Bonum Certa Men Certa

Copyright Troll Targets Articles About EPO Corruption

Czech/German duo
Czech dictator meets well-connected corrupt criminal based in Germany



Summary: This August was fascinating in the sense that we grappled with likely legally-invalid threats from Germany, on behalf of someone from the Czech Republic

As we noted here last week, something we wrote about EPO corruption an entire year ago attracted the attention of some German patent troll, who seems to be scattering threats to a lot of sites. For the public record it's worth outlining what's wrong with those threats.



First of all, the date on the Power of Attorney letter is June, i.e. 2 months earlier. Has he been on a 'crusade' for two months already? As someone told us a week ago, maybe he sends 100,000 such letters. But who knows...

But let's go back to the beginning and explain what happened.

Earlier this month I received a nasty (and frivolous) letter from a lawyer/attorney, but it was so weak and baseless that it seemed safe to ignore. Maybe I'll publish a full copy at a later date, but it would likely help the troll more than it harms the troll. We've already seen so-called 'researchers' wasting sites' time by sending them threats to 'study' the response. 8 days later another letter was sent, this time too following more of a script. It didn't seem personalised, except a name and address (which seemed wrong).

This is a copyright troll, as per the definition, sending messages only/mostly on Friday nights (that's strategic sometimes; it denies access to legal advice). I ended up attaching all the material, sending it to people who specialise in copyright trolls. This needed cataloging.

What's wrong with the threat?

Among many issues:



In short, it seems like someone is wasting money and time on clueless law firms, or maybe they look for easy targets with no access to legal advice on Friday.

I decided to write about this tonight as this Friday, for a change, no communication arrived.

One can trivially see he follows a script. Notice date.

Signed in June
June? Really?



I sent this short reply almost 15 days ago*, asking" [w]hich specific image are you talking about?" He never responded to my message. He seems to work like a script or a bot, not even keeping abreast of anything mildly "off-script".

He should be disbarred. This is abuse or misuse of power, not following very simple protocols, misinforming his targets later on a Friday.

I know a thing or too about patent bullies trying to use "copyrights" to muzzle criticism or scare critics; it happened before and they ended up with an egg in their face, without me even needing a lawyer.

Does this have anything to do with the EPO itself? Hard to tell. For reasons specified last week, it's not impossible, but the simpler explanation is that we're caught in the drift net of a copyright troll.

"Does this have anything to do with the EPO itself? Hard to tell. For reasons specified last week, it's not impossible, but the simpler explanation is that we're caught in the drift net of a copyright troll."Remember that the EPO's management is wasting over 6 million euros (with approval from Josef and the other puppets) on lawyers whose sole purpose is to fight against EPO staff in court. Josef is the head of the 'IP' office in the Czech Republic, which is incidentally the same nationality as the name above.

One possible theory here is that we're dealing combative legal hacks who are battling people with legitimate grievances by reaching out to deep pockets, not by presenting anything of merit (like complainants drowning out the respondents with paperwork to waste time, until they run out of budget and simply give up).

We ought not end up in a society where law firms and lawyers are manifestations of SLAPP, e.g. the formalisation of a totally bullshit/bullish "system" whereby rich people can twist "the law" to do anything to people whom they dislike. In dictatorships, the prosecutors too are doing this, with their mates called "judges" (wearing various lousy costumes). In the EPO we saw numerous examples of this.

Having sought some advice and discussed this with people who know copyright trolling very well, one of them told me: "I think you just ignore them. I'm not a lawyer, but I doubt that filing a suit against you in the USA will be cheaper than the maximum damages you'd be forced to pay. If you don't have an EU presence and/or bank account, they're probably out of luck."

"They operate in complete darkness, recklessly breaking laws, and the legal threats come to people who expose the corruption, not those who are responsible for the corruption."I still think in the grand scheme of things it is plausible that this is connected to SLAPP over EPO reporting, based on the track record of EPO management. It will never be possible to prove such a thing though.

Another person whom I've asked about this said it is "clearly impossible to remove an image if you don't know which one it is. IANAL, but if he won't specify, seems empty threat at the moment..."

The amount of corruption at the EPO is just unbelievable and it is closely connected to EUIPO/OHIM, i.e. the EU (I'm pro-EU, but this is just horrible). The corruption is so profound that they corrupt the media, bribe the national delegations, stack the courts etc. We need the wider public involved in this battle, as we're dealing with a kind of "mafia" here and thus we get lots of whistleblowers. Sadly, the ombudsman too never mentions these issues. They operate in complete darkness, recklessly breaking laws, and the legal threats come to people who expose the corruption, not those who are responsible for the corruption. _____ * This is the message I sent within a day (my question has not been answered in 15 days!)

