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03.02.16

Brace Yourselves for Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: Tomorrow the European Patent Office Will Spread Propaganda Based on Half Truths and Misdirection

Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 6:09 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

EPO results

Summary: Having broadened the scope of patents and changed the definition of what constitutes patent application etc. the EPO is now ‘cooking the books’, as the saying goes, and will soon attempt to claim positive change while the Office is actually collapsing due to poor and famously abusive management

THE EPO truly deserves flack for a lot of reasons. One of them is that the EPO made it a lot easier to get granted patents in all sorts of domains (even software), essentially by broadening scope, limiting examination (self-imposed speedup), ultimately inheriting or mimicking the worst aspects of the USPTO. Watch this new tweet from the EPO. They’re about to bring out propaganda tomorrow.

“They’re about to bring out propaganda tomorrow.”To give another example, one which is only a couple of hours old, suddenly the EPO pretends to respect and obey the EPC. In reality, however, it obeys neither the EPC (as such) nor European law. Expect none of this to be mentioned in tomorrow’s ‘report’.

Another new article, this one from Ante Wessels (FFII), says that “EU commission goes into denial mode regarding effect ISDS on software patents” and states: “Companies could use investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in trade agreements to challenge refusals to grant software patents, FFII’s Benjamin Henrion argued during the 24 February 2016 TTIP stakeholder’s presentations. Successful challenges could undermine the European Patent Convention’s exclusion of software, the recent US Supreme Court’s limits on patentability, and Congressional patent reform.”

“Therein exists a serious issue which we addressed many times before. German courts, in spite of the EPC, often let software patents be, even some of Microsoft’s (when used against Linux).”We already mentioned, at least in passing, the dismissive attitude towards these concerns. Also new is Bastian Best, a German patent lawyer, saying this morning that “In Germany, math applied for a technical purpose IS patentable,” citing his latest article which says: “While the impact of Alice on US software patents is still heavily discussed, 2016 has so far not produced any revolutionary software-related decisions by the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) or the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH). The German Federal Patent Court (BPatG), however, has been quite busy.”

Therein exists a serious issue which we addressed many times before. German courts, in spite of the EPC, often let software patents be, even some of Microsoft’s (when used against Linux). As one response put it this morning: “Technical purpose, eh? Sounds familiar. This crap harms our economy and freedom.”

Whatever the EPO’s PR team says tomorrow, many questions need to be fired back. █

Confirmado por los Medios Holandadeses (Telegraaf): Benoît Battistelli Hace Irracionales Demandas de Compensación

Posted in Europe, Patents at 5:27 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

English/Original

Publicado en Europe, Patentes at 7:04 am por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Article del Telegraaf
Article del Telegraaf

Sumario: Basado en un artículo publicado la tarde del Viernes, Battistelli esta esperando conseguir un salario presidencial por varias décadas venideras, incluso aún que el estara fuera de cargo, lo que convierte imperativo toda clase de preguntas

POCO a poco mucho de los ¨rumores¨ que hemos escuchado y enterado resultan ser realidad. Uno de tales ¨rumores¨ estuvo rodando en lo que más tarde llamamos ¨rumor reinforzado¨ porque el abogado de la SUEPO lo dijo a los medios Holandeses y ahora esta en los titulares de aquellos medios incluso sin signos interrogatorios.

Battistelli debe esta viviendo en un sueño; basado en su salario (el que pensamos saber ahora y que es exorbitántemente menos de lo asumido), él desea recibir un salario presidencial hasta que tenga cien años de edad (si la compensación tenga que ser dada en partes anuales, como los pagos de Brimelow). El es el que debería estar compensando a la OEP por el daño que le hizo después de cuatro décadas esforzándoce en construir su reputación (los perjuicios deben ser valuados en billones de euros).

Corregida humanamente (por Petra Kramer) la traducción de máquina del nuevo artículo (“Franse despoot wil 18 miljoen bij vertrek”, published 18:36 CET el Viernes) puede ser encontrada abajo, con unas pedazitos resaltados en amarillo:

DÉSPOTA Francés quiere 18 millones para su departura

por Marieke van Essen

THE HAGUE – El controversial Presidente Frances del la Oficina Europea de Patentes (OEP), Benoît Battistelli, “demanda 18 millones, o diez años de salario por su departura.” De acuerdo a fuentes dentro de la organización internacional, que tiene una oficina en Rijswijk entre otros lugares.

Battistelli esta bajo fuego por algún tiempo por su reinado de terror de acuerdo a la unión. El ha deteriorado las condiciones de trabajo y sugerido severas represalias contra representantes de la unión que se atrevieron a criticar sus políticas. En Rijswijk dos representantes estan en casa enfermos despues de haber sufrido ¨investigaciones intimidantes a su integridad¨. Los últimos tres años amentablemente han habido cinco suicidios en al OEP.

Mientras tanto, no sólo los empleados están quejando, pero por primera ves los Mienbros Estados (38 países) se volvieron en contra de este Frances que tomo cargo el 2010. Es evidente por la carta de Jesper Kongstad, el Presidente Danes del Consejo Admnistrativo,, suerte de jurado supervisor en el cual los 38 países participantes están representados.

Kongstad cuya carta está en posesión de el Telegraaf, solicita a Battistelli investigar cualquier medida disciplinaria contra miembros de la unión por un comité externo. ¨Desafortunadamente no podemos continuar una seria conversación con el presidente,¨ escribe Kongstad.

