Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Patent Distortion: EPO Crimes Completely Overlooked and Totally Unrecognised/Not Covered This Past Week (in News Sites, Blogs, and More)

Video download link | md5sum 268ed2da6327b5c36c15dd1d55cf1fdd Lobbying in News Clothing Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: Today's 3-hour video demonstrates the appalling quality of 'journalism' about patents and the pervasive manipulation/gaming in Google 'News' (Gulag Noise), which mostly amplifies marketing and webspam

THE previous part, or Part 4, reminded readers that the EPO scandals aren't mentioned at all anymore. Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos have bribed and blackmailed the media to the point of silent complicity. Occasionally they even receive praise and European software patents are being promoted despite common sense.



It is far too easy to become overly cynical, maybe even angry. Workers of the EPO have certainly noticed how they're being abandoned by European media [1, 2]; national broadcasters ignore the issues completely, patent-centric sites pretend that Battistelli's departure miraculously fixed everything, and as noted earlier today politicians including European Commission officials are actively covering up the corruption. They're complicit, even in Germany. So it's like there's nobody to even talk to.

USF to EUSome days ago the staff union of the EPO (SUEPO) mention the upcoming strike, which is one of several impending strikes. Did the media mention any of that? Absolutely not. See the above video, I've searched everything conceivable.

SUEPO has mentioned "USF - Union Syndicale Fédérale letter to Presidents of the European Council, European Parliament and European Commission dated 11 March 2022)."

SUEPO's English translation has been uploaded locally [PDF] and also the MSServices Global tweet has been uploaded locally:

Twitter account on SUEPO

So there's a 'tweet' about it, but nothing more. In fact, Twitter became worse than a waste of time. All the patent blogs (long form) have chosen to ignore it completely. It's not even a little footnote anywhere in the so-called 'IP' online sphere (or blogosphere).

"So there's a 'tweet' about it, but nothing more."When the media is in such a dire state (here's how John Cleese put it) it's crystal clear that the public isn't being informed. This is intentional. Keeping the biggest stakeholders in the dark...

Recently, the staff of the EPO bemoaned EPC violations by the EPO in a polite letter. Did any of the media ever mention those same issues? No. To make matters worse, on Friday the EPO went further by trying to justify the violations (warning: epo.org link) not by correcting the policy but by proposals to change the EPC itself. To quote: "The EPO began by presenting a series of proposals for amendments to the EPC Implementing Regulations, including Rules 46, 49, 50, 126, 127 and 131. These proposals were broadly welcomed, with the SACEPO members agreeing that the EPO needs to fully digitise its procedures."

"Nobody in the media covered the most blatant EPO abuses and this was intentional (the story/ies had been mentioned to publishers, but they buried their heads deep inside the sand)."So the EPO not only breaks the rules; it now attempts to change the rules to retroactively justify its own violations, as it did last year after outsourcing the Office (its operations) to Microsoft. Nobody in the media covered the most blatant EPO abuses and this was intentional (the story/ies had been mentioned to publishers, but they buried their heads deep inside the sand).

Not only has IP Kat covered none of these affairs; IP Kat has not covered patents at all for over two weeks already. This is an open door or an invitation for further abuse. The EPO's management knows it can even get away with murder.

What if you wanted to go to Heaven; Wait, son, I need to modify the bible
Not compatible with the EPC? Change the EPC! UPC incompatible with constitutions? Change them!! Seriously, that's how these people think [1, 2].



Willy Minnoye



Willy Minnoye caricature



Recent Techrights' Posts

EPO Strike a Week From Now, After That Strikes Can Become Permanent
A week from tomorrow there will be another strike
 
