Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO Has Sadly Taken a Side and It's the Patent Trolls' Side

The European Patent Office is all about money, not science, and it undermines the basis of its very existence

António Campinos patents cash



Summary: Abandoning the whole rationale behind patents, the Office now led for almost a year by António Campinos prioritises neither science nor technology; it's all about granting as many patents (European monopolies) as possible for legal activity (applications, litigation and so on)

THE António Campinos-led European Patent Office (EPO) is promoting software patents in Europe (it just tells applicants to call these "AI" and other nonsensical, grossly-overused terms). It amasses such applications and then grants bogus patents that courts will almost certainly reject (or would; if the defendant could afford a day in court). Quality of patents isn't at all mentioned in those 'results' that we rebutted or put in context last week. The media, including some of the Battistelli-paid media, keeps relaying that PR. We decided not to link to it this year (like we did in prior years) because it's a familiar script or spiel. Facts don't matter; writing these puff pieces is a simple "copypasta" from the EPO.



We have meanwhile noticed that the EPO is again promoting FRAND/SEP agenda. Truly nasty agenda, no doubt, but not surprising as they support patent trolls rather than scientists/scientific progress. It is very much consistent with what Battistelli did and judging by who Campinos chooses to meet (lawyers' societies, not scientists) we know nothing will change. The EPO said (warning: epo.org link, via) it is looking to "enhance the support they provide to industry and stakeholders in Europe and beyond in the field of standard-essential patents."

"It is worrying but not surprising that the EPO continues to do this; does anyone still believe that Campinos intends to turn anything around?"EPO ends with the ICT nonsense (ICT means "algorithms" a lot of the time, at least at the EPO): "In view of the growing use of ICT-related technologies in the more traditional technical fields, the ICT standards - as well as the patents considered essential for their implementation - are becoming increasingly important in this context."

FRAND for code/interoperability shims means software patents. FRAND is a misnomer (each word in the acronym is a lie) and we've been writing about it for over a decade, even back when it was called "RAND" (one euphemism/lie fewer). There's a new press release about it below (just sent to us by a reader):

The question if Open Source Software can be combined with a FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) regime is often at the centre of the debate. Possibly, this question though is not the deciding one, as such a legal compatibility would require that Open Source developers would collaborate under such a regime.

OpenForum Europe is very excited to publish the Opinion Paper by OFA Fellow and President of the Open Source Initiative, Simon Phipps. In this paper Simon posits that the core issue of Open Source Software and FRAND is not a legal one, but that Open Source developers will not collaborate under a FRAND regime.



So yes, it's about software. It's about something that can be infinitely replicated free of charge.

"EPO publishes blockchain conference report," the EPO wrote yesterday, linking to that "blockchain" nonsense which we mentioned some days ago. "This study provides a comprehensive picture of current trends and emerging leaders in self-driving vehicle technologies," the EPO wrote separately (also yesterday); it's another newer buzz-phrase/acronym (buzzwords), "SDV" (often means algorithms for vehicle navigation). They like using the physicality of a car to give the impression that the invention is concrete. Similarly, as per Monday's press release from Israel, here is the EPO granting a patent on "robotics" when in reality this likely deals with computer programs responsible for handling the robot (in addition to imaging modalities whose physical properties have little to nothing pertaining to navigation). From the press release:

XACT Robotics Ltd. today announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) will grant a patent expanding the Company’s patent portfolio to include the use of its robotic system in ultrasound-guided interventional procedures.


That's basically patenting a computer program. But "with unparalleled accuracy and consistency..."

Whatever. Marketing buzzwords. Or promotional language...

It is worrying but not surprising that the EPO continues to do this; does anyone still believe that Campinos intends to turn anything around?

Yesterday the EPO wrote another bit of nonsense. They call it “EPO Academy” (a big word), but scholars don't want to work there anymore and academia is ignored in favour of law firms. All that seems to matter to the EPO is money; not scientists' financial welfare but rather the Office's and law firms'. What would the public have to say about such an institution? Does it serve Europe?

Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
 
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October