El personal de la OEP que esta en contacto con el mundo exterior a través de correo electrónicos secretos, y números telefónicos consiguieron decir que los días de Battistelli están contados. ¨La posibilidad de que nos dejará es grandísima. Veinte países están en contra de ello,¨ dijo uno. ¨Ya ha sido llamado el hombre de los 18 millones,¨ dijo otro. ¨Es una dictadura verdadera. Ya tenemos varios jefes adjunots que proviened del servicio secreto Frances o de los militares. Ya parece rídiculo. Estos tipos son pagados más de 15 mil dólares por mes y hacen todo lo que los grandes jefes les piden.¨

En Marzo 16 los delegados de los 38 países participantes oficialmente votarán el las propuestas de Kongstad. Battistlli ahora cabildea con los estados miembros para conseguir que abandonen la investigación independiente. De acuerdo al presidente, la OEP esta más ´saludable´ que nunca.´

Esto sirve para comprobar lo mucho que hemos escrito hasta ahora, pero la parte acerca del salario de Pinocho Battistelli dudamos que su salari haya sido subido hasta casi 2 millones de euros (anuales)l. Su salario sera materia de un post futuro porque requiere mayor verificación. Otra posibilidad es que el número (18 millones) no sea correcto y que sea actualmente 10 años de salario basado en una extrapolación de una figura menor (salario). Hemos estado recibiendo reportes contradictorios acerca del número exacto, pero es posible que 10 años de salario es en lo que Battistelli este insistiéndo. De cualquier manera, este sigilo acerca de su salario es inaceptable de parte de Battistelli, (su precesor reveló el suyo) y actualmente lo perjudica más.

“Hemos estado recibiendo reportes contradictorios acerca del número exacto, pero es posible que 10 años de salario es en lo que Battistelli este insistiéndo.”Como alguien nos dijo anteriormente, ¨Alison Brimelow fue inclinada masivamente a la transparencia – no oculto nada. Parece raro que Battistelli pudiera haber demandado un salario mayor que el de ella, al menos que el realmente promovió las ¨reformas¨ como una masiva tarea de trabajo que totalmente cambiaría la oficina. Para mejor, quiero decir,¨

Por propósitos comparativos, como una personal lo puso, ¨Martin Schulz (Presidente del Parlamento Europeo) gana 200K plus gastos, el Presidente de la Comisión Europea Jean-Claude Juncker, gana 112.5% del más alto grado de servicio civil, alrededor de 300K,¨ ¿Recibe Battistelli 6 (seis!) veces más que el último gana (Presidente de la Comisión European)? Lo dudamos. Si es verdad, entonces es un escándalo masivo por venir. Consideren que las personas que controlan su salario son también más on menos de su ¨circulo¨, lo que pueda llevar a alegatos de corrupción (sin embargo el Asunto Bygmalion).

Si Battistelli se queda (hasta el 2018, lo que es extremadamente improbable), será pagado por 2-3 años de trabajo; ¿Porqué debería el ser pagado por 10 (o más) por renunciar, lo que fue causado por su propia imbecílidad? Resulta Increíble. █

Links 2/3/2016: KDE Plasma 5.5.5, SSLv2 Bug

Posted in News Roundup at 5:12 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • The Evolving Market for Commercial Software Built On Open Source

    That is no longer the case. While an awful lot of companies are still stuck running immense software packages critical to their infrastructure, new projects are being deployed on cloud servers using open source technologies. This makes it much easier to upgrade one’s capabilities without having to rip out a huge software package and reinstall something else, and it also allows companies to pay as they go, rather than paying for a bunch of features they’ll never use.

    And there are a lot of customers who want to take advantage of open source projects without building and supporting a team of engineers to tweak one of those projects for their own unique needs. Those customers are willing to pay for software packages whose value is based on the delta between the open source projects and the proprietary features laid on top of that project.

  • Node.js 5.7 released ahead of impending OpenSSL updates

    The Node.js Foundation is gearing up this week for fixes to OpenSSL that could mean updates to Node.js itself.

    Releases to OpenSSL due on Tuesday will fix defects deemed to be of “high” severity, Rod Vagg, foundation technical steering committee director, said in a blog post on Monday. Within a day of the OpenSSL releases, the Node.js crypto team will assess their impacts, saying, “Please be prepared for the possibility of important updates to Node.js v0.10, v0.12, v4 and v5 soon after Tuesday, the 1st of March.”

  • Q&A: H2O.ai’s Vinod Iyengar on Machine Learning and Open Source

    On the tech scene today, it’s clear that cloud computing, Big Data analytics and machine learning are huge themes, and open source technologies are helping to drive these trends. There is also a shortage of skilled workers in these areas, and a shortage of understanding of the relevant technologies. At OStatic, we’ve been conducting an ongoing series of interviews with influencers focused on these key technology areas, and we’re particularly focused on how open source is involved.

    [...]

    We operate under the Apache 2.0 license, the most flexible open source license available.

  • Genode OS 16.02 Ported To RISC-V CPU Architecture

    Genode OS 16.02 has been released as the newest version of this popular, open-source operating system framework.

    The prominent features of Genode OS 16.02 include a port to the RISC-V CPU architecture, secure pass-through of USB devices to virtual machines, and updates to their Muen and seL4 kernels.

  • Events

    • Open Networking Summit

      ONS is the forum for service providers, enterprises, disruptive and incumbent vendors, open source projects, leading researchers and investors to discuss SDN and NFV developments and to shape the future of the networking industry.