Hi,
the post http://techrights.org/2021/12/13/credit-to-norway/ contains
memes from a meme site, https://imgflip.com



That's where I got it from.

Which specific image are you talking about?

I'll remove it as soon as you identify which one.

Regards,

-- Dr. Roy S. Schestowitz | http://schestowitz.com | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E Editor @ http://techrights.org & http://tuxmachines.org


Recent Techrights' Posts

Why We Support Richard Stallman and You Probably Should Too
It's not about being "Richard Stallman fan", it is about maintaining the right to hold positions (on technology) like his
Some Large German Media Covers Richard Stallman's Talks in Germany Earlier This Week
LLM-based chatbots are just "bullshit generators" (as he has long called them)
Trouble in Red Hat/IBM and a Retreat to Ponzi Economics in Search of Wall Street Market Heist
Would you invest your life savings in this kind of crap?
Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses)
The IRS does not reveal who or what's tied to this refund (or the cause/reason)
 
Links 23/10/2025: More Health Concerns Over Dumb Chatbots (LLMs) and "Talking Cars" as Latest Buzz
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Daylight Savings Time and Duration Shorthand
Links for the day
Links 23/10/2025: LLM 'Hallucinations' (Defects) in Practical Code 'Generation', China Becomes More Economically and Technologically Independent
Links for the day
Linux Foundation Uses LLM Slop to Promote Microsoft in Linux.com (Again), Rendering It a Linux-Hostile Slopfarm
Openwashing with slop by "Linux.com Editorial Staff", which basically seems to be a bot
Links 23/10/2025: Windows TCO Galore and "The Internet Is Going to Break Again"
Links for the day
Social engineering attack: Debian voted to trick you on binary blobs
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Will Always Stand for Women's Rights
We even invest money - personal savings that it - in our principles
Certified Lawyers Should Know Better (Than to Intimidate Us With Man Who Drives on Motorcycle Through a Really Bad Storm Between Distant Cities, Then Collects Photos of Our Home)
Mentioning someone was in prison for bad things isn't a crime, it's a public service
The "AI" (Slop) Bubble is Already Imploding
"ChatGPT Usage Has Peaked and Is Now Declining, New Data Finds"
The So-called "Sexy" Buckets (AI, Quantum) Cannot Save IBM From Reality, Shares Tank
"No matter how much financial hocus-pocus they use to reclassify revenues to land in the "sexy" buckets (AI, Quantum), it still smells old and musty - just like this company."
Paul Krugman is Wrong About the Scope of Mass Layoffs in the United States
A few years ago society was accelerating its journey towards feudalism, boosted by COVID-19
Links 23/10/2025: Proprietary Blunders and CISA's Latest Disclosure of Holes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Fast Past (F1), 99.9% Uptime
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Slopwatch: Google News is Promoting Fake 'Articles' About Fake Xubuntu, Fake Articles About Replacing Windows With GNU/Linux
The quality of the Web deteriorates and unless someone cleans up the mess, real sites will lose an incentive to produce anything
When "AI Layoffs" Mean Layoffs Due to the "AI" Bubble Popping
many people that are laid off by Microsoft claim to be specialists in "AI"
Mysterious grant forfeited, $100,000 from Software in the Public Interest accounts 2023
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: bullying, student union behaviour: Armijn Hemel's FSFE resignation
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: psychological abuse, stalking, Galia Mancheva, Susanne Eiswirt ignored by FSFE judgment for Matthias Kirschner
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Helping FSFE scam victims and conference organisers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Nigerian fraud in FSFE constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Worrying and Amusing Stories of "Clown Computing" Gone Awry
Many of these disasters could be avoided
Links 22/10/2025: Amazon Plans to Replace Workers With Robotics, AWS and Clown Computing in General Ridiculed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/10/2025: Niri Completely Changes Multitasking and Overview of Diff-ers
Links for the day
Links 22/10/2025: Study on Misinformation by Slop and Heavily Debt-Sabbled Microsoft OpenAI (ClosedSlop) Uses "Browser" as Gimmick/Distraction
Links for the day
They've Already Spent Close to a Million Dollars on Lawyers and Sent Us About 50 KG of Legal Papers (Sponsored by Mysterious Third Party) to Try to Censor Techrights, Without Success
They try to overcompensate with sheer volume for a lack of solid, clear arguments (we are the victims here)
12 Months Ago the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Officially Went 'Tag-Team'
