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Team UPC Shoots Its Own Foot Again
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0
THE video above and this relatively long post respond to something that 'happened' on Friday (rather, it was coordinated for dissemination by Team UPC and the European Patent Office (EPO) on that date). Don't be misled by the official propaganda (warning: epo.org link) because nothing concrete happened, it's just a lobbying tactic. It's explained in the video above. We should remind readers, perpetually if needed, that the UPC is invalid/illegal/defunct. It's not permitted to proceed, but we live in bizarre times when the law does not seem to matter and constitutions get discarded as 'irrelevant' for standing in the way of large, ambitious business people.
"We believe it was timed for a Friday to lessen/hide the extent of the corruption/conflicts, but it's hard to prove that without access to leaked communications."More than 7 years ago Benoît Battistelli said the UPC was imminent and António Campinos lied about it last month. Remember: the UPC is always "next year" (since at least eight years ago).
What we are witnessing right now is quite a spectacle because it's amazing how Team UPC tries to appoint judges who are in fact working for private patent companies. It's so easy to see; this is going to go up in flames as soon as it commences (if ever). To make matters worse for Team UPC, now there is more material by which to challenge the whole system called "UPC". The complaints previously filed against it were correct and the complainants are vindicated. We'll come to this in a moment...
A long time ago (nearly 50 years!) the European Patent Convention (EPC) was meant to improve the European patent system, as parties needed to apply for patents in pertinent states in Europe, then enforce patents in each state individually. Is that a bad thing? It depends.
The main issue with the UPC is, the thing was drafted and promoted by particular interest groups. It's a proposal put forth by patent maximalists and profiteers, not scientists. One thing to bear in mind is that these people lie a lot! We always felt "behind" because they exaggerated their progress, but once the actual facts were checked, it turned out predictions were false and some signs of progress were in fact fabricated. We gave many examples.
"As a pro-EU person myself, this worries me greatly because Team UPC is hijacking the politicians and in the process Team UPC discredits the European system, including the EU. The same is true for the EPO."What's the latest supposed 'progress'? Merely a list of people. For a 'court' that does not exist! A court that cannot legally exist! We've been there before, even more than half a decade ago. Simply put, the UPC boosters lie and play psychological games, which means that we need to fight back with facts (basically expose the lies), not just mockery. Team UPC plays dirty, we don't; they say "nice guys finish last", so we should not remain exceedingly polite. As the comments shown in the video help illuminate, Team UPC is already name-calling UPC critics. We're dealing with a bunch of thugs here -- people who moreover seek to violate constitutions and break laws.
As a pro-EU person myself, this worries me greatly because Team UPC is hijacking the politicians and in the process Team UPC discredits the European system, including the EU. The same is true for the EPO. If anything, they help the 'Eurosceptics'. They give them 'ammunition'.
Where is the outrage? Well, maybe not available for comment yet (Friday announcements work like this). "I hope the FFII can help," an associate told us. "Can the FSF be resurrected too? The EFF is a lost cause but there is still an obligation to make a symbolic effort." All three haven't been active, let alone proactive, for years. On the issue of patents, the EFF wrote only one blog post in 50 days. FFII and FSF hardly wrote anything about patents so far this year. That's how bad things have become. The EFF issued not a single press release about patents so far in 2022!
Any sort of 'European Patent Court' (or a EU court for patents) would not necessarily be bad, but UPC isn't it. UPC is a coup, and it is crystal clear to see whose. We'll be contacting some politicians on this matter in the coming days and we remain optimistic. Even if this thing ever started, it might very soon fall apart (when defendants bring it to a high court), but it's important to prevent it from even starting.
