa Men Certa

Breaking: G1/21 (ViCo Hearing) Going Down the Drain

Drain



Summary: The crisis of legitimacy inside the Boards of Appeal has caused today's hearing to be postponed, maybe indefinitely (pending a solution to this crisis/deadlock)

SO it finally happened!



"By extension, the credibility of any claims of independence for Boards of Appeal judges is now at historic lows (or worst since the kidnapping of Judge PC)."Stick a fork in it, it's done!

OK, as a quick recap, a few days ago we finished our 20-part series about G1/21. Rose Hughes and comments on her blog posts played a role in getting the scrutiny up to speed. Techrights threw a wrench (as did many others) and the kangaroo court sort of 'died', albeit it'll never acknowledge what caused it. By extension, the credibility of any claims of independence for Boards of Appeal judges is now at historic lows (or worst since the kidnapping of Judge PC).

In the words of Dr. Hughes (minutes ago):

The Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) has decided to reschedule oral proceedings for G1/21 due to a procedural technicality. The referral concerns the legality of conducting Board of Appeal oral proceedings by Video Conferencing (ViCo) without the consent of all parties. However, the substantive issues in the referral were not considered today. Instead, the EBA accepted a request from the Opponent for postponement of proceedings. The Opponent particularly objected that they had not been given sufficient time to consider the President's submissions on the referral, given that they had only received formal notification of these submissions a few days before the hearing.

G1/21: Case catch-up

The new rule of procedure of the Boards of Appeal (RPBA), Article 15a, was introduced earlier this year. Article 15a RPBA permits a Board of Appeal to hold oral proceedings by ViCo whenever "the Board considers it appropriate to do so". The rapid introduction of this new provision sparked considerable controversy, given that it permits Boards of Appeal to hold oral proceedings by ViCo even when one or more of the parties disagree. Whilst most commentators have accepted the necessity of ViCo proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns were raised that access to justice before the EPO requires a party to have the right to put their case in-person.

The referral in G1/21 asks whether Article 15a RPBA is compatible with the right to oral proceedings as enshrined in Article 116(1) EPC. The referral itself stems from appeal of the opposition decision to maintain EP1609239 in amended form (T1807/15) (IPKat).

[...]

The EBA was clearly concerned that a decision on the legality of mandatory ViCo proceedings should not be unnecessarily delayed, given the potentially large number of affected cases. The Opponent was therefore asked how long they would require to consider the President's submissions. The Opponent responded that they would like at least 1 month. The EBA accepted this request, and oral proceedings will be rescheduled for June-July in order to allow the Opponent to make further written submissions.

It thus seems that, in the Enlarged Board's admirable attempt to provide legal certainty on ViCo proceedings as soon as possible, certain procedural rules have been overlooked. We will therefore have to wait a little longer to hear the arguments on the substantive issues of the referral. However, on the plus side, at least the parties will not have to travel all the way back to Munich to attend the rescheduled hearing...


Amy Sandys has also just commented on this:

At the beginning of 2021, the European Patent Office and EPO Boards of Appeal changed their practice. Previously, the office could only conduct oral proceedings via video with the consent of both parties.

However, from January 2021, the office made it possible for video proceedings to go ahead even without the consent of both parties.


The above aren't patent sceptics but maximalists. Maybe deep inside they worry about the very viability of these courts, which they wanted us to wrongly assume had operated smoothly and happily. There has been no Haar-mony there for a long, long time.

The Administrative Council needs to step in an examine what happened to EPO management under Benoît Battistelli's and António Campinos's regime. They clearly undermined the legitimacy of about a decade's worth of BoA decisions. Battistelli lost his cool about 8 years ago and now we have loads of discredited decisions, including some on European software patents. Getting back to the drawing table is well overdue. Doing illegal things for so many years, hoping that rigged courts will then rubber-stamp them, is what we can expect from primitive societies, not the very heart of Germany. Speaking of Germany, Merkel is lying again. Old mythology is being spread in the news today. As we noted before, Merkel and her colleagues also protect the "Mafia" at the EPO and cover up/hide the crimes at the EPO (in Germany) because of financial interests. Merkel's latest remarks are bound to infuriate billions of people who cannot be vaccinated due to patent monopolies. Those who echo the same talking points (as one comment in IP Kat did yesterday) basically spread a very racist lie. They want us to think that given knowledge and equipment poor countries still cannot manufacture thei own vaccines. As if people in those countries are brutes and animals or something...

Recent Techrights' Posts

When (Almost) One-Man Operations Are Disguised as Medium-Sized Companies
the CEO hides in the US (hiding from his ex-wives, 4 daughters from those wives, and Sirius staff that he defrauded)
Microsoft Actually in Trouble, Microsofters Unable to Obey Judges' Orders
For the second time in a week, Microsofters are unable to obey orders
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Microsoft's Debt Exploded by 15.4 Billion Dollars in the Past 9 Months Alone (Despite All the Layoffs)
As of minutes ago, at 6PM on a Friday, the numbers are made public
 
