Bonum Certa Men Certa

Incredibly Unscientific: EPO is Making up Excuses for Decline in Patent Applications

China's growth in patents is superficial and misleading; In Europe there is negative growth, but 'infographics' like the one below try to paint the opposite picture

Poland missing
Poland missing from the map as it's part of what the EPO is trying hard to hide



Summary: The European Patent Office continues to insult nations and also insult science, essentially by spreading lies and deleting from the map particular nations in order to legitimise these lies

WE have decided to leave aside USPTO articles until the weekend because the frequency of lies from the EPO is increasing again and if these lies are not confronted with facts there is risk that even some EPO employees will believe them.



We previously explained that application numbers at the EPO are declining in Europe. Prior to that we showed how the EPO had been lying. See for example the following:



2 days ago we wrote about unscientific (if not antiscientific) and rather offensive maps from the EPO, serving as a sort of propaganda or misinfographics for the lazy. They have already mentioned Belgium (highest growth), so now it's Italy's turn (second highest), as the screenshot of this tweet (above) shows. In spite of criticism, knowing that they are being bashed for it, the EPO's PR team has decided to tweet, yet again, this offensive, antiscientific map. Later they wrote: "Patent applications from Poland dropped after increases in 2015" (screenshot above, as they recently removed such tweets and we caught the deletion).

"Has the EPO removed Poland from the map just for king Battistelli and his desperate need for brainwash throughout this week? Is Poland no longer part of Europe?"Notice how, for obvious reasons, they are not even showing the map because Poland was conveniently removed from it! Has the EPO removed Poland from the map just for king Battistelli and his desperate need for brainwash throughout this week? Is Poland no longer part of Europe? Mind the fact that they also make excuses for this decline, as if to say, "yes, it's down, but it's actually up!"

This is the kind of "alternative facts" that we are seeing more and more of, courtesy of an Office that has become a disgrace to science itself.

Where is the EPO seen as a growth opportunity? The land of patent gold rush, where patent quality thresholds/barriers are so low that last year alone there were over a million patent applications (at SIPO). We have been writing a lot about it, irrespective of our EPO coverage. See yesterday's article "Brighter prospects for business method and software related patents in China" (alternative headline: SIPO lowers quality of Chinese patents to zero).

"WIPO does not want to tell the full story, but the devil is in the detail."At the EPO, the only region of growth is China (US demand for EPs is down very sharply). But then again, the same is true for other patent offices across the world. It's not just an EPO phenomenon, it's a Chinese phenomenon. According to Korean media (e.g. the Korea Herald, which is published in English), patent lawsuits are totally out of control in China, exactly as we predicted (it's up 37% in just a short period of time). China is now destroying its own leadership and wrecks its own industry with litigation, making only a bunch of law firms richer. They didn't learn from the mistakes of the US, did they? Another Korean publication stresses the ramifications for Korean companies operating in China. The patent maximalism encouraged by SIPO is destructive and suicidal (in the commercial sense). This is why companies won't want to operate in China, or will be reluctant to expand to China. According to a lot of reports from yesterday [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], patents are down except in China (with few exceptions here and there). WIPO does not want to tell the full story, but the devil is in the detail. WIPO wrote: "International #patent applications grow by 7.3% to a record 233,000 in 2016: http://ow.ly/l87S309VSfu"

Francisco Moreno looked at the underlying figures and wrote (in Spanish, but obvious to non-Spanish speakers):

Solicitudes internacionales de patente (PCT) en 2016: Totales 233.000 +7,3% *de origen chino: 43168 +45% *de origen español: 1503 -1,7%


WIPO does not show this breakdown to a wider audience. No word about the role played by China (+45%) just patenting everything under the Sun. Spain (-1.7%) is absent from the EPO's map, for obvious reasons. Now, watch this new tweet from the EPO. Yesterday is said: "Philips remains no. 1 patent applicant at the EPO in 2016 – 2nd year in a row. http://buzz.mw/b1wxh_f"

"In today's EPO, it's garbage in, garbage out (applications, granted patents)."But Philips is the only European company at the top. 60% of the top 5 are east Asian, and only one is European. So much for "European" Patent Office... "90 per cent of patents in Australia are foreign owned," someone pointed out to me last night, but Europe is not a population as small as Australia's. There are similar numbers in India, where software patents are not permitted.

Whose interests are served? In today's EPO, it's garbage in, garbage out (applications, granted patents). The GIGO Office is what Battistelli is after.

"It doesn't matter to them what it means to innovation, as long as there is a lot of litigation and money keeps flowing into the pockets of middlemen (including robber barons like Team Battistelli)."Last year, shortly after the so-called 'results', we spent some time explaining that patents from China aren't quite what they seem. Many are just in Mandarin. It's faked growth and the quality of this 'growth' is low.

