Bonum Certa Men Certa

IP Kat Has Turned From EPO Critic (to the Point of Being Blocked by the EPO) to EPO Whitewasher That Gags EPO Whistleblowers

It had gotten so bad and so blatant that IP Kat even zapped an entire thread (about 40 comments) sceptical of António Campinos because it disliked the views, not the tone (nothing rude about it)

CIPA meeting with Stephen Jones
Stephen Jones (just after he had left IP Kat) stood next to Battistelli to promote the Unified Patent Court (UPC)



Summary: The EPO tried to forcibly gag (block) IP Kat like it blocks Techrights (since 2014); failing that, the EPO got the blog to just act as a whitewashing operation for Team Campinos (more or less the same as Team Battistelli)

THE MEDIA is totally, utterly, completely failing Europe. And meanwhile the European Patent Office's (EPO) corruption is spreading, reaching well outside Europe. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) increasingly adopts similar tricks. As Benjamin Henrion put it some hours ago: "Software Patents are back with new USPTO guidelines, using the insane EPO technical effect blackhole..."



He was focusing on software patents in Europe, but there are so many other aspects to it. The above statement isn't entirely accurate and we'll respond to this in our next article (focused on the US).

Weickmann & Weickmann's Jörg Prechtel has just boasted that "Possible Coverage of European patents is still expanding" (that's his promotional headline) and it's a recipe for disaster not just in the EU or Europe at large; the EPO is an international organisation which increasingly services countries outside the EU, not to mention patent trolls from countries like the US. We wrote about it before. These people even lead EPO events; patent trolls are now admired by the EPO.

It worried us when 2-3 years ago management of IP Kat changed; some people whose business includes serving patent trolls took key positions in the blog and not too long afterwards there was never-ending UPC propaganda, "Merpel" ran away with 'her' tail between 'her' legs and later on people's comments that dared bring up EPO scandals simply didn't get through moderation; then we saw some of them deleted individually (after they had been approved). It culminated in mass deletion of an entire thread (about 40 comments) about Campinos. The 'new' IP Kat showed its true spots (or colours). Nothing has changed since.

This is what the authors of IP Kat wrote yesterday: "It is yet to be seen whether the EPO's new president, Antonio Campinos, will be effective at healing the rifts created by Battistelli."

It has been 6 months. He fixed nothing. How much longer should one wait? Notice the fluffy paragraphs in question and the adorable photo of Campinos (which they added next to these):

Will the EBA be convinced by these arguments? It does seem that it is high time for this issue to be laid to rest. However, the EBA is not obliged to accept the referral from the President as admissible as we saw in G 1/14. Furthermore, an opinion by the EBA following a referral by the President will have no bearing on the TBA decision giving rise to the referral, given that the appeal proceedings have already concluded.

The President's referral to the EBA took place under the fraught political backdrop of Battistelli's controversial presidency, in which the independence of the EBA and BA was arguably brought into question. Did the EBA really have the freedom to objectively form an opinion on questions referred by the President? It is yet to be seen whether the EPO's new president, Antonio Campinos, will be effective at healing the rifts created by Battistelli.

An opinion by the EBA in G 1/18 may be issued in the coming year...


These people lack independence from Campinos; we wrote about it many times. Campinos did absolutely nothing to assure them of independence; to make matters worse, he left Judge Corcoran to rot, some suspect on the verge of suicide (those are speculations). DG3 is still controlled directly and indirectly by Campinos, a patent maximalist with a short fuse and reportedly the same temper problems as the fellow Frenchman who gave him this job.

Read this early comment on the puff piece with a smiling Campinos: "Just wondering how much time and money this will cost to decide, as far as I understand it, only the question of whether DG3 should keep the appeal fee or not when an entity messes up their appeal filing?"

And a later comment said:

There is another hurdle the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) has to take before it can deal with the referred question.

Art. 112(1)(b) EPC stipulates: ”the President of the European Patent Office may refer a point of law to the Enlarged Board of Appeal where two Boards of Appeal have given different decisions on that question.”

