Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Media is Still Awash With Unitary Patent (UPC) Misinformation

UPC impact



Summary: The UPC as envisioned behind closed doors by patent lawyers and their big clients (applicants from other countries/continents) is wrongly/misleadingly portrayed in the media as a desirable thing which offers "unity" or something along those lines

IT IS not only the EPO's management that's pushing hard for UPC; many patent lawyers do the same, regardless of what the European public thinks about it. The public hardly even knows about it because there's no effort to inform the public. This is why we made it a priority.



"The public hardly even knows about it because there's no effort to inform the public."Proponents of UPC just keep renaming it, making it harder to keep abreast of. Well, how many names has it got now? Half a dozen so far and now there are at least three. Dodging negative publicity? Uncertain about what the heck they're doing behind closed doors? Deficient communication? Too many different languages that basically make the UPC impractical and far-fetched? According to this UPC booster: "Of most interest to the AmeriKat, of course, were Sir Robin's chapters in Part IV on the patent system and, in particular the Unified Patent Court."

Well, AmeriKat works for a company that's looking to profit from the UPC. AmeriKat basically spent years promoting software patents and now bats for the Establishment by spending a lot of her time treating the UPC as though it's inevitable (the same tactics which Clinton proponents use at the moment, misleading those who follow the media). MIP, as of today, speaks to "Alice O’Donkor about her role in creating the Unitary Patent and UPC" (nothing to be proud of, as it's inherently antidemocratic).

To quote the relevant part:

Despite many obstacles along the way, this work culminated in a 2013 agreement between most EU member states to set up a Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court. The agreement ended decades of deadlock since a single EU patent system was first proposed. It is now expected to come into effect early next year.

“We had to be extremely creative to overcome all types of legal and political difficulties and to find solutions to seemingly unsurmountable problems. That is something that was hard at times, but also very enjoyable,” said Fröhlinger.

She also paid tribute to the “enthusiasm and commitment” to a European project at a time when, in many people’s eyes, the EU does not seem to be moving forward.

One lesson she learned, she said, was not to dwell on difficulties: “You should just think of getting things done and that is amazing what you can do if you are not looking for credit – if you are just trying to get things done.”

Since leaving the European Commission, Fröhlinger has been working at the EPO helping to set up the procedures for the Unitary Patent, and assisting the UPC Preparatory Committee. There is still much work to do before it is ready, she says: “The Unitary Patent is ready; we are trying very hard to help to bring the Unified Patent Court to life.”


WIPR, remarking on the UPC at the end of last week, said: "In the autumn of 2016, Germany is expected to pass draft legislation that will allow for the UPC Agreement to be approved, but there are still some hurdles to overcome, say Ulrich Worm and Benjamin Beck of Mayer Brown."

"This whole UPC campaign isn't obeying law or democracy; it's stomping on both and makes complete mockery of the very notion of democracy (the public was never asked about it, doesn't participate in the process and so on)."Asking lawyers in Germany (or Mayer Brown International LLP) about the prospects of UPC is like asking a weapons manufacturer about the prospect of future wars (to which they contribute of course). This whole UPC campaign isn't obeying law or democracy; it's stomping on both and makes complete mockery of the very notion of democracy (the public was never asked about it, doesn't participate in the process and so on). Here in today's British media we see alarmists stating that Brexit would jeoparadise the UPC (even though UPC and EPO are not a EU thing). To quote: "For the European Patent Office (EPO), the body that grants patents, the potential for a Brexit has come at a particularly inconvenient time after several years of efforts to ratify the new unitary patent scheme in Europe.

"The unitary patent is set to be granted by the EPO and will be valid in 26 countries, with a centralised court of enforcement known as the Unified Patent Court (UPC). It was conceived as a way to cut down on the cost, administration and red-tape of filing and enforcing a patent across many European jurisdictions. Under the unitary system, those seeking patent protection in multiple markets can file a single application to the EPO, and if granted, see it have immediate effect across all relevant states and pay a single renewal fee."