Pro-litigation (or pro-trolls) sites like IAM are obviously infatuated with east Asia these days, as we noted here before. They see this is a growth (profit) opportunity, at least for those who make money -- at professionals' expense -- by suing and settling. Baker McKenzie, a legal firm, has just written about Thailand and IAM relayed this placement/ad for a firm from Taiwan. It doesn't matter to them what it means to innovation, as long as there is a lot of litigation and money keeps flowing into the pockets of middlemen (including robber barons like Team Battistelli).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why We Support Richard Stallman and You Probably Should Too
It's not about being "Richard Stallman fan", it is about maintaining the right to hold positions (on technology) like his
Some Large German Media Covers Richard Stallman's Talks in Germany Earlier This Week
LLM-based chatbots are just "bullshit generators" (as he has long called them)
Trouble in Red Hat/IBM and a Retreat to Ponzi Economics in Search of Wall Street Market Heist
Would you invest your life savings in this kind of crap?
Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses)
The IRS does not reveal who or what's tied to this refund (or the cause/reason)
 
Slopwatch: Google News and Slopfarms That Relay Nonsense From LLMs
Google News, which once prioritised or used to care about provenance and quality, is feeding slopfarms
Links 23/10/2025: More Health Concerns Over Dumb Chatbots (LLMs) and "Talking Cars" as Latest Buzz
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Daylight Savings Time and Duration Shorthand
Links for the day
Links 23/10/2025: LLM 'Hallucinations' (Defects) in Practical Code 'Generation', China Becomes More Economically and Technologically Independent
Links for the day
Linux Foundation Uses LLM Slop to Promote Microsoft in Linux.com (Again), Rendering It a Linux-Hostile Slopfarm
Openwashing with slop by "Linux.com Editorial Staff", which basically seems to be a bot
Links 23/10/2025: Windows TCO Galore and "The Internet Is Going to Break Again"
Links for the day
Social engineering attack: Debian voted to trick you on binary blobs
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Will Always Stand for Women's Rights
We even invest money - personal savings that it - in our principles
Certified Lawyers Should Know Better (Than to Intimidate Us With Man Who Drives on Motorcycle Through a Really Bad Storm Between Distant Cities, Then Collects Photos of Our Home)
Mentioning someone was in prison for bad things isn't a crime, it's a public service
The "AI" (Slop) Bubble is Already Imploding
"ChatGPT Usage Has Peaked and Is Now Declining, New Data Finds"
The So-called "Sexy" Buckets (AI, Quantum) Cannot Save IBM From Reality, Shares Tank
"No matter how much financial hocus-pocus they use to reclassify revenues to land in the "sexy" buckets (AI, Quantum), it still smells old and musty - just like this company."
Paul Krugman is Wrong About the Scope of Mass Layoffs in the United States
A few years ago society was accelerating its journey towards feudalism, boosted by COVID-19
Links 23/10/2025: Proprietary Blunders and CISA's Latest Disclosure of Holes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Fast Past (F1), 99.9% Uptime
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Slopwatch: Google News is Promoting Fake 'Articles' About Fake Xubuntu, Fake Articles About Replacing Windows With GNU/Linux
The quality of the Web deteriorates and unless someone cleans up the mess, real sites will lose an incentive to produce anything
When "AI Layoffs" Mean Layoffs Due to the "AI" Bubble Popping
many people that are laid off by Microsoft claim to be specialists in "AI"
Mysterious grant forfeited, $100,000 from Software in the Public Interest accounts 2023
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: bullying, student union behaviour: Armijn Hemel's FSFE resignation
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: psychological abuse, stalking, Galia Mancheva, Susanne Eiswirt ignored by FSFE judgment for Matthias Kirschner
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Helping FSFE scam victims and conference organisers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Nigerian fraud in FSFE constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Worrying and Amusing Stories of "Clown Computing" Gone Awry
Many of these disasters could be avoided
Links 22/10/2025: Amazon Plans to Replace Workers With Robotics, AWS and Clown Computing in General Ridiculed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/10/2025: Niri Completely Changes Multitasking and Overview of Diff-ers
Links for the day
Links 22/10/2025: Study on Misinformation by Slop and Heavily Debt-Sabbled Microsoft OpenAI (ClosedSlop) Uses "Browser" as Gimmick/Distraction
Links for the day
They've Already Spent Close to a Million Dollars on Lawyers and Sent Us About 50 KG of Legal Papers (Sponsored by Mysterious Third Party) to Try to Censor Techrights, Without Success