Fuel Autonomy and What It Teaches Us About Software Autonomy (or Software Freedom)
Need we wait until a "software Pearl Harbor" or protect ourselves proactively by weaning ourselves off of GAFAMware?
Scheduled Maintenance This Coming Wednesday
Other than that, all is the same and we carry on as usual
Most Press Articles About IBM Are LLM Slop, Sometimes With Slop Images
IBM basically laid off almost 1,000 people last week [...] At the moment about 75% of the 'articles' we see about IBM (in recent days) are some kind of slop
Links 23/03/2026: Security Breaches, Energy Shortages, Another SRA Scandal, and Patents on Nature
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 22, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 22, 2026
Streisand Effect and Justice
This weekend this site has served over 8 million Web requests
Gemini Links 22/03/2026: "Woman of Tomorrow" and "First Steps in Geminispace"
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 19 Out of 200: They Were Ill-prepared for Tough Questions in Cross-Examination
Very ill-prepared for the deteriorating situation caused by their clients' past behaviour towards many people, including high-profile figures who offered to testify
The Media Sold Out to Slop Bros
If you wish for the hype to stop, then stop participating in it
The Only Non-IBM Staff in Fedora Council/Leadership Attacks Booting Freedom (Just Like the Master Wants)
Last week IBM laid off almost 1,000 people in Confluent and the media didn't write anything about it, so don't expect anyone in what's left of the media to comment on Fedora's demise and silent layoffs at Red Hat
Just Like a Founder of XBox Said, Microsoft XBox is Collapsing, Management Continue to Jump Ship
Nowadays Microsoft tries to promote this idea that Windows is XBox and XBox is Windows
Links 22/03/2026: Slop Triggers Emergency at Meta, Energy Prices Rise Sharply
Links for the day
Links 22/03/2026: Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' in Legal Trouble (Plagiarism, Distortion, Misrepresentation); Facebook/Meta Kills Off "Horizon Worlds"
Links for the day
Racism Dressed Up as "Choice"
Racism is rampant at IBM
Probably an All-Time Record
Our investment in our own SSG is paying off
Your Site Should Implement Its Own Search (Before It's Too Late)
GAFAM was never trustworthy
Gemini Links 22/03/2026: LLM Slop Attacks USENET, Announcing Pig (New Game in Gemini Protocol)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 21, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, March 21, 2026
SLAPP Censorship - Part 18 Out of 200: Third Parties Funding Attacks on the Messengers, Lawsuits Against GAFAM-Critical Voices That Uphold Real National Security
Women are like kryptonite to them
Never Trust People Who Write Their Own Wikipedia Pages (Vanity Pages About Themselves) or Ask Friends to Do So. Also: Jono Bacon is Married to Microsoft.
We'd hardly be the first to point out Wikipedia isn't what it seems
No Tolerance for Attacks on Family Members
Being a Free software activist ought not lead to "collateral damage" like attacks on family members, including doxing
Sirius Open Source is Just a Zombie Firm With Shell Entities
Many companies fake their health and their size
Communities Can Only Survive When Trust Prevails
PCLinuxOS is still a vibrant and authentic community
Techrights Was Always a Community Site
The harder we're attacked, the more people participate in the site
Maintenance Reminder
We'll carry on publishing
Behind the PR Smokescreen and Microsoft-Sponsored Chaff, Microsoft Layoffs in "AI" Alleged This Month
In an age when ~1,000 simultaneous layoffs aren't enough to receive any media coverage, what can we expect remaining publishers to tell us about Microsoft layoffs in 2026?
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VIII - Mobbing and Silencing of Dissenting Staff
that's the very cornerstone of functional democracies with real opposition parties
Bluewashing at Confluent: Some Workers to Leave Within 3 Months (IBM Mass Layoffs)
Is the "era of AI" an era when none of the media will mention over 800 layoffs? [...] There's a lesson here about the state of the contemporary media, not just IBM and bluewashing
Microsoft OpenAI, Drowning in Debt and Forced to Make Significant Cuts (as Reports Reveal This Month), Does Hiring Disguised as "Takeovers" to Fake Value or Alleged Potential
Remember what happened to Skype last year
Reader Shares Recent Memes on Slop and 'Coding' by LLMs
"just some funny memes I thought were relevant to current coverage."
Slop Does Not Replace Art, It Contaminates Everything With Reckless Nonsense
many Computer Scientists do not want programs to get contaminated by slop
Coders Don't Just Reject 'Vibe Coding' Because They're "Luddites", They Just Know the True Cost of Slop
if some programmer says slop sucks, don't rush to assume selfishness or defence of one's occupation
When Nobody Else Covers the News
There's an obvious "media blackout" regarding the mass layoffs
Links 21/03/2026: David Botstein Dies, Slop as Censorship Apparatus
Links for the day
Links 21/03/2026: Metastablecoin Fragmentation and Crescent Moon
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/03/2026: Historic Ada Docs; The Lurking LLM on the SmolNet
Links for the day
HSBC the Latest Failed Bank Using Slop as Excuse for Its Financial Failure
"HSBC is planning on cutting as many as 20,000 jobs in the near future as the company allies with AI revolution."
Invitation to General Assembly After 1,200 EPO Workers Participated in the Demonstration 3 Days Ago
"the strike of 19 March was also very well followed."
A/Prof Susan G Kleinmann, Enkelena Haxhija & Debian-private risk to MIT
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 20, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, March 20, 2026