"The UPC would be an absolute disaster for Europe, for the benefit of few very rich Europeans and also some very rich foreigners or patent trolls."This description of the UPC is highly misleading. It's almost as though someone from Bristows LLP sent a memo to The Guardian, which did no subsequent fact-checking. The UPC would be an absolute disaster for Europe, for the benefit of few very rich Europeans and also some very rich foreigners or patent trolls. It is disappointing to see the media failing to point this out, instead believing words like "community", "union", "unitary", and "unity" (in reality, further separating the super-rich from everybody else in the economic sense). This also opens the door to software patents in Europe.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Greener Pastures for Free Software Users
This coming week we'll publish many articles about GNU/Linux and technical means of/for user empowerment
Google News, Which We Call Gulag Noise, is Following the New York Times Into the Digital Graveyard
It merely gives an illusion of volume and instead of giving readers more stuff to read it wastes people's time
Over at Tux Machines...
yesterday's posts
Software Freedom is the Future and Microsoft is the Biggest Obstacle
GNU/Linux, at its roots, was all about Software Freedom
 
"Modern" Computing Sucks and Harms Computer Users
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Red Windows
Red Hat is not into Free software
Richard Stallman Giving Talks in the Czech Republic and Germany This Week (Tomorrow's Talk is "Artificial Intelligence vs Language Models")
This past weekend he gave two talks in the Czech Republic
Companies Faking the True Number of Layoffs With Return-to-Office Mandates and Forced Relocation
we estimate that Microsoft cut about 30,000 so far this year, having cut many more jobs last year
Links 03/10/2023: Cellphones (Mobile Phones) Banned in Classrooms in England
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 02, 2023
IRC logs for Monday, October 02, 2023
Daily Bulletins Coming Soon (Hopefully as Early as Next Week)
Today we finish testing IRC logs and their upload to Gemini, not just to IPFS
Links 02/10/2023: NUC, GTK Themes, and More
Links for the day
New Union Syndicale Articles About the European Patent Office
We'll probably get back to regularly writing about the EPO in the near future
If WordPress Knows Well Enough to Self-Host Its Podcast, Why Can't GNU/Linux Shows Do the Same?
For those who want videos and podcasts, here are today's latest additions from other sites
Richard Stallman Can Outlive Many of His Prominent Haters
M.J.G. tried hard to take our Web site offline, based on lies and repeated threats
The GNU/Linux Revolution Ain't Here. Look at Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) Instead.
The revolution won't be televised
Chaffbot Effect: Microsoft Bing Falls to Lowest Share in Two Years (Amid Loads of Bing Layoffs This Year)
Press outlets mostly failed to report that Bing is collapsing
Forget VSCode (Microsoft's Proprietary Spyware), Use KATE Instead
KATE is great
Sometimes It's Time to Reboot
No, not Android. KDE.
GNU/Linux Distributions as "Appliances" and DRM Platforms (the Case of ChromeOS and SteamOS)
Is this what we envisioned in the 1980s and 90s?
Fulfilling the Site's Full Potential
We remain devoted to the aforementioned goal of posting more original material
Over at Tux Machines...
2 days' worth
Upcoming Talk by Dr. Richard Stallman: Large Language Models Are Not Artificial Intelligence
LLMs aren't truly intelligent and cannot quite grasp what they spew out
GulagTube is a Burning Platform (Exit YouTube, Invidious Won't Save Us From Google/Alphabet in the Long Run)
Alphabet Agency (Google) sees the future of video as a "skinnerbox" (running Android) that indoctrinates you like TikTok does
Microsoft's Demise in the Global News Cycle is Rather Telling
It should be noted that Microsoft is, in general, no longer prominent or dominant in news headlines
Gemini Migration and Backup Capsule (Archive)
At the end we'll end up with something a lot better than before and latency should be massively reduced
Links 01/10/2023: Science, Education, and pro-Russia Slovakia Leadership
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 01, 2023
IRC logs for Sunday, October 01, 2023
Links 01/10/2023: Climate, Patents, Programming, and More
Links for the day
Apple and Microsoft Problems
half a dozen links
Malware in the Ubuntu Snap Store, Thanks to Canonical Bloatware Mindset
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Gemini Rising
There are 3523 capsules
Richard Stallman Gave a Talk Yesterday, Will Give Another Talk Today, and Will Give Two More Talks in Germany Later This Week
Those cover at least 2 different topics
Beware the Microsoft Sharks
We won't forgive and forget
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 30, 2023
IRC logs for Saturday, September 30, 2023
Don't be Afraid of the Command Line, It Might Even be a Friend
There's a tendency to think that only graphical interfaces were made to simplify usage, and any declarative interface is by design raw, inherently unfit for usage
One Positive Note About GNU/Linux Coverage in 2023 (Less Microsoft)
GNU/Linux users do not want this, with very rare exceptions
Snaps Were Never Good at Security, But the Media Coverage is Just Appalling
The media should focus on culling Windows, not making a huge fuss over minor things wrongly attributed to "Linux"