They try to overcompensate with sheer volume for a lack of solid, clear arguments (we are the victims here)
12 Months Ago the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Officially Went 'Tag-Team'
We're actually sort of flattered or proud that such despicable people are so desperate to censor us
"Cloud Computing" Was Always a Joke, But This Week Was the Punchline
Maybe stop following tech trends and fashions
"Cloud Computing" Does Not Mean Safety
Fault tolerance is related to the notion of software freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Fall of Windows: From Something to Nothing
Of course Microsoft will pretend everything is fine and "just trust the hey hi" (AI)
Sounds Like Fedora is Ready to Become Less of a Slave of Microsoft (GitHub)
This seems like a belated move in a positive direction
XBox is a Dead Microsoft Product in a Dying Industry
It's probable that another wave of XBox layoffs is just over the horizon (maybe even before month's end)
Progress on Techrights Site Search
Fun times
IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Means the Layoffs Are Silent, Barely Reported
Don't wait to hear about "Red Hat layoffs"
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Happy Disconnection, AWS Falling Apart, Closing of Gemlog Blue
Links for the day
Full Audio of Today's Richard Stallman Talk in the Technical University of Munich
Free/Libre software and freedom in the digital society
Microsoft XBox is Just Vapourware (Promises of Hardware That Doesn't Exist), Real Products Perish
just as developers lose interest in developing for XBox Microsoft is increasing the costs imposed upon them
Slopwatch: Fake Articles (Slop) in "Linux" Clothing in Google News (Noise)
all about what Google does
Links 21/10/2025: Even "Inventor of Vibe Coding" Rejects Vibe Coding, USPTO Experiments With Slop in Examination
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Talk Now Available for Viewing (Archived Copy, Not Live-streamed)
This recording is over 2 hours old
Links 21/10/2025: AWS-Induced Chaos and Social Control Media Curbs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Programming, StarGrid, Brand-New Palm OS Strategy Game in 2025, and Chatbot as Addiction Mechanisms
Links for the day
The African Lion and the American Cowards
Safaris exist for people to watch and enjoy animals
Amazon Web Shenanigans Perfectly Timed for Today's Talk by Richard Stallman
Maybe listen to him instead of looking for excuses to ridicule the messenger
Mission:Libre Has Taken Off (Project by Carmen Maris)
there will be a lot more to report on next month (after the event)
Techrights to Publish More EPO Leaks Next Week
We're meanwhile also doing lots of work on search, whose interface now looks better
Links 21/10/2025: 'The Lost Art' of Neon Signs and Twitter (X) to Enable Identity Theft (or Handle Theft) as a Service
Links for the day
Plagiarism With LLM Slop: Hindustan Times (HT Digital Streams Limited) Has Become a Slop Factory/Hub
What a disgrace
A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe, by Richard Stallman
"The surveillance imposed on us today is worse than in the Soviet Union. We need laws to stop this data being collected in the first place"
Next Week We Launch Search at Techrights
We're planning to launch it some time next week. Maybe Tuesday, maybe Thursday.
Talk by Richard Stallman Will be Live-streamed in Less Than 10 Hours
Happy hacking
"No Kings" in the Software World (GAFAM Should Not Exist, Either)
"No Kings" is a good slogan. Let's start by ridding ourselves of masters, not only those who reside in DC or visit DC
Every Morning
Bugs/edge cases combined with automation can spell disaster
Insane, Deliberately Dishonest, or Just Another Bigot?
very intellectually-dishonest human being
A Lot of Techrights is Built on Perl
Perl also runs the sister site
The Register MS Selling Slop for Microsoft (Vapourware, Ponzi Scheme, False Claims)
What will be left of The Register MS if it keeps repeating falsehoods and looking to profit from Ponzi schemes?
analytics.usa.gov Says Less Than 14% of Web Requests (to Government Sites) Come From Vista 11
Vista 11 was released more than 4 years ago!
People Who Attempt to Take Down Correct Information Need a Doctor a Day
“Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” ― George Orwell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 20, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 20, 2025
Vista 11 is Sinking While Microsoft is PIPing (Mass Layoffs But Silent Layoffs)
We're witnessing a shift in platform dominance
Richard Stallman is Having a Good Week Already (Stallman Was Right About 'Clown Computing')
That alone is worth bringing up in his talk
An Update About Soylent News, With Jan Rinok "Back in the Saddle"
Burnout or "near burnout" a possibility when having to curate abuse
When Prominent GNU/Linux Distros Are Run by Spies
What has Microsoft Canonical become?
More Publishers and Companies Nowadays Say "GNU/Linux", Not "Linux"
It's not to see InstallAware saying GNU/Linux this week