[Meme] EPC Calling
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2022-02-05 11:25:05 UTC
- Modified: 2022-02-05 11:25:05 UTC
Summary: There's growing realisation that the EPC has long been abandoned, rendering the legitimacy of the EPO's present operations (or management style) dubious to say the least
Comment by Daniel X. Thomas (
former EPO Director) last week:
No surprise for a French lawyer wanting to concentrate the Central Division in one and the same location that is Paris. In view of the fierce battle which has ended up with the Central (?) Division being in cut in three parts, I would rather think that this no more than wishful thinking. Germany would like it too.
I doubt that the two contenders for the allocation of the duties devoted to London, IT and NL, will accept a “provisional” allocation to either Paris and/or Munich of files in IPC classes A and C. I have not yet seen one convincing or compelling legal basis for such a “provisional” allocation. It is also far from sure that the distribution in Annex II of the UPCA will remain as it is. I could well see that FR and DE will haggle again and should a third location come, both countries would like to keep files in IPC classes A and C and transfer to the third location other IPC classes.
One can even have doubts that the UPC is in conformity with union law and Art 6(1) ECHR. Beside the legality of the provisional transfer of duties, a further reason is that a UPC judge can be removed from its post by his peers, but no means of redress are offered to him! See Art 10 of the Statute of the court, Annex I.
It is the first time that I see concerns expressed about the position of the SMEs in the UP/UPC system. Up to now SMEs have been used as a fig leaf by the big internationally active industry and big international active litigation lawyers firms, to hide the fact that they were primarily interested in the UP/UPC system. Only those two groups are sure to profit from the UP/UPC system. An impact of EPLA on the SMEs seems to have been carried out, but not for the UP/UPC. In all meetings in which SMEs were informed about the UP/UPC system, they clearly expressed their fears. The level of fees being the strongest deterrent to start with.
One very important aspect is that 70% of patents are held by proprietors not residing in a UPC contracting state. The UPC opens those extra-European proprietors a single point of attack for European industry in general and European SMEs in particular. Is this really helping European patent holders? I have some serious doubts. When one further sees that the average number of validations of granted European patents is between 3 and 5, the necessity of a complicated system like the UPC is not manifest. To my knowledge no study about the economic necessity of the UPC has ever been carried out.
Claiming that the UPC will bring about a movement of harmonization of European Patent Law is anything but sure. Both the UPC and the BA can decide upon the validity of a granted patent. The EPO for a shorter length of time, the UPC for a longer one. As a UP is a patent granted by the EPO, divisions of first instance of the EPO and BA are bound by decisions of the EBA. There is not even a cooperation mechanism foreseen between the two courts. This is however the case for the EFTA Court and the CJEU. The problem is compounded in that the UP/UPC is first not covering the whole of the EU, and I am not sure that the remaining member states of the EPC will accept case law from an institution they have no influence on it.
I do not expect that the number of oppositions at the EPO will diminish. First there is a big difference in fees and the EPO has streamlined the opposition procedure and the BA are making great efforts to lower their backlog. One should also not forget that the backlog has risen due to the blocking of any recruitment at the BA for many years. One wonders if this was not a deliberate attempt to discreetly favour the UPC.
Last but not least, the costs for simultaneous interpretation are borne by the EPO, whereas at the UPC, they will be costs of the proceedings to be borne by the losing party. That the costs or damages can have ceilings does not fundamentally change the issue.
Independently from the high basis fees at the UPC and in view of the costs for simultaneous interpretation been borne by the losing party, it is clear that the UP/UPC is for contenders having deep pockets.
