Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Enlarged Board of Appeal Cannot Independently Rule on the Matter of Software Patentability

The corrupt 'Mafia' from the Office is already meddling in the affairs of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, pushing for an outcome not compatible with the EPC

Cops and Swan/Goose: Come here, we respect your independence; unless you do the 'wrong' thing



Summary: After all those years (almost 6 years after the notorious "house ban") the Enlarged Board of Appeal and other appeal boards still cannot do their work 'in peace'; the EPO has become dysfunctional in the oversight sense, with structural deficiencies one might expect to find in third-world countries

THE interference by António Campinos in the affairs and practice of judges is reminiscent of the old boss at the European Patent Office (EPO). Campinos knows nothing about software/coding, yet he's happy to meddle in decisions.



Benjamin Henrion attempted to gain insight into the said case (Campinos v BoA) because it involves software patents -- a subject FFII is interested in. But it wasn't possible to access without upfront registration, which meant that narrative in reporting would be tilted in favour of large litigation firms.

Kilburn & Strode's Gwilym Roberts and Alexander Worley wrote about the subject a day before the hearing, which we mentioned in light of the report from proponents of software patents in Europe (Marks & Clerk). They apparently paid to relay this further in Lexology. We've decided to respond in-line as we did the last time, with yellow highlight to distinguish our words from theirs:

The referral of G1/19 comes from a case relating to the simulation of pedestrians moving through walkways. It sounds a bit more detached from physical and technical considerations. Surely the decisions people are making when they walk through a building lead us completely away from technical subject-matter? [Those are the wrong questions to ask. The whole "technical effect" framing is misleading and misguided.]

Well, perhaps not. Crowds and traffic share a lot in common with the motion of fluids. [Simulating the motion of liquids should not be patentable, either] You’ve probably experienced a traffic jam on the motorway which seems to last for ages, only to come out the other end to see that, infuriatingly, there was nothing there to cause the slowdown. This was caused by a ripple which was set-off a few miles ahead and progressed back towards you. Once the ripple is set in motion it will keep going and can actually be predicted pretty accurately. This is also what happens when you have barriers at the tube station, or someone stops to tie their shoe lace in the middle of the pavement. [This is a veiled attempt to insinuate "usefulness", as if patents are to be granted based on such ludicrous grounds]

The same thing happens in fluids in pipes. [Humans are technically mostly water, but this analogy is laughable and simulating liquids does not make motion of liquids a human invention] When shutting-off a tap at one end of a pipe, the ripple progresses along the pipe and likely causes a burst somewhere behind your plasterboard. If the modelling of crowds is done in the same way as water in a pipe or electrons in an electronic circuit, should it still be excluded? [This is a straw man argument. Both should be excluded. Should we start having patents on water, too?]

[...]

The third question asks the first two questions again, but if the claimed method is recited as part of a design process. Perhaps a more palatable claim for the EPO to accept. This might allow the Enlarged Board to give us a better steer on where the boundary lies between electrons moving in a circuit (technical) and people making decisions on how to act (non-technical). [The circuit itself may be patentable, not the electrons. Another straw man argument.]

If the board answers any of the questions negatively, then this could overturn the reasoning of T1227/05 and alter the guidelines followed by examiners. [No, the guidelines of the EPO are never based on law and logic, as its track record has shown over the past decade.]

We would attempt to predict the outcome of the hearing tomorrow, but for a lack of physical parameters which can accurately model the Enlarged Board’s decision making process. At least, there is not long to wait.


One thing we know about "the Enlarged Board’s decision making process" is that it's already controlled or shaped by meddling by the Office. This isn't even secret anymore; and for that alone we ought to pause and ponder. Has the autocracy of EPO rendered the Enlarged Board incapable of ruling properly? See what happened in G 2/19 (Enlarged Board of Appeal) about a year ago.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
 
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually
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
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"
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
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
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
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
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