  • SaaS/Big Data

    • Cloudera launches open-source effort to harness Hadoop for security analytics

      Hadoop will soon be brought up much more often in enterprise security discussions if Cloudera Inc.’s newest community effort achieves its goal. The Open Network Insight (ONI) project launched on GitHub this week to help organizations take advantage of data crunching platform’s processing power in their breach prevention efforts.

      The documentation for the tool explains that it’s a mix of free technologies from the Hadoop ecosystem and machine learning algorithms that Cloudera created in collaboration with a number of leading network protection vendors. Once all of its components are properly deployed, ONI starts pulling traffic logs from the environment that it’s protecting into the Hadoop File System, where they’re analyzed in stages.

    • Mirantis Delivers its Latest OpenStack Distribution

      Mirantis is out with version 8 of its OpenStack distribution, wrapping in the OpenStack Liberty release. The company says this release is the most stable OpenStack distribution available and it sought much feedback from large customers in building this release. The company has also announced that 26,000 unique users across 3,500 development teams globally are using its distribution now.

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • Oracle’s JET flies into open source skies

      Oracle has published the code for its long-awaited open source JavaScript Extension Toolkit (JET) version 2.0.0.

      If you’re interested in looking over the code at GitHub, here’s what Big Red says is in the box: a full JS development toolkit, SPA template-based lifecycle management, two-way binding with a common model layer, single-page app navigation and mobile support.

      Open source libraries used with JET include jQuery, the jQuery UI, Knockout, RequireJS and Hammer.

    • LibreOffice Conference 2016 in Brno

      LibreOffice Conference will take place in Brno, Czech Republic this year. It will be our third international desktop-related conference in Brno. After GUADEC 2013 and Akademy 2014. And we’re very much looking forward to it.

      The conference is still more than 6 months away, but the organization already started some time ago. We made an agreement with the local technical university about the venue. It’s the venue where GUADEC 2013 and DevConf.cz 2015 and 2016 took place. The campus premises used to be a Cartesian monastery which was founded in the 14th century. Just recently, the campus was renovated and now features a beautiful combination of historical and modern architecture.

  • Pseudo-/Semi-Open Source (Openwashing)

  • Openness/Sharing

  • Programming

Leftovers

  • Google’s Self-Driving Car Causes First Accident, As Programmers Try To Balance Human Simulacrum And Perfection

    Google’s self-driving cars have driven millions of miles with only a dozen or so accidents, all of them being the fault of human drivers rear-ending Google vehicles. In most of these cases, the drivers either weren’t paying attention, or weren’t prepared for a vehicle that was actually following traffic rules. But this week, an incident report by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (pdf) highlighted that a Google automated vehicle was at fault in an accident for what’s believed to be the first time.

  • Health/Nutrition

    • NHS comes top in healthcare survey

      The NHS has been declared the best healthcare system by an international panel of experts who rated its care superior to countries which spend far more on health.

      The same study also castigated healthcare provision in the US as the worst of the 11 countries it looked at. Despite putting the most money into health, America denies care to many patients in need because they do not have health insurance and is also the poorest at saving the lives of people who fall ill, it found.

      The report has been produced by the Commonwealth Fund, a Washington-based foundation which is respected around the world for its analysis of the performance of different countries’ health systems. It examined an array of evidence about performance in 11 countries, including detailed data from patients, doctors and the World Health Organisation.

  • Security

  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

    • NRA Lobbyist Will Co-Host Hillary Clinton Fundraiser

      Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has called her support for gun control laws a key differentiator from her opponent Bernie Sanders, who she claims isn’t tough enough on the industry. But in mid-March, a Clinton campaign fundraiser will be co-hosted by a lobbyist whose clients include the National Rifle Association (NRA).

    • Former NSA and CIA director presents book at Nixon Library

      The Richard Nixon Foundation hosted Gen. Michael Hayden at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum on Tuesday night.

      Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency and the CIA, presented his new book, “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror.”

    • Clinton-Bush Hardliner Attacks Congress for Blocking Invasion of Syria

      Michael Hayden [pictured left] said this in a video clip at Huffington Post Live, where the context of what he was saying was left ambiguous, but it concerned only the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, so his comment there was gratuitous: he asserted (at 23:00 in the complete interview) that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are prisoners of war and thus can legally be kept imprisoned for the rest of their lives without there being any need at all for them (and there were 775 of them) to be heard in any court — he said they’re prisoners of war and not prisoners of any legal system at all; and, so, even if they were actually captured in error (as many of them were found to have been), they’ve got no legal rights at all. Innocence or guilt is legally irrelevant to their continued imprisonment, says this former chief of America’s CIA and of the NSA.

  • Transparency Reporting

    • Intel Agencies: Clinton Emails Match Top Secret Documents

      Clinton supporters, erroneously, make much out of the idea that of the many, many emails that passed through her private server, none were “marked” classified. They claim that, when in fact thousands of those same emails are indeed now marked classified, that is just after-the-fact Washington squabbling.

      So this new information — that America’s intelligence agencies now say the contents of some of those unmarked emails match the contents of their own classified documents — is a big deal. It also suggests just how Clinton’s unclassified server came to be loaded up with classified material.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Towns In Florida Can Keep Their Fracking Bans, State Senate Says

      It wouldn’t have been the first time something like this happened. People in small towns and counties get together, vote, and agree to ban fracking. And then the state legislature comes in and passes a ban on bans.

      But not this time.

