08.01.16
Software Patents Still a Problem in Europe (in Spite of the European Patent Convention), the UPC Would Make Things Worse
Summary: A reminder of the tough reality of patent scope in Europe, especially now that Battistelli embraces Chinese standards for patent quality (or lack thereof), in the name of perceived or faked “growth”
Team Battistelli has ruined the EPO and unless Battistelli and his cronies are ousted very soon, the damage may be irreversible. Already, as we noted over the weekend, the Office ignores the European Patent Convention (EPC) and disregards patent quality, so every day patents are being granted in error and there is no effective appeals process (understaffed and lacking capacity, afraid of Battistelli’s next collective punishment).
Yesterday, Benjamin Henrion and another person [1, 2] spoke about the effect of just one single patent troll on Flickr (part of Yahoo!) in Germany. It’s a software patent, so one might gasp and wonder how the heck it has any effect. In reality, Germany is the most software patents-friendly country in Europe, as we noted here in passing about 8 years ago and earlier this year.
“In reality, Germany is the most software patents-friendly country in Europe, as we noted here in passing about 8 years ago and earlier this year.”“With Unitary Software Patents and German judges,” Henrion added, “Europeans won’t be able to upload their pictures to Flickr…” (because the effect of the lawsuits would be widely applicable, more than just EU-wide).
“Facepalm,” wrote another person. “A patent troll is preventing German Flickr users to upload pictures from mobile apps. https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN26970.html”
They’re a little late in realising this. It’s rather old news (this was mentioned here before, two months ago), but it’s always good for reminding people that software patents are still a problem in Europe.
This has no remedy in sight and Battistelli already crushes the appeals process, so the same case can happen at the EPO and there is no effective oversight to overrule it.
Very soon “attending oral proceedings before the boards will come with an extra average 3 hours journey,” according to this new comment that says:
The site envisaged for the Boards of Appeal – Richard-Reitzner-Allee 8, 85540 Haar – is located at a 35 minutes ride from the airport, in theory. In reality, the trip uses one of the most crowded highway portions in Germany, including the A9 north of Munich and the peripheral highway A99 with its frequent traffic jams.
Alternately and more ecologically, there is a connection via the regional trains S8 and S4 with a change at the Leuchtenbergring station. Considering that it lasts 1 hour and 15 minutes one way, with one connection every 20 minutes only, attending oral proceedings before the boards will come with an extra average 3 hours journey in the Munich commuter trains.
A couple of rooms for oral proceedings mignt be enough, in the circumstances.
The threat of software patents in Europe is growing, whereas the USPTO goes in the opposite direction after the Supreme Court corrected decades of injustice. It’s not as if Battistelli has any notion of justice; his understanding of the term is the same as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s. █
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