Having practised European integration during my whole active life I am certainly for it, but I am neither convinced nor compelled to think that the UP/UPC system is the right way in matters of IP. There are other, much cheaper, ways to bring about a harmonisation in IP matters.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- The "Luddite" Complex
- Sometimes simplest is best and sometimes "modern" is designed not with the buyers' interest in mind
- SCO's Darl McBride Dead at Age 64
- There's hardly any information about it, except we know he reached bankruptcy and 3 years later he died at a relatively young age
- [Meme] Python Knows Its Bosses
- Microsoft strings attached
- [Meme] Debt of About $20 Per Active User
- Facebook isn't laying off tens of thousands for "efficiency" but for survival
-
- Links 02/11/2024: Many Fakes in Social Control Media
- Links for the day
- GNU/Linux Usage Surveys: Up to 6.8% (With ChromeOS, Based on StatCounter) in Desktops/Laptops and Above 2% in Steam
- Today StatCounter starts releasing graphs based on data for November
- Gemini Links 02/11/2024: Petscop, Jokes, and RetroChallenge
- Links for the day
- Links 02/11/2024: Temu EU Probe and Shorts Trademark
- Links for the day
- The 'Turning-Free-Code-Proprietary Foundation' (Linux/Microsoft Foundation)
- LF will basically become just as sinister as its corporate sponsors
- Python Software Foundation is 'Cancel Culture' Rehomed
- Python isn't grassroots and it doesn't really tolerate grassroots
- DeVault "Closes Down His Mailing Lists Every Time There's a Scandal" and Also Censors Messages
- Censorious code hosting platform
- What Social Control Media Really Is
- Social Control Media, in a nutshell, isn't just bad if its controller is some foreign or hostile nation
- Taking Ethics Lectures From Drew
- Projection tactics
- Links 02/11/2024: Facebook Stock Falls (Soaring Debt), Apple’s Quarterly Profit Down
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 02/11/2024: Burnout, Emacs Bookmarks, and Smooth Migration
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 01, 2024
- IRC logs for Friday, November 01, 2024
- Facebook's Debt Has Soared to All-Time High of Nearly 50 Billion Dollars
- But the corporate media pretends all is well (while mass layoffs continue and slop takes over the social control media)
- Geminispace Makes It Past 4,200 Capsules on November 1st
- At last!
- Links 01/11/2024: Election Interferences by X/Twitter/Musk, Strava as Espionage Tool
- Links for the day
- The October 2024 Web Server Survey Shows a Further Collapse for Microsoft in the Servers Market
- Microsoft experienced the next largest loss of 699,464 sites (-3.45%)
- Gemini Links 01/11/2024: TLS Sucks, twytere.com Announced
- Links for the day
- Links 01/11/2024: Few Things Are Cheaper Than This Antenna and "Nothing Lasts Forever"
- Links for the day
- Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part V
- By Dr. Andy Farnell
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 31, 2024
- IRC logs for Thursday, October 31, 2024
- R.T.O. is Another Name (or Acronym) for Voluntary Layoffs
- Amazon is trying to get many workers to leave on their own
- Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision (to Fake Revenue Growth by Buying Revenue) Was a Failure
- Of course the mass layoffs at Microsoft aren't just a Microsoft thing
- Stagnant, Shrinking Businesses and "IBM's Corporate Culture Since the Late 1980s... Over 35 Years."
- Recently, IBM was using share price as a talking point, insisting the company was doing OK while tens of thousands were being laid off
- Links 01/11/2024: World News, Political Catchup
- Links for the day
- [Meme] Probably the Worst Possible Time to Get Information From Social Control Media
- Musk does not want to prevent disinformation from spreading and the same is true for Facebook and TikTok; they have their own interests
- Update on Litigation Against the European Patent Office (EPO) at the ILO Administrative Tribunal (ILOAT)
- Rewards and compensation for staff have long fallen, resulting in many experienced colleagues leaving and causing further declines in quality and compliance
- Gemini Links 31/10/2024: NNCP, Declutter the Web, Cost of Community
- Links for the day
- Links 31/10/2024: Supermicro Plummets 33%, Block and Dropbox Mass Layoffs
- Links for the day
- Links 31/10/2024: Environmental Anxiety, Profound Changes in Hardware Market
- Links for the day
- Links 30/10/2024: TSMC Concerns and North Koreans in Ukraine War
- Links for the day
- Facebook is for Zombies
- Social control media is for fools
- Microsoft Now Has $235,290,000,000 in Liabilities, They Grow Over Time in Spite of Mass Layoffs (So Expect More Layoffs)
- expect more mass layoffs
- Links 31/10/2024: DST Woes, War Updates, Amazon RTO Backlash
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 31/10/2024: Attention Economy and Gemlogs
- Links for the day
- Happy Halloween
- October is nearly over
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
- IRC logs for Wednesday, October 30, 2024
- For the Record: Linux is Controlled by the United States of America
- "This is going to make many question the openness and inclusivity of the work done by Linux Foundation"
- Microsoft: XBox Hardware Revenues Down About 30% (Ignore the Buzzwords and Activision Activity Dressed Up as "XBox")
- For context, in a previous quarter XBox hardware sales were down by about 50%
- Cooking the Books With "Cloud" And "AI" Was Not Enough to Fool Microsoft Investors
- "Microsoft Shares Drop on Disappointing Azure Growth Forecast"