      The Florida Senate’s Appropriations Committee has finally killed a bill that would have stopped towns from banning fracking, a week after the committee voted the measure down by a 10-9 vote. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Garrett Richter (R) made a motion Tuesday to not consider the bill.

    • “The Old Normal Is Gone”: February Shatters Global Temperature Records

      Our planet’s preliminary February temperature data are in, and it’s now abundantly clear: Global warming is going into overdrive.

      There are dozens of global temperature datasets, and usually I (and my climate journalist colleagues) wait until the official ones are released about the middle of the following month to announce a record-warm month at the global level. But this month’s data is so extraordinary that there’s no need to wait: February obliterated the all-time global temperature record set just last month.

  • Finance

    • Canada Agrees To Use EU’s ‘Lipstick On A Pig’ Version Of Corporate Sovereignty For CETA

      Last September, Techdirt reported on the EU’s plan to replace the highly-controversial corporate sovereignty provisions in TAFTA/TTIP — the “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS) chapter — with something it called the “Investor Court System” (ICS). As we reported then, even if ICS addressed all the problems of ISDS — spoiler alert: it certainly doesn’t — there was a huge backdoor in the form of CETA, the trade deal between the EU and Canada. If CETA includes old-style corporate sovereignty provisions, US companies with subsidiaries in Canada will be able to use CETA to by-pass TAFTA/TTIP’s new ICS system completely, and sue EU nations using ISDS with all its widely-recognized faults. In fact, Bernd Lange, the MEP with responsibility for making recommendations on how the European Parliament (EP) should vote on international trade matters, said at the time that he would not support CETA if it included ISDS.

  • Censorship

  • Privacy

  • Civil Rights

    • The Provocative President of the Supreme Court

      In essence, the President was trolling us – in the proper sense of that much-abused word.

    • End This British Atrocity

      One of the worst atrocities of the British Empire occurred well within my own lifetime – the removal of an entire people, the Chagossians, from their homeland. Uprooted and deposited across the seas hundreds of miles away, many died from the physical and psychological effects of this crime against humanity. The thing is, it is still happening. The survivors have clung together as a community, and the British government are still actively preventing their return to their homeland – all to make way for an American military base on Diego Garcia. There is no reason other than simple Imperialism for America to maintain a military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

      [...]

      It is of course another example of the unparalleled talent for hypocrisy of the British state that the same politicians who declare their willingness to fight and die for the right of self-determination of the Falkland Islanders, will defend the deportation of the Chagos Islanders and their continued exclusion from their own islands. Again I would stress that Labour have been at least as guilty as Tories. The entire British state is complicit in this atrocity.

    • Debating Glenn Greenwald was like “looking the devil in the eye”: Ex-NSA chief Michael Hayden details distaste for media in new book

      Former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden is not a big fan of journalists. At least, that’s what his new book, “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror,” appears to suggest.

    • Ex-CIA Chief: ‘American Armed Forces Would Refuse to Act’ If Trump Ordered Torture
    • On whistleblowers and secrecy: What author Barry Eisler said to a room of ex-intelligence officers

      You might have come across a phrase involving Snowden—in fact, this phrase isn’t easy to avoid if you favor establishment pundits like David Brooks and Fred Kaplan and Josh Marshall—to the effect that Snowden violated his “oath of secrecy.” Even former CIA director David Petraeus has claimed—awkwardly, in retrospect—there is such an oath. I wrote about this supposed oath in a bit more detail after the first Snowden stories broke, in a blog post called “Memo to Authoritarians.”

      All of us in this room know there is no “oath of secrecy”—that the notion of such an “oath” is the product either of ignorance or propaganda. There is a secrecy agreement—what here in Silicon Valley we typically call a nondisclosure agreement, or NDA. But to inflate the status of such an agreement to the level of an “oath,” akin to, say, the president’s oath of office, is false and misleading.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality

    • FCC ‘Probing’ Whether Cable Companies Have Sabotaged Internet Video

      Most people realize that the cable and broadcast industry has worked tirelessly to protect its legacy cash cow from disruption. Dish was forced to make its ad-skipping DVR less useful if it wanted streaming licensing rights. Fox, Disney and Comcast/NBC for years kept Hulu from being too disruptive. ESPN sued Verizon for trying to offer more flexible TV lineups. Apple keeps running face first into broadcasters terrified of real disruption with its own TV plans. That’s before you even get to cable companies busy capping and metering usage to hurt streaming services, while zero rating their own services for competitive advantage.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Copyrights

      • Operator of Sweden’s Largest Streaming Site Arrested on Secret European Warrant

        A man suspected of being the main operator of what was once Sweden’s largest streaming site has been arrested in Germany following the execution of a secret European warrant. The man, reportedly a Turkish national, is believed to have set up advertising deals at Swefilmer resulting in around $1.7m in revenue.

      • Jay-Z’s Tidal Music Streaming Service Hit With $5 Million Copyright Lawsuit

        In a twist of irony, Tidal, the music streaming service owned by Jay-Z and touting its pro-music artist model, is now being sued for not paying its artists.

      • Tidal Sued For Unpaid Royalties And Cooking The Streaming Counts

        It’s been no secret that Tidal, Jay-Z’s foray into the music streaming business, hasn’t exactly had the success it was supposed to have. In the wake of all the angry sentiment about just how much other streaming services were paying musical artists, Tidal positioned itself as artist-friendly, the option for fans that want to make sure musicians get paid. It sounded great, except now Tidal finds itself joining the club of streaming services facing legal action over artist royalties.

