THE EPO (where O"" stands for Office, not Organisation) can no longer pretend that just a bunch of people, or "Mafia", are behind the current problems. The Administrative Council makes such narratives increasingly out-of-touch.

“...the President€´s continued denying in the Managing IP interview sounds absolutely pathetic.”
      --AnonymousThe Council's statement, which was echoed here as well as the softball (questions) interview of MIP and Battistelli, makes the point which we were tempted and eager to make at the time (yesterday afternoon). Someone at IP Kat has just said it: "After the AC itself has come to publicly acknowledge "a situation detrimental to the proper functioning of the Office and the public image of the whole Organisation" (see its recent Communiqué), the President€´s continued denying in the Managing IP interview sounds absolutely pathetic.

"Clearly James Nurton, the interviewer, got remarkably well informed of the situation at the EPO, and some of his apparently innocent questions are just as many hits (e.g. "Can you do things better or are you resolutely sticking to the path you are on?")"

In that same previous post we noted that the UPC was high on the agenda at the EPO and paid-for propaganda was being used to promote it. We now take note of this article posted at the end of Tuesday in a British site for lawyers. It's mostly parroting the EPO by saying that "EPO president Benoît Battistelli said that the establishment of the framework means "the preparations for the unitary patent are complete"."

"It remains clear that there is an unclear future for the UPC in the UK even if the UPC ever becomes a reality (which is an uncertainty as well)."However, it ends with this cautious note: "In an article for Out-Law.com last month, Bentley explained in more detail the potential implications for businesses of the new unitary patent and UPC regime and how the UK's potential exit from the EU could impact on both the timescale for, and operational aspects of, the new framework."

It remains clear that there is an unclear future for the UPC in the UK even if the UPC ever becomes a reality (which is an uncertainty as well). It's a very crude display of undemocratic takeover by powerful interests, whose only defense is that the end justifies the means and there is some kind of "greater good" (like invading Iraq). ⬆