03.14.18
Gemini version available ♊︎The EPO is a Mess Under Battistelli and Stakeholders Including Law Firms Will Suffer, Not Just EP Holders
Low-quality European Patents (EPs) are good for nobody, but they help Battistelli game the numbers while destroying the Office (this includes mass layoffs)
Battistelli sets the Office ablaze months before his departure; Not even Battistelli’s daughter (an ambulance driver) can put out her dad’s fire. Many firings are expected.
Summary: As one last ‘gift’ from Battistelli, appeals are becoming a lot more expensive — the very opposite of what he does to applications, in effect ensuring a sharp increase in wrongly-granted patents
THIS is a rather shocking reversal; the USPTO is improving patent quality, whereas the EPO quickly becomes what the USPTO used to be. We can therefore expect more patent trolls to migrate to Europe (some already migrate to China).
Earlier today NLO released this sponsored IAM piece which for the most part parrots EPO lies/spin; yes, it’s mostly repeating the EPO’s Annual Report and reusing figures from it. We wrote some rebuttals to these:
- EPO Hires External PR Agencies to Control Coverage of Its Annual Report, Deny Investigative Journalism
- EPO Patent ‘Growth’ Not Achieved But Demanded/Mandated by Battistelli, by Lowering Quality of Patents/Services
- The EPO’s PR Department Receives Return on Investment (Puff Pieces) for Paying the Media
- EPO Annual Results/Report: Revenue From Patent Applications is Apparently Down Yet Again and Work is Running Out
“From 2016 to 2017 the absolute number of European Patent Office (EPO) oppositions grew,” it said at the start. Grew? It skyrocketed? Because many bogus patents are being granted. This is a Battistelli policy. It’ll backfire really badly in the long run.
“So the EPO yet again makes it harder (more expensive) to oppose its rushed decisions.”Oliver Rosenthal from Haseltine Lake LLP wrote this piece earlier this week. His firm recently highlighted the surging/soaring number of oppositions [1, 2].
Rosenthal too is (re)using EPO charts and propaganda, basically copy-pasting lies from the EPO’s press releases. Are they attempting to just suck up to Battistelli like the worst law firms did whenever they wrote about the UPC, occasionally promoting UPCA scams as well? What is this, legal advice or public relations?
“A granted European patent does not lead to a unitary right,” it said, “but a bundle of independent national patents which are enforceable and revocable in each contracting state where protection is requested and the patent has been validated.”
“Applications become cheaper and stopping erroneous grants is now the ‘privilege’ of the super-rich.”Yes, Team UPC hopes to remove this ‘barrier’ in order to spur more litigation. Dehns (Team UPC) wrote this article earlier this week, noting that: “The appeal fee will increase from €1880 to €2255, except for SMEs.”
So the EPO yet again makes it harder (more expensive) to oppose its rushed decisions. All this while reducing the price of applications in order to artificially inflate numbers (after they decreased). What better proof does one need that Battistelli intentionally sabotages the quality of patents? Applications become cheaper and stopping erroneous grants is now the ‘privilege’ of the super-rich. █
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