03.01.16

Battistelli and Godwin’s Law (Comparing One’s Opposition to Nazis)

Posted in Europe, Patents at 8:45 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

So, who’s defaming who?


Summary: The EPO’s President (for now), Mr. Battistelli, decides characterise those who try to dethrone him for his abuses as ‘Nazis’ (he even uses this word in front of politicians), probably as a miserable last resort because he is expected to resign very soon

T

HE articles about the EPO don’t do justice to the really unique irrationality of the President, whose own words can do him more damage than other people’s words (recall this audio recording from 2014). Tomorrow we will publish some more articles about the EPO and we are still exploring just what's going on in German media that helped the President portray whistleblowers as 'Nazis'.

One reader sent us a message earlier today, noting that “Battistelli, not grilled, [was] on Tuesday at the National Assembly in France. And, most important” is a particular part of it. Later today (tonight) somebody mentioned it in IP Kat as follows:

The EPO seems to be a Nazi nest according to its president, the Frenchman Battistelli. There was a Judge from the Board of Appeals cited as hiding Nazi items and propaganda in his office, now we have two further individuals identified for using Nazi symbols and use of Nazi rallying cry before members of the French Parliament:

http://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/download.php?downloadFilename=http://httpod.scdn.arkena.com/10971/mp4/ida/domain1/2016/03/source_3688803_788052_5851471.mp4

See passage starting at 1:07:50 (in French).

Two options exist:

  • either the accusations are true and the EPO has became a Nazi nest. Then it should be dissolved immediately starting by its management for failing to prevent this from happening; or
  • the accusations are false and the president spreading them should be immediately kicked out as well as all the management layers failing to speak up against the manipulation of the public opinion.

Who said the situation was complex? Godwin points are always making things easier to grasp!

Could anyone cast some light here?

We have decided to crop the relevant part (audio) so that people don’t need to download half a gigabyte of video and then rely on heavily patented multimedia formats/codecs. An exact translation of the above would be useful, if anyone can oblige to provide it… █

Team Battistelli’s New Media Strategy at Times of EPO Emergency

Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 4:08 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

IP Watch

Summary: In an effort to defend Battistelli and his ‘circle’, who have lost the support of the Administrative Council (AC), a new slew of recycled material (the above is from January but published only yesterday)

THE EPO is in ‘damage control’ mode right now. The mode isn’t entirely new, but now it culminates in lying to journalists. It looks like the Battistelli-led effort to circulate a letter in his own support backfired pretty badly. Based on this new comment: “A new persistent rumour in the EPO is that, since the directors decided in DG1direct not to sign the paper supporting Mr Battistelli (this is much more than a rumour), the principal directors agreed that the paper should be signed by them and sent on behalf of the principal directors only. A support letter from higher management will of course not carry as much weight as a letter from the directors.”

We don’t know yet if that’s a fact, but we shall soon find out. Meanwhile, to quote this new article composed by highly-regarded patent lawyers in central Europe:

Kongsted [sic] reportedly explains in his letter to the AC members it was unavoidable to send a formal request to Battistelli, as it had turned out to be impossible to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the EPO president. The Techrights blog published what it says is a copy of Kongsted’s letter.

According to the IP Kat blog, the letter ‘was shown to Mr Battistelli at a meeting [with Board 28, the presidium of the AC, ed.] on February 17th, but Mr Battistelli rejected the document and questioned the legal basis for certain of the AC’s requests (…) before walking out of the meeting’.

Benoît Battistelli has not reacted publicly on what’s going on at the moment. A letter from the EPO management – it isn’t clear who have signed it – has appeared however, urging the AC members not to support the Resolution (Techrights, again, has published what is said to be a copy of the letter).

The Resolution of Kongsted will be discussed and voted on during the Administrative Council’s meeting 16 and 17 March 2016 in Munich. According to Art 10 (1) of the European Patent Convention ‘The European Patent Office shall be managed by the President, who shall be responsible for its activities to the Administrative Council’.

It remains to be seen whether the management letter will help Battistelli. An AC meeting last December showed he does no longer have the traditional support from the Council. His controversial proposals for the reform of the Boards of Appeal were rejected, according to a report of the German legal website JUVE, and a new procedure to handle the reform was initiated. Earlier, the Presidium of the BoA, the Association of Members of the BoA (AMBA) and the president of epi had written to the AC, complaining Battistelli ignored the views of the Boards and their criticism on his reform proposals, although he maintained he had broad support for them.

[...]

However, sources of the Dutch daily De Telegraaf said it’s likely that Battistelli will step down soon and that he has already demanded ten year salaries in return, which adds up to 18 million euro.

“The EPO hasn’t reacted to questions by Kluwer IP Law on the reported tensions,” noted the author. Sometimes the EPO claims that Battistelli’s job is secure, but sometimes it says nothing at all. Well, silence can say a lot sometimes and Kluwer Patent Blog shows a certain change (potentially) in the media strategy of the PR team.

