Bonum Certa Men Certa

Raising Barriers to UPC Cancellation and Withdrawal

Self-fulfilling prophecies (or fantasies) and promises of jobs

Trojan horse
The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is an enemy of Europe and a friend of patent lawyers



Summary: The Unified Patent Court, the latest name of an old (repeatedly rejected) Trojan horse, legitimised or imposed upon Europe by promising to hire people (calling for job applications) before there is any approval at all for the scheme

THE EPO's shameless promotion of the UPC aside, some months ago we complained about a microcosm of lawyers (especially in the UK) working to create UPC venues before it's even authorised. They try to elevate exit barriers, putting the carriage before the horses basically.



Bristows with its relentless UPC advocacy is at again in three different platforms [1, 2, 3], not just its own. This whole debate might prove to be irrelevant after British/EU referendum (Brexit) which can bin the whole thing, but the UPC 'conspiracy' is recruiting for something which does not even exist yet and was not authorised! (or ratified)

These people make a joke and a mockery of democracy. They decided they know what's good for Europe (actually, for themselves) and they try to ram this Trojan horse through the gates of the EU authorities without any public debate whatsoever. They also pretend to speak on behalf of SMEs, in effect stealing their voices to misrepresent them and advance the agenda of large corporations (often not European at all). "Applications must be submitted by 4 July 2016," says the announcement. These are job applications. But wait, there's not even a UPC yet! There's no approval at all and already they pretend they can recruit people? What a charade!

Bristows LLP (or "Bristows UPC" as it calls itself for marketing purposes in its blog) doesn't care about the rule of law and tries to bypass democracy along with other law firms. We need to tell them to stop this. Not only Bristows is doing this, but it's Bristows that keeps promoting it more than any other firm, both in its blog and in IP Kat. Yesterday's IP Kat roundup said: “Merpel spots an important letter from the President of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). The letter encourages the UPC Preparatory Committee to take its time to ensure that the UPC Code of Conduct is "fully fit for purpose". Merpel hopes that the issues raised are dealt with before UPC opens its doors.”

But again, why are they talking about the UPC as though it's already here and definitely unstoppable? We were told the same thing about ACTA, the TPP, TTIP and so on. Right here is an infamous symptom of the rogue elements in EU bureaucracy, where people exploit unity and transition to interject their self-serving agenda without public consultation in even a single member state.

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