We need EPO media coverage, not coverup

People who love Europe are concerned

Summary: The tragedy happening in the EPO, or the EU-centric UPC project, is a cause for concern among many who practice science rather than "law" (litigation); we need to compel media to better inform the public because it's completely failing to do journalism that's essential for justice

THOSE who have been following this site since the start (2006) and have been reading my blog posts since my teenage years will know that I'm no opponent of patents in general. I find myself arguing, both online and offline (in real life, friends of mine), that patents are not intrinsically, or in principle, evil. Even a friend of mine who has patents, including European Patents at the EPO, says that all patents need to go. As a university professor, the only reasons he has patents (a medical field) is because his job requires or demands it.

"As a university professor, the only reasons he has patents (a medical field) is because his job requires or demands it."Judging by comments seen here on Saturday, Team UPC carries on with this false narrative wherein UPC sceptics are some dangerous nationalists when in fact they're well-schooled people who understand the patent system and are accordingly concerned. Many scholars signed letters to that effect, even at the end of last year. Bristows et al was happy to flag AfD as a UPC opponent in order to paint with a broad brush people who stood in the way of the business objectives of Bristows et al. We covered this in past years. Thankfully the second comment in the above thread says: "Thank you for demonstrating once again the psychological and intellectual condition of some ‘Team UPC’ members."

We're glad to see that the term ‘Team UPC’ caught on after we had coined it. Over the years we coined all sorts of terms that caught on, mostly in the area of technology, e.g. "social control media" and "openwashing". We think they correctly explain what's really going on.

"We're glad to see that the term ‘Team UPC’ caught on after we had coined it."In our Daily Links we'll included (with commentary) all the latest spin from ‘Team UPC’. But we don't intend to write very much about it. UPC has become almost 'pure politics' already, so no wonder its proponents are not scientists but politicians like Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos, lobbying with or for a bunch of lawyers. What's at stake is very big and goes well beyond European software patents; but at the same time we think this sort of debate is somewhat of a distraction from profound EPO corruption. Notice how not a single publisher has said anything about the ILO-AT rulings on EPO, even though SUEPO announced these publicly. I will check again later today to see if I missed or overlooked something, but almost nobody covered the hearing from July 2^nd (I saw only 3, one behind a sort of paywall) and there is zero coverage about ILO affairs. How come?

In my early twenties I devoted myself to Free software activism; in my mid twenties I started getting more and more involved in the fight against software patents, seeing them as the foremost risk to a lot of what we call software freedom (many people don't comprehend the underlying concepts because media goes out of its way to not explain that or -- yet worse -- explain that poorly). What happened at the EPO for over a decade now wasn't a surprise; we've covered the EPO crisis for nearly 14 years, culminating in Brimelow's abrupt departure. Then there was a quiet transition from bad to much worse. And we're fortunate to have earned the full trust of EPO staff, to whom we are eternally obliged. Over a week ago we mirrored everything in Gemini, including the wiki, and work is underway to take that mirror further (lots of coding going on in the background).

Here's a bit of a preview:

EPO in gemini:// (mirror of HTTP/S). Work in progress, or testbed, an automatically-generated (and automatically-updated) wiki page.

Our number one commitment in Techrights has been for quite some time -- and remains -- EPO coverage. This is easy to see and probably surprises nobody. If we could choose just one topic to cover, EPO would be it. Not just because it's a unique subject but because it's conspicously suppressed and covered by almost nobody (or covered poorly; lost in a mist of paid-for IEA greenwashing, EIA fluff, and shameless self-marketing from litigation firms). Chronicles of these EPO affairs won't stop any time soon. As City fans say, "we fight till the end." ⬆