10.24.16
UPC Preparatory Committee Puts the Brakes on UPC Amid Brexit and Growing Uncertainty
Self-fulfilling prophecies? Not so much anymore…
Reference: Self-fulfilling prophecy (a dirty tactic routinely exploited by businesses)
Summary: The Unified Patent Court (UPC) preparatory committee recognises that the UPC isn’t going anywhere (any time soon) and false job advertisements — or advertisements for jobs that will never exist — are withdrawn
THE EPO, and Battistelli in particular, has been the principal cheerleader and lobbyist for the UPC. Battistelli has done that for at least 6 years, even preceding his job as ‘king’ of EPO. Worth noting is the role played by Michel Barnier, a fellow Frenchman now pivotal in the talks over Brexit.
Patent maximalists, IP Europe (for big businesses), reportedly cite the abusive WIPO‘s ‘study’ to sell the illusion of patents for the ‘small guy’. This is reminiscent of the lies told to us about the UPC’s impact on SMEs [1, 2] and we remind readers that IP Europe is a key UPC lobbyist which plays a key role in pro-UPC events.
And speaking of pro-UPC events, nobody does it better than IAM (with money from the EPO's PR firm!) and Managing IP, which over the past month alone has had about 3 pro-UPC events, webiners, and now an alleged survey. Let’s be honest here; what good is a survey which asks only one particular tiny subset of the population about UPC? And the one that’s biased in favour of the UPC? Well, that’s precisely what Battistelli’s engager, James Nurton, has just done, under the headline “Brexit and the Unitary Patent: where are we now?”
“Team UPC basically advertised jobs (i.e. recruitment) for positions that do not exist and will never exist. Accountability for anyone who did this is not likely, but such are the tactics of patent law firms that disregard democracy.”Well, we’re nowhere as the UPC is practically dead, if not just in the UK then in the whole of Europe (as the UPC was codified with London in mind and in the text). The UPC is rapidly collapsing and WIPR, which is London-based, says that “[t]he Unified Patent Court (UPC) preparatory committee has decided to postpone the recruitment of UPC judges, in light of Brexit.” A Team UPC Web site now says the same. This means that even Team UPC is putting the brakes on the UPC now.
Team UPC basically advertised jobs (i.e. recruitment) for positions that do not exist and will never exist. Accountability for anyone who did this is not likely, but such are the tactics of patent law firms that disregard democracy. █
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