Bonum Certa Men Certa

Jo Johnson: UPC Agreement is “Currently Only Open to EU Member States” (i.e. Britain Cannot Join or Ratify)

But rumours say he might try to ratify in a rush, without a proper debate, just before Article 50 is invoked (either this coming week or by month's end)

Jo Johnson



Summary: Even the person whom many inside the echo chamber of Team UPC believe will ratify the UPC admits that it's a European Union-type treaty (agreement), which therefore cannot co-exist with Britain's intent to exit the Union (and potentially crack/split the United Kingdom too)

THE EPO has not been saying much about the UPC recently; they too probably realised that they need to keep it under the radar because the more people out there find out, the greater the backlash will be. But even British politicians are starting to find out what's going on, in part because we inform them, one way or another. We have some plans for next week and we expect many more signatures to land on this petition. The UPC still faces many legal barriers here and I'll probably make some phonecalls on Monday (e.g. to political parties). We can definitely end the UPC for good (at least in the UK) by this month's end.



"We can definitely end the UPC for good (at least in the UK) by this month's end.""The #UPC #Brexit discussion heating up again," one person wrote the other day. "1 half of #IP community: "everything is in order". Other half: "How is this even happening?""

Maybe half of them still believe Team UPC. Based on a recent survey, most patent professionals don't believe Team UPC, which likes to mislead everyone with rosy predictions and baseless forecasts.

The "British political journalists are beginning to pick up on the UPC and Brexit," IAM warned the other day (after it had done a lot of pro-UPC propaganda). "This is good from @IanDunt," it said, citing an article we remarked on a few days ago.

"Even Jo Johnson, who is supposed to grok such things (but is probably too young and inexperienced to grasp it all), suddenly realises that the UPC is untenable. "Ian Dunt said "Nowhere near enough of you are reading my article about patents & Brexit. Do you understand the pain I went through?"

Covering patent-related issues and reading (while comprehending) is not easy. We chose to cover a very 'niche' topic here in Techrights because it is a very important and often under-appreciated/neglected topic. There are some comments on this tweet from Russell Barton‏. As we already noted the other day (as did others), Dunt hadn't gotten all the facts right. But it's not easy, to be fair to him, as British politics, EU politics, and patent laws intersect in truly complex ways. Even Jo Johnson, who is supposed to grok such things (but is probably too young and inexperienced to grasp it all), suddenly realises that the UPC is untenable.

After IP Kat had done some weird things -- like relaying of Bristows' UPC agenda -- this new comment (from yesterday) says:

Am I to conclude that the Kat has lost its tongue on the UPC?

My previous enquiry on this point (http://ipkitten.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/mini-upc-update-uk-signs-protocol-on.html?showComment=1486978703716#c3870820495469588050) elicited no response.

Now it appears that there has been further discussion of the UPC in the media. http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2017/02/28/patent-law-theresa-may-s-new-brexit-battlefield

Jo Johnson has also formally admitted that the UPC Agreement is "currently only open to EU member states". http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-questions-answers/?house=commons%2Clords&max=20&member=1527&page=1&questiontype=AllQuestions

Maybe I can accept that none of this is "big" news in the IP world. However, I am struck by the curious lack of commentary (both here and in the "mainstream" media, even including rabidly pro-Brexit papers such as the Daily Mail) on issues raised by the UPC, such as how on earth the UK can stay in the UPC... or even how the UPC can be made to function, post-Brexit.

I have heard some hand-waving bluster from various individuals on this point, but nothing whatsoever in the way of serious, reasoned and robust analysis. With the UK seemingly intent on signing up to a venture that will lead us all into the unknown (and potentially on a very bumpy ride for patentees and interested 3rd parties), I find the lack of analysis on this point very troubling indeed.

Not being someone who is prone to believe in conspiracies, I would like to think that there is no self-censorship going on at IPKat on this issue. But it would be nice to have some evidence to support this belief.


Give it up, Johnson. The UPC is not compatible with Brexit and trying to 'hack' or work around the law would simply discredit the whole ludicrous concept of "taking back control" or obeying the law.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 06/07/2025: Climate Change and "The Right to Criticise"
Links for the day
The Mainstream Media Took 4 Days to Realise Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan and Fired Everybody
We estimate that Microsoft has had about 29,000 layoffs since January
“Twibel” Actions Against Comedians (and Why It's a Truly Low Blow)
they try to make up in quantities for a lack of merit or quality
 
Gemini Links 06/07/2025: Tinylog and Certification Rotation
Links for the day
PCLinuxOS Sites Coming Back, Gradually
let's just be patient
Social Control Media, Even If Based on Free Software, Still Has Many Problems
a distraction from what actually mattered and still matters
IBM is Not Your Master
IBM makes friends with people who exclude the majority of the population: women
Help Fund the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
If you have some dollars to spare, go support the FSF
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 05, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 05, 2025
A Short History of Attacks on Techrights (and Boycott Novell Before That)
good opportunity to tell again the story of several (not all) attempts to silence us
Leadership in Free Software
Don't let IBM lead. It's a terrible flag bearer.
Linux Foundation Apparently Flirting With Slop (Marketing by LLM-Generated SPAM)
The Web is in a really bad state!
COVID-19 Sped Up Site Improvements in Techrights
A few months later we created our very own IRC network
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: Negative Questions and 'Touching Grass' (Going Outside)
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Dalai Lama Succession as 90th Birthday Approaches, 40 deg C in China
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Hungary and US Defecting to Russia, "Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: 4th of July 2025 and "Zig Roadmap 2026"
Links for the day
How to Combat the Exploitation and Abuse by Microsoft GitHub
Not to mention corruption and crimes against women
Bryan Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People
"[Lunduke] is actually sending his audience to attack people."
Even The Right Wing is Rejecting Bryan Lunduke
no wonder he became so irrelevant and marginal
Microsoft's MSN Helps Microsoft Spread Lies About the Layoffs' Scale (Well Over 25,000 People Laid Off This Year)
There seem to be monopolies on lies and on truth
The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
X.Org Server is alive and well
Rewriting Things in Rust
How far would you go?
In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
Monopolies and Scalping
Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
"August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
LLM slop disguised as news
Links 04/07/2025: Google Replaces the Web With Slop, "AI Might Kill Us All"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: Mindfulness and F1
Links for the day
Weeks After Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia the Company Shuts Down in Pakistan, Too
Last month Windows' share in Pakistan fell to an all-time low
Rob Musial's June 2025 Additions of Malware in Proprietary Software
Via the GNU Web site this week
Links 04/07/2025: Microsoft's H-1B Visa Applications Show Another Crisis Unfolding, Many More Deep Cuts and Shutdowns Revealed, Complete Microsoft Exits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: A Day To Remember and "Stop Killing Games"
Links for the day
Crime and Corruption at Microsoft GitHub Cannot be Covered Up by SLAPPs in Another Continent
We'll write about this for a long time to come
Slop Videos Are Disappointing Garbage, Nothing New, Just Brute Force up on Display or a Pedestal of Slop
Slop videos aren't a new thing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 03, 2025
The War on Local Storage (People Hosting Their Files Locally and Privately)
There's nothing wrong with controlling one's computing
What Digital Independence Means
Independence in the digital realms means abandoning platforms like GitHub, not just rejecting proprietary software
NVidia is a Bubble
they temporarily see fortunes and wrongly assume perpetuity thereof
Fedora Does Not Care About Diversity and Inclusion, It's About Optics (Corporate Image)
any notion of inclusion is superficial and misleading
Don't Buy the Excuses for Microsoft's Mass Layoffs
Back in the 90s, Microsoft bought a lot of companies to get and stay ahead