“The ‘problem’ with EPO staff right now is that it ‘dares’ to ask too many questions and it scares the ‘superiors’.”Kongstad (the AC Chairman) is the only one in upper management who knew the salary of Battistelli or at least signed it off, based on our sources. 1.8 million/annum in salary for Battistelli? Brimelow would be jealous; unlike Battistelli, she did disclosure her salary and it was nowhere close to that. 6 times the salary of the President of Europe with a term almost one decade old? We are still trying to verify/ascertain this. Either way, Battistelli is finished. He won’t finish his term and the scandal over his secret salary hasn’t even started yet. Based on some sources (the subject of investigation/verification at Techrights for a number of weeks), Battistelli’s salary is nearly double that of the EU president, but some say 6 times (or at least 4 times) more. Kongstad knows the exact number. As AC Chairman, at least for now, he should be protected, as he’s the only person who can fire Battistelli even if he helped him in the past. Kongstad (AC Chairman) knew all along how much Battistelli had his circle pay him. We still wait to see the final outcome of the Bygmalion Affair. There too a lot of money circulated, even fraudulently (in the case of Sarkozy). It’s a lot harder to brainwash (and make docile) patent examiners than it is to brainwash 18-year-old troops who obey an elders’ orders unquestionably. The ‘problem’ with EPO staff right now is that it ‘dares’ to ask too many questions and it scares the ‘superiors’.

Some people now joke about the “villa” or the “golden parachute” that’s expected for Monsieur Battistelli (as an undeserved departure gift). How can he even expect to receive severance pay after all that he has done? One of the famous victims of Željko Topić (the EPO Vice-President and union buster) is in the hospital right now. He suffered a lot from Topić, who had already left a deadly warpath in Croatia; there are even suicides there, just like at the EPO. Remember that the problem at the EPO isn’t just Battistelli but also many of the people whom he brought in to become his de facto protégés and protégées. When EPO-funded sites cover the latest EPO situation it expectedly echoes the defensive narrative, wherein Battistelli is the victim, not the abuser who left a bunch of victims. To quote IAM (as of today):

Against this backdrop, events at the European Patent Office have taken a dramatic turn, with the leak of a letter from Jesper Kongstad, the director general of the Danish patent office and chairman of the EPO’s Administrative Council. Sent to all members of the council, the letter outlines a series of disagreements with the office’s president Benoît Battistelli and proposes that a recent Battistelli decision to fire several members of the trade union SUEPO over alleged misconduct be subject to external review.

The Kongstad letter is the first tangible sign that Battistelli may no longer enjoy the full support of the Administrative Council. It is all the more noteworthy because Kongstad and Battistelli are long-term collaborators who campaigned on a joint ticket during the drawn-out process that saw Battistelli first elected president back in early 2010. If Kongstad no longer has full confidence in Battistelli’s decision-making, that would leave the president significantly exposed.

Indeed, the Dutch tabloid De Telegraaf has reported (link in Dutch) that Battistelli is now planning to step down and has demanded €18 million – equivalent, the newspaper says, to 10 years’ salary – as severance pay. There is no real indication currently that this is actually the case, though, while the amount quoted is a clearly ridiculous figure (though one that will circulate and gain in currency as there is no transparency around the president’s actual package).

Speaking to me yesterday evening an EPO spokesperson expressed surprise at the leak, but did confirm that the letter was genuine. However, I was also told that it is outdated: later, more conciliatory notes are now circulating that emphasise that many of the points raised in Kongstad’s original correspondence relating to, for example, the future of the Enlarged Board of Appeal and social dialogue with office employees are in the process of being satisfactorily addressed. But if that is the case, none of them have been seen in public; while what is undoubtedly the main bone of contention – the future of the SUEPO officials who have been fired or downgraded – does seem to remain a point of difference.

Another site which helps Battistelli’s site now says “the organisation has been for three years the victim of a defamation campaign”; no, Mr. Battistelli disgraced it. There was no “defamation” when people simply spoke about what Topić had done in Croatia. As one Twitter user put it the other day, “EPO-like institutions have always homegrown zealous servants aplenty. They’d offer their zeal to anyone being bossy enough, I guess.” The headline of the interview is wrong by the way. "Investigations" should be rewritten "Union-Busting".

“There was no “defamation” when people simply spoke about what Topić had done in Croatia.”Another person said: “According to the KING everybody is committing a serious misconduct except himself, right?”

This was said in reference to the latest interview with Battistelli, which was actually conducted in January, based on what IP Watch told me. We are already in March, so what took so long to publish? When the EPO led by Battistelli says it’s trying to introduce reforms it means “reforms” in the same sense that Lenin meant reforms. As a longtime critic of the EPO (and victim of the EPO's SLAPP) put it, it’s “surprising that with Battistelli there could be other subjects than his coming resignation” (which is widely expected unless one asks the EPO directly).

It is not even mentioned at all in the interview because, as IP Watch explained to me last night, the interview is from January. Well, Battistelli is almost certainly about to resign. Everyone knows it, but there are no articles about this in patent lawyers’ sites. The EPO either refuses to comment on it or simply denies it. They have a history of lying to the press and to staff.

“Well, Battistelli is almost certainly about to resign. Everyone knows it, but there are no articles about this in patent lawyers’ sites.”In the interview, which we prefer not to quote too sparingly (it’s a lot of Battistelli lies with loaded promotional questions such as “Memorandum of Understanding that you are trying to get with trade unions?”), the interviewer is playing along with the EPO’s PR strategy. There are even UPC softball questions, complete with euphemisms such as “global patent harmonisation stand” (patent harmonisation is an old term, used in the media well before they came up with “Unitary Patent”).

To name some other bits from the article, Battistelli basically says he is “very proud and most of the staff is supportive” of him and his policies. That’s a lie. Or maybe he’s just delusional. He also says “I accepted a demand of the Administrative Council to serve”; well, they’re about to fire him, so the use of words like “accepted a demand… to serve” is rather laughable. Recall how he treats delegates. Battistelli does not want to step down, resign, or quit. But he’d have to (and would) if otherwise he’d get the sack. Resignation would be a face-saving move. That’s where he is right now. But first he wishes to ensure that he receives a lot of money.