"Any sort of 'European Patent Court' (or a EU court for patents) would not necessarily be bad, but UPC isn't it. UPC is a coup, and it is crystal clear to see whose."It's hardly a secret that the "users" of the EPO are big corporations (about 70% of them), not even European ones, and the EPO exists to serve them, not Europe. The same is true for what's left of the so-called 'media'. So don't expect any investigative journalism this week. Expect many lies from patent litigation firms. As for the EPO's site, it has just published (warning: epo.org link) a bunch of fluff that says: "At the opening of the meeting, the Council together with the President of the Office warmly welcomed Montenegro as the 39th member state of the European Patent Organisation. A flag raising ceremony followed outside the EPO's buildings in Munich and The Hague."
Montenegro's human rights record seems compatible with the EPO's, so that's quite apt. Further down it says: "An update on Unitary Patent (UP) protection was then presented by the Chairperson of the Select Committee."
As if they're objective? This is like inviting lobbyists. Then again, the forces behind these monstrosities are corporations, lobbyists, and bought politicians (connected to the former two groups). It's neither about law nor constitutions but just sheer power.
Also published was this buzzwords-filled ("digital transformation") catchphrase blender (warning: epo.org link), trying to pretend this "digital transformation" conforms with the EPC. While outsourcing the EPO to Microsoft et al we're meant to think that nothing wrong is happening. There's nobody actually overseeing the EPO. But this needs to change, surely...
"The UPC is in a state of crisis, at least a crisis of legitimacy."As the video above explains, the UPC is a farce and even patent professionals can see it. They openly talk about it. It's not so much an issue of law (or true justice) if you know the judge or a hire a firm that's friends with the judge and goes to meet the judge down the pub, maybe even offering a favour (bribery).
So some of the concerns previously raised by formal constitutional complaints are realised fully already. They're proven concrete and justified; it's like Randall Rader as the chief of the Federal Circuit; he was effectively ousted after being exposed for this kind of thing (being buddies with patent trolls and having a hidden agenda in his role).
The UPC is in a state of crisis, at least a crisis of legitimacy. Just look what names have been published along with their professional affiliations. They wish to call themselves "judges" while they implement something illegal, causing mockery and a lack of trust in the profession and in the concept of "access to justice" (access to corporations?).
The UPC is in fact not just in a state of crisis as moreover it is causing a constitutional crisis. The former is not important, whereas the latter is very bad. If UPC sets a precedent (that violating constitutions is OK, even in countries like Hungary where the violations were confirmed by courts), then what next? Where does it end?
One reader reminds us that "Grabinski is a pro-European software patents judge, [as] there is an 2019 report from a conference on IP Kat where he says 'as such'..."
For some context on who Grabinksi is (other than the candidate for President of the UPC) and how he relates to the topic in this post see blog posts where he openly exposes his overzealous views on patents. This is more of a patent maximalist than a person resembling a judge. In 2019 Benjamin Henrion said: "Klaus Grabinski (Federal Court of Justice) noted that he is “still confident that the UPC is going to happen.” He expects a decision about the complaint launched at the Federal Constitutional Court to be rendered this year" (this turned out to be false, but he expressed wishes and desires rather than facts). Last week Henrion wrote: "As we predicted, the last word over software patents in Europe will be in the hands of a pro-software patent judge "The Court will be led by Mr Klaus Grabinski (DE)"..."
"No appel to the CJEU is possible," he then added, "as the EU is not signatory of the EPC."
So the UPC is being increasingly exposed for what it truly is while the EPO pressures examiners to violate the EPC and grant 'as such' patents.
We need to make some more noise about the scandals. We urge European readers to contact their MEPs.
The evidence is easy to see and to show people. Search for "airbus" here and read these comments too (they're shown in the video above).
If readers do choose to contact an MEP or several MEPs (I sure will do so myself later this week), be sure to remind them what's at stake, not just the illegality of the matter. "The European Patent Contention did improve things," an associate told us, "and it should be stated (yet again) for emphasis what it prohibits (hint: software patents). Yes, that can risk being repetitive but the aspects can vary each time and it is very important that the posts kind of be able to stand on their own."
Don't assume MEPs truly understand what patents are and how they really work. A proper introduction is needed, and preferably without terms like "IP" (which are intentionally misleading). ⬆