The EBoA always first had to investigate the condition of “different decisions” (French: “décisions divergentes”; German: “voneinander abweichende Entscheidungen”). In the case at hand, it would not be too difficult to decide that there are no “different decisions”. In that case, the EBoA may choose not answer the referred question. In G 3/08 (Patentability of programs for computers) the EBoA came to the conclusion that the referral by the President was not based on “different decisions” but nevertheless answered the referred question. However, there is no obligation to do so. In G 3/08, the EBoA came to the conclusion (based on Art. 31 Vienna Concention) that the notion “different decisions” has to be understood restrictively in the sense of “conflicting decisions”.

The EBoA in view of the beloved person filing the referral at the end of his reign, may find arguments not to answer the question.


As we said at the turn of the new year, in 2019 we intentionally reduce focus on legalese and particular legal cases (grasping them is very time-consuming and potentially boring to readers), but the one thing we'll say is that IP Kat only ever covers EPO in a positive context/connotation (several more decent contributors were said to have left the blog at the turn of the new year). It moreover gives the false impression that things have improved just because it's quiet (gagging of staff representatives). In that regard it's almost complicit. IP Kat is now part of the problem.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Arduino is Now a Patent Bully (Qualcomm)
Qualcomm has just bought Arduino
Many Years of Microsoft Cancellations and Faked (Acquired) Revenue "Growth"
XBox is basically the "next Skype"
Microsoft's Non-Denying Denial About XBox's Death is Already Being Shattered to Pieces
Like Microsoft's 'open' 'hey hi', heralding meaningless non-committing agreements with AMD is little more than vapourware
The Register MS is Still Being Paid to Participate in the "AI" Ponzi Scheme Which Will Crash the Economy
The Register MS is hoping to get lucky by tricking people into a scam
Evidence Contradicting Microsoft's Non-Denying Denials and Expectation of Many Layoffs Soon
"Microsoft has had this constant drip of layoffs for months."
 