Video: The Rise of GNU/Linux and Free Software as Seen by RMS in 2004
DTP's founder argued that when Windows goes below 85% "market share", it'll lose its grip in the monopoly sense
Russia: GNU/Linux Rises to Highest Adoption Level Since Invasion of Ukraine
Moving up in the north
Microsoft's Latest Financial Report: We "Gained" 300 Million Dollars in "Goodwill" and Liabilities Grew by 32 Billion Dollars
Microsoft's debt has reached an all-time high
The Register US = The Register MS
Formerly The Register UK
Weeks After Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan Windows Falls to All-Time Lows
Only less than a month ago it was quietly revealed, based on laid-off staff, that Microsoft shut down in Pakistan
Criminal Behaviour is the Standard Operating Procedure at Microsoft
In the future I'll be able to tell how, when dealing with SLAPPs from Microsofters, their Microsoft services failed me and sometimes even blocked my contacts
GNU/Linux Rises to All-Time Highs in Europe
many people will get fired for buying Microsoft
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux on the Client Desktop/Laptop, Based on Steam Survey
GNU/Linux rose to 2.89% in Steam
Links 02/08/2025: Blaugust 2025 and "Russia Declares Navalny Memoir ‘Extremist’"
Links for the day
Free Software is Not a Business Model
Go ahead, ask your friend, "how do you plan to monetise your children?"
LLM Slop Harms Real Literature, Real Web Sites, Real Journalism
LLM slop is a parasite and it'll run out of legitimate outputs
Upcoming OSI Scandal Series
The OSI is a rogue actor because it serves Microsoft in exchange for money
Slopwatch: The Issue Persists, But the Consensus in the Media Changes as Google Enrages It With LLM Plagiarism
We've meanwhile assessed the latest output from Linuxiac
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 01, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 01, 2025
Links 02/08/2025: İstanbul Retail Inflation Reaches 42.48%, US FBI Opens Office in New Zealand
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/08/2025: ZFS, LLM Hype, and Fake Modules
Links for the day
Links 01/08/2025: Health, Conflict, and Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Meeting (Webchat) With Maria Arranz Gomez, Florian Grundies, Jürgen Janda and Konstantinos Kortsaris Confronts EPO Management About Breaking Promises and Crushing Workers
The lack of consistent messages suggests plans other than what's advertised and the lack of consultation (secrecy) likewise
Links 01/08/2025: "The Great British Firewall" and U.S. Army Sponsors Palantir
Links for the day
For Second Day in a Row, Top Story in The Register MS is "Microsoft Says"
The editor in chief exercises control over everybody else
LLMs as Attack Method Against Free Software and Programming
DDoS in "hey hi" (slop) clothing
Stability and Reliability, Backward Compatibility
I don't fancy relying on social control media as "sources"
What "the News" Looks Like in 2025
The "says" (or "sez") phenomenon
History Will Be Distorted, Sometimes Intentionally, Under the Guise of Intelligence (Manipulated/Curated Slop)
Militarised misinformation or military-grade chaff is a national security threat, even domestically
Financial Engineering Companies: A Company Worth 4 Trillion Dollars Would Not Borrow 100+ Billion Dollars at Interest Rates Like Today's
Many headlines perpetuate the lie Microsoft had just 2 waves of layoffs
Microsoft is Googlebombing "Linux" While Paying Former News Sites to Publish SPAM
How much lower will IDG sink?
Google as a 'Bullshit Generator' Disguised as Intelligence
It'll probably cause Google to get sued a lot, both by individuals and companies
As Expected, Google in the UK Now Experiments With Slop Instead of Web Search
At this point more people ought to stop and think: Does Google's search engine deserve trust?
The Data You Don't Give Away is Your Advantage
stop sharing data that does not need to be shared
Being Obedient or Doing the Right Thing
The world always changes for the better because of people who think "Outside the Box", not the cogs
Gemini Links 01/08/2025: Happy Hacking Keyboards and New Gemini Arrivals
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 31, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 31, 2025
Sabotaging Linux on Behalf of Microsoft With UEFI 'Secure' Boot (De Facto Remote 'Kill Switch'), Then Defaming, Stalking and Harassing Critics of 'Secure' Boot for 12 Years, Then SLAPPing Their Spouses and Them
The sorts of stubborn lunatics we've been dealing with
Moving on in Techrights, Geeks Gonna Geek
In the coming weeks we plan to focus (as we explained last week) on patents, GNU/Linux issues, and the occasional philosophical essays
Slopwatch: Google News Has Lost the Plot
Almost the majority of articles returned for "Linux" are fakes
Links 31/07/2025: Australia Restricts YouTube Access, Personal Privacy at Risk
Links for the day
Links 31/07/2025: Spotify Collapses and Spotify Now Forcing Some Users to Undergo Face-Scanning
Links for the day
A Lot of Supposedly "Successful" Businesses Are Just Debt-Racking Vessels Without Any Prospects of Financial Sustainability
The probability of bankruptcy of any business is more than 0%
theregister.com: The Voice of Microsoft US?
It basically sold out
Yes, You Can Love and Adore Things Whilst Also Criticising Them
Is society being divided and groomed/primed to be resistant to constructive criticism?
Links 31/07/2025: War in Ukraine, Security News, and Cyberattacks Against Journalists on the Rise
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/07/2025: Fake Money and Gemini Diaries
Links for the day
An Illusion and Cult Worship of Magnitude (Ubiquity as "Victory")
GNU has been around for over 40 years and it'll likely continue to exist for another 40 (in some form)
Google: From Pointing to Relevant Sites to Pointing to Social Control Media to Actually Parroting Social Control Media as "Facts"
Google has become a misinformation company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 30, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 30, 2025