We're actually sort of flattered or proud that such despicable people are so desperate to censor us
"Cloud Computing" Was Always a Joke, But This Week Was the Punchline
Maybe stop following tech trends and fashions
"Cloud Computing" Does Not Mean Safety
Fault tolerance is related to the notion of software freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Fall of Windows: From Something to Nothing
Of course Microsoft will pretend everything is fine and "just trust the hey hi" (AI)
Sounds Like Fedora is Ready to Become Less of a Slave of Microsoft (GitHub)
This seems like a belated move in a positive direction
XBox is a Dead Microsoft Product in a Dying Industry
It's probable that another wave of XBox layoffs is just over the horizon (maybe even before month's end)
Progress on Techrights Site Search
Fun times
IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Means the Layoffs Are Silent, Barely Reported
Don't wait to hear about "Red Hat layoffs"
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Happy Disconnection, AWS Falling Apart, Closing of Gemlog Blue
Links for the day
Full Audio of Today's Richard Stallman Talk in the Technical University of Munich
Free/Libre software and freedom in the digital society
Microsoft XBox is Just Vapourware (Promises of Hardware That Doesn't Exist), Real Products Perish
just as developers lose interest in developing for XBox Microsoft is increasing the costs imposed upon them
Slopwatch: Fake Articles (Slop) in "Linux" Clothing in Google News (Noise)
all about what Google does
Links 21/10/2025: Even "Inventor of Vibe Coding" Rejects Vibe Coding, USPTO Experiments With Slop in Examination
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Talk Now Available for Viewing (Archived Copy, Not Live-streamed)
This recording is over 2 hours old
Links 21/10/2025: AWS-Induced Chaos and Social Control Media Curbs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Programming, StarGrid, Brand-New Palm OS Strategy Game in 2025, and Chatbot as Addiction Mechanisms
Links for the day
The African Lion and the American Cowards
Safaris exist for people to watch and enjoy animals
Amazon Web Shenanigans Perfectly Timed for Today's Talk by Richard Stallman
Maybe listen to him instead of looking for excuses to ridicule the messenger
Mission:Libre Has Taken Off (Project by Carmen Maris)
there will be a lot more to report on next month (after the event)
Techrights to Publish More EPO Leaks Next Week
We're meanwhile also doing lots of work on search, whose interface now looks better
Links 21/10/2025: 'The Lost Art' of Neon Signs and Twitter (X) to Enable Identity Theft (or Handle Theft) as a Service
Links for the day
Plagiarism With LLM Slop: Hindustan Times (HT Digital Streams Limited) Has Become a Slop Factory/Hub
What a disgrace
A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe, by Richard Stallman
"The surveillance imposed on us today is worse than in the Soviet Union. We need laws to stop this data being collected in the first place"
Next Week We Launch Search at Techrights
We're planning to launch it some time next week. Maybe Tuesday, maybe Thursday.
Talk by Richard Stallman Will be Live-streamed in Less Than 10 Hours
Happy hacking
"No Kings" in the Software World (GAFAM Should Not Exist, Either)
"No Kings" is a good slogan. Let's start by ridding ourselves of masters, not only those who reside in DC or visit DC
Every Morning
Bugs/edge cases combined with automation can spell disaster
Insane, Deliberately Dishonest, or Just Another Bigot?
very intellectually-dishonest human being
A Lot of Techrights is Built on Perl
Perl also runs the sister site
The Register MS Selling Slop for Microsoft (Vapourware, Ponzi Scheme, False Claims)
What will be left of The Register MS if it keeps repeating falsehoods and looking to profit from Ponzi schemes?
analytics.usa.gov Says Less Than 14% of Web Requests (to Government Sites) Come From Vista 11
Vista 11 was released more than 4 years ago!
People Who Attempt to Take Down Correct Information Need a Doctor a Day
“Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” ― George Orwell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 20, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 20, 2025
Vista 11 is Sinking While Microsoft is PIPing (Mass Layoffs But Silent Layoffs)
We're witnessing a shift in platform dominance
Richard Stallman is Having a Good Week Already (Stallman Was Right About 'Clown Computing')
That alone is worth bringing up in his talk
An Update About Soylent News, With Jan Rinok "Back in the Saddle"
Burnout or "near burnout" a possibility when having to curate abuse
When Prominent GNU/Linux Distros Are Run by Spies
What has Microsoft Canonical become?
More Publishers and Companies Nowadays Say "GNU/Linux", Not "Linux"
It's not to see InstallAware saying GNU/Linux this week