Participation in Cancel Culture Detrimental to One's Career
A cautionary tale
Passion Wins
we've increased the number of birds we feed to 100+
How Solderpunk and Sean Conner Started Gemini Protocol (and, Collectively, Geminispace) Back in 2019
Based on the "official" history
The Comment TheLayoff.com Has Just Censored for Criticising a Ridiculous Puff Piece of IBM Management
If comments get censored for their "style" rather than their substance, then society will be worse off
The Power of Writing Down Facts
The more we write and publish, the more people will know what happened
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Joins the Slopfarms Club
Slopfarms gonna slop
Links 07/10/2025: Privacy at Risk, GAFAM Remains Off the Hook
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Modern Retro Console Idea and Batch vs Bash
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: International Criminal Court (ICC) Convicts Ali Kushayb; Moroccan Imprisoned for 'Offensive' Shirt
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: EU' Chat Control is Back, US Cracks Down on Democracy
Links for the day
Techrights Pursues Justice and Truth Because, Without Those, Society Descends Into Chaos
most people reject dogma and pseudoscience
Upcoming Talks by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Göteborg, and Rome
Join with him and share the software
Something Bad is Happening in the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
The latest OSI blog post is from a Microsoft operative and a few weeks ago the Executive Director left
TLS 1.3 Dominates Geminispace (99% of Known Capsules)
it's nowadays safe to assume almost every capsule can handle TLS 1.3
Why soylentnews.org Has Been Having Technical Difficulties Lately
The network has been going up and down quite a lot this past week
A Statement Against Violence
The facts are on our side
They've Run Out of Things to Rebrand or Label as "AI"
The next few years will be interesting because if Microsoft lays off tens of thousands of workers each year, there won't be much left except mountains of debt and dying brands
Richard Stallman Confirms His Talk in Göteborg This Coming Friday
"The hosts say that the list will not be given to the state"
Most of the "Linux" Results This Morning in Google News Are LLM Slop From the Same Slopfarm, Plagiarising Phoronix
The main question is, does Google even care at this point?
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Civil War and "Goodbye Web"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 06, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 06, 2025
The "AI Revolution" is Going Very Well, Right?
money that does not exist and alleged potential that is pure fiction
Links 06/10/2025: Scam Altman Himself Admits He Runs a Scam Based on a Bubble, US Administration Adopts “War From Within” Narrative to Crush Opposition/Dissent
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Fake Ubuntu 'Articles' and Google News Helps People Who Plagiarise Phoronix Using LLMs
Michael Larabel can't possibly be happy about that
6,000 Pages/Articles a Year
Today in one month from now the site turns 19
When Things Become So Ubiquitous That They're Almost Nameless
The notion or the concept of software freedom isn't tied to any particular brand or project, so it should still resonate
At Least 3 Richard Stallman Talks in Europe Confirmed So Far, Next Week in Rome There's Another
Dr. Stallman has not announced this yet
IDG Seems to Have Abandoned Sandra Henry Stocker's UNIX/Linux Column
Unless we hear otherwise or see some update/s, this may mark another death blow from IDG
Gemini Links 06/10/2025: Winter Nights and "Virtue Signaling"
Links for the day
Links 06/10/2025: Scientific Awards and Typhoon Matmo
Links for the day
IP Kat Gone Bonkers, Pushing Slop in Patents (Likely Illegal, With Severe Consequences)
AstraZenecaKat: "Last time, this Kat covered some practical steps on how to ensure client confidentiality when using AI tools (IPKat)."
Links 06/10/2025: Grokipedia as Malicious Slop, US 'Martial Law' a "New Normal"
Links for the day
Fake Economics and Clown Computing Circuses
who's gonna pay for these scams?
Nobel Prize in Economics Does Not Exist, It's Propaganda From Sveriges Riksbank
"It is that time of the year when it is important to remind people that there are no Nobel Prizes for professional wrestling, astrology, or economics"
Rust is Eating Linux
That's a recipe for problems
Cindy Cohn (Executive Director of EFF) is a Millionaire, Earned Almost $30,000 Per Month Before Departing While the EFF Lost Money
EFF is "Big Business"
Non-Denying Denial From Microsoft (Again) Regarding the End of XBox Consoles
It's kind of hilarious that even the site chosen by Microsoft to relay its BS, based on past loyalty, isn't quite buying it
Bringing Back Lost Articles From the 1990s: Microsoft Products Leave Door Open to NSA
Nothing has changed since then
When the Slop Bubble Pops People Will Say Richard Stallman Was Right (Again)
What was once known as Computer Science turned into "IT"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 05, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 05, 2025
Links 06/10/2025: Science, Hardware, and Andrej Babis Making a Comeback
Links for the day
Links 05/10/2025: Slow News Day and Wondering About the Canada Post Walkout
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/10/2025: Telnet Debugging and The Programmer’s Brain
Links for the day
More Than "Just a Rumour": XBox Seems to Have Just Died
At this point, why would any studio out there target or partner with XBox?
How to Tell Your Community, Project or Company is Being Infiltrated by Saboteurs
How to identify nefarious social engineering
The Fortieth Birthday of the FSF Made Us Extremely Happy
It feels like the 'hacker community' is regrouping to discuss things and prepare for the next Big Challenge
Chat Control 2 Them, Not 2 U
Follow the advice of Dr. Patrick Breyer
Mozilla: Throw Away Your "Old" PC and Enable "Digital Rights Management (DRM)"
This is heading in a bad direction
Controlling Our Computing for Another Forty Years
40 years of freedom
Motivational Small Place to Run Large Sites
We deem this scenery motivational and inspiring
Techrights' Text Version (Daily Bulletin) Turns Five This Month
our plain-text bulletins are turning 5 this month
We'll Continue Covering the Moribund OSI and Other Dysfunctional if Not Hostile Institutions
Stefano Maffulli's departure is due to his defection and due to him failing the mission in pursuit of money (his salary)
Microsoft XBox is Dying as More Retailers Stop Stocking It and Massive Layoffs Planned Again
Microsoft is circling down the drain
Links 05/10/2025: Lufthansa Layoffs (4,000) and More Spotify Woes (Aside From Massive Debt)
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation's Livestream Has Ended, Video/s Might be Online Next
I've asked whether they'll upload video of some of the event; I still wait for an answer
The Register MS Does Not Know the Difference Between Microsoft GitHub and GitLab
At the time of writing (October 5) the article from "Thu 2 Oct 2025" remains uncorrected
Linux and the Freedom Paradox
Linux is losing freedom if some external actors who only use Microsoft tools for development wrest control
"Bullshit Generators" (What RMS Calls LLMs) and Fake Images Already Target the FSF
Why does Google News promote fake articles about the FSF while omitting all the real ones?
Software Patents as a Bubble
Don't invest resources in hype; if you detect a bubble, run away from it
Links 05/10/2025: Political Leftovers, Climate Change, and Security Incidents
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 04, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 04, 2025