07.01.16
As Expected, ‘Team UPC’ Continues Fighting for Its Project’s Survival in Spite of ‘Brexit’
Trying to float an utter wreck without even renaming it (like previous attempts)
Summary: The desperate attempts to race to the bottom with the Unitary Patent Court and Battistelli’s misguided effort to reduce patent quality and make up for it with greater patent quantity, in addition to increased fees (to discourage appeals, withdrawals etc.)
THE so-called 'expert teams' which conspired (along with EPO management) to create and pass the UPC are in a poor state of affairs right now. ‘Brexit’ left them speechless or on the run.
MIP has released an article originally composed just before the ‘Brexit’ vote. It speaks of the Boards of Appeal, which UPC threatened to make redundant (based on some speculations but not all). Now we know that even without the UPC becoming a reality the Boards of Appeal are in serious trouble. Battistelli just wanted to demolish quality control all along, making the EPO more like the USPTO where so-called 'production' doubled in a matter of years (because quality control became hardly applicable).
“Now we know that even without the UPC becoming a reality the Boards of Appeal are in serious trouble.”Writing about the EPO and UPC today, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP remind us that they live in a fantasy world. They speak of a “soon-to-open Unified Patent Court (UPC)” even though there’s no such court and no opening is expected any time soon (if ever).
“The UPC Preparatory Committee and EPO Select Committee have issued a joint statement saying they will continue with their planned work despite the Brexit vote,” MIP reports today. Well, ‘Brexit’ makes it impossible until/unless they cheat in some way, as they probably will. We expected this when we wrote about it last week and at the beginning of this week. UPC would simply mean more patent trolls in Europe, lower patent quality (including perhaps software patents), and more legal action everywhere. It’s a patent maximalist’s wet dream.
“How long can this last and who will pay the price of erroneously-granted patents?”The EPO is in a freefall. Large corporations get patents granted/examined in bulk (alienating SMEs which makes up much of Europe’s landscape) and in relation to an article mentioned yesterday and earlier today in Techrights there is now this official announcement titled “EPO launches fast-track patent examination with Australia” (warning: epo.org link). The EPO also takes note of changed rates on “refunds for withdrawals” (earlier today), so perhaps they think they can make up for loss of quality by higher quantity and increased fees. How long can this last and who will pay the price for erroneously-granted patents? These are somewhat rhetorical questions.
Europe is about to suffer a a great deal (perhaps for decades to come) as a result of Battistelli with his horrible policies and UPC fantasy, which was a waste of time and energy. Never before has Europe’s patent system been in such a state of turmoil. █
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