“MIP (Managing Intellectual Property) has been trying to do an interview with Kongstad, but they tell me that he is not even responding to their request.”In summary, it seems as though Battistelli will step down soon. People who read the IP Watch article (interview/propaganda with softball questions to Battistelli) must remember that it is well out of date (this took place back in January). Based on what I heard from reliable sources, the EPO’s PR team/department is sanitising questions as a condition to conducting interviews with Battistelli. Self- censorship is thus assured. Self-censorship is how the EPO has been getting a lot of puff pieces out there, not even with FTI Consulting directly involved (FTI Consulting paid IAM, which wrote the soft piece above, and earlier today IAM staff, Joff Wild, told me that they don’t know how much FTI Consulting had paid).

We already wrote a great deal about the IP Watch article online. Will this essentially be Battistelli’s “I’m not a crook” goodbye speech? Will there ever be more interviews? MIP (Managing Intellectual Property) has been trying to do an interview with Kongstad, but they tell me that he is not even responding to their request. █

Ongoing Investigation: Why Mainstream Media — and German Media in Particular — Has Mostly Ignored Latest Developments at the EPO

Posted in Europe, Patents at 2:53 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Until very recently at least…

FTI and Süddeutsche Zeitung

Summary: Reluctance to cover the severe issues inside the European Patent Office (EPO) and some belated coverage about EPO problems

THE DUTCH media has done a decent job covering the EPO’s abuses, but the same cannot be said about the German media, for reasons we can only speculate or make guesses about.

A translation of this article in German is needed and now that some of the media in Germany finally starts covering EPO scandals we suspect we’ll soon have this video of a German TV programme. It’s probably just a matter of time.

“As long as Germany is at the very centre of a Europe-wide (and beyond) patent system, why would Germany want to jeopardise/risk/chastise it?”For Germany it makes sense to go soft on the EPO and also leave leeway for patent lawyers to interfere in German politics and justice. As long as Germany is at the very centre of a Europe-wide (and beyond) patent system, why would Germany want to jeopardise/risk/chastise it?

Recently, Süddeutsche Zeitung did some questionable journalism about the EPO and we decided to ask them what had happened and why they are saying nothing about the latest situation at the EPO. It just looked very suspicious. Last week I sent them this E-mail:

Urgent: lack of coverage regarding EPO matters

I would like to enquire, with humble and good intentions, why you have been silent about the demonstrations at the EPO in Munich, The Hague, and the general situation at the EPO. The media, including the media in Munich, has an obligation to inform the public about such issues.

Has the EPO been in contact or used pressure to affect your angle on this? If so, you are not alone. Please explain why there has been such a silence for a very long time; it’s not reasonable to just pretend nothing is happening at the EPO.

Kind regards,

I have not received a response from Süddeutsche Zeitung. It has been quite a while now.

“I guess Sueddeutsche has just lost interest in what is hard to figure out from the outside and only matters to approximately 10K people in Munich,” one person told us. “I suspect that German media now treats the Germany-centric EU-wide patent regime the same way it treats immigration issues that serve to discredit Merkel’s policies,” I wrote in response, but we shall know soon if Süddeutsche Zeitung has any intention of covering these matters some time soon. We might even send some more E-mails, maybe more suitably target. Sources indicate to us that something nefarious may have happened at Süddeutsche Zeitung, but we don’t know precisely what and when. It’s still just a rumour. █

EPO Attracts Complaints Over (Mental) Torture Against Staff

Posted in Europe, Patents at 2:22 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: A couple of new videos from the Netherlands, where the EPO faces a lot of negative and hostile press coverage right now, having refused to obey court orders from The Hague and caused employees who are also staff representatives to collapse, fall ill

“There was an extensive Dutch media coverage,” wrote SUEPO today, “relating to the demonstration held on 28 January in the Hague. The reportage on TV West Ochtendnieuws (28 January 2016 07:00; From 5’34’’ “TV West Ochtendnieuws”) is now provided with subtitles in English, French and German” (as below).

Here is the direct link. Ripping it for local hosting would not preserve the subtitles though, due to the way YouTube works. Either way, it doesn’t seem as though the EPO pursues censorship of SUEPO posts anymore (it did before), so the likelihood of takedown is not so high.

Here is another new video, disseminated online the other day amongst EPO critics. There are no subtitles in it, but some of our readers will understand that she speaks about torture. Recall the Dutch article “What If the European Patent Office Were to Torture?”

“Under usual reserve,” one reader told us, “she talks about the weird situation in the EPO. To outline, she says that Battistelli is acting (like?) criminal by torturing his staff. The staff should file a complaint at the court of justice referring to human rights and based on the convention (UN) protection against torture.”

“Die UNO-Konvention gegen die Folter verpflichtet die Vertragsstaaten, alle geeigneten Massnahmen zur Verhinderung bzw. Ahndung von Folter zu ergreifen sowie Personen, denen die Freiheit entzogen ist, vor Angriffen auf ihre körperliche und seelische Integrität zu schützen.

“At the end she says that she wrote a letter to the President of the EPO and some Dutch Politicians to stop the torture immediately. I do not know who she is as I never heard her name before. Maybe she is a kind of activist? Have a look at her website.”

“East Meets West,” an EPO event, was mentioned earlier today by the EPO at Twitter. It sure sounds like some kind of knowledge transfer from the torturing (mental torture) Battistelli to China, which is no stranger to abolition of human rights as defined by Europe and north America. The stories I heard from EPO staff (most of them never publicly shared) are by far worse than some of the stories I heard about my wife’s time in Taiwan/PRC. Some of it can qualify as excessive, ruthless, merciless mental abuse if not torture (which helps extract false confessions under extreme pressure and threats). █

The Horrible State of the US Patent System With Its Infamous Software Patents and the Latest Deception From Patent Lawyers-Dominated Media

Posted in America, Deception, Patents at 1:40 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Sheep can be bamboozled by the patent wolves in sheep clothing

Sheep and wolf

Summary: A roundup of recent articles about software patents and how media which targets patent lawyers (and is often managed and authored by them) covered the subject

THE US patent system has attracted worldwide ridicule for patent trolls and for low-quality patents. It got a lot worse in recent years as the number of granted patents doubled (without innovation actually doubling). A new article by Daniel Nazer from the EFF, who dunked his article in at least a couple of places [1, 2], is putting to shame a software patent. “This month,” he wrote, “we feature yet another patent that takes an ordinary business practice and does it on a computer. Our winner is US Patent No. 8,738,435, titled “Method and apparatus for presenting personalized content relating to offered products and services.” As you might guess from its title, the patent claims the idea of sending a personalized marketing message using a computer.”

“Who benefits here other than the patent ‘industry’?”These patents tend to be as trivial as they sound. No wonder a lot of patent trolls strike everywhere and people are shocked by the poor patent quality at the USPTO, where almost every patent application is now successful. To invalidate patents in a court it costs a lot of money, so settlement is often a lot cheaper, even when the patent at hand is provably bogus. Consider Apple’s “Slide-to-Unlock” patent, which we wrote about before (even years ago). Apple’s latest patent loss was covered by Professor Dennis Crouch a few days later and IAM meanwhile showed that it’s rather upset because phones are to be sold at a price less than patent tax (‘royalties’). This massive patent tax, which can artificially bring the price of phones up to $1000 apiece, helps patent laywers and maximalists. Why did it take so many years for the courts to finally be convinced that the stupid “Slide-to-Unlock” lunacy is not patent-eligible? Will Apple appeal (or petition to appeal), ensuring this drags on in the courts for several more years to come? Who benefits here other than the patent ‘industry’? Who foots the bill if not Samsung, which can pass down the cost of litigation to customers?

“They make it sound like terrible news. Well, it is perhaps for patent lawyers and other patent maximalists.”The patent maximalists have just noted “a record year [2015] for” realisation that many patents granted by the USPTO should never have been granted in the first place. It’s about PTAB, which we wrote about the other day. “This is the year the US patent pendulum swings back,” said another new headline from patent maximalists, noting: “It’s been tough going for patent owners in the US over recent years, with legislation, the courts and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at the USPTO increasing uncertainty over validity and enforcement; this has reduced the incentives alleged infringers have to make deals, while also pushing down patent values. Now, though, things may be about to change…”

They make it sound like terrible news. Well, it is perhaps for patent lawyers and other patent maximalists. “Examiner’s comment regarding use of DDR Holdings in 101/Alice rejection,” was noted by Patent Buddy the other day, “everyone argues that case and we don’t know what it means.”

“Objective analysis or salesmanship?”Another site of patent maximalists (although a more restrained one when it comes to that) took note of PTAB and asked: “Does the Patent Act permit the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to make inter partes review institution decisions?”

In simple terms, all the above are very much concerned about the ability to kill patents even without them being brought before a court (patent litigation). What we strive to show here is the sheer bias, where those who profit from patents but don’t actually make anything bemoan the new reality (post-2012 and post-2014, one being a reform and the latter being Alice at SCOTUS).

Trying to get software patents in Singapore? Well, as viewed from patent maximalists’ eyes (MIP), that’s all fine and dandy. Trying to get software patents in Korea? HANOL Intellectual Property & Law is trying to help with its ‘opinions’ and ‘articles’. The situation is explained by patent lawyers in Korea. Objective analysis or salesmanship?

“We blame this on self-serving patent lawyers steering it all, from media to policy.”Looking at IAM, another one of those patent maximalists’ sites, even the Chinese patent bubble is noted there [1, 2]. Surely they hope that not only Europe but east Asia too will follow the terrible model of the US patent system. Here they are fawning and drooling over patent trolls in Europe — trolls from whom they can make money. Patent thickets and patent taxes are being broadened even further with all sorts of aggregates like WiLAN, so patent lawyers show some glee (with revenue steams like these, what lawyers would not be jubilant?) and say: “This deal comes amid what has been a transformative period for WiLAN. Last June it acquired a portfolio of around 7,000 assets formerly owned by Qimonda. It followed that by announcing that it had agreed a privateering deal with Freescale Semiconductor in which Freescale agreed to transfer more than 3,300 patents to the NPE” (it means patent troll).

There is so much misinformation out there about patents. We blame this on self-serving patent lawyers steering it all, from media to policy. Technical people must at least try to get involved and get the record straight, otherwise they’ll get harmed.

Pieter Hintjens, the former President of the FFII, said some days ago: “A lesson I learned many years ago, fighting software patents: if your communities don’t do politics, politics will do you.” He then added: “To do politics: identify your enemy, understand them, then raise their costs to an unbearable level.” █

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