I have personally done a lot to help EPO staff in the face of serious abuses against them. Now that Europeans (citizens and businesses) are under threat from the UPC we hope that EPO staff will help crush the UPC and restore the old order of things, prior to Battistelli's ruinous arrival. Technically speaking, the UPC is not revived; it's still hanging there by Battistelli's side, next to his grave that he keeps digging. Europe will probably need to get rid of both. They already made false predictions about the UPC in the past and here they go again. "I doubt whether it is legal or not," one EPO insider wrote. "Future Investigations will confirm this."
“There is no legal basis at the time to ratify the UPC treaty.”
--EPO insiderManaging IP didn't take too kindly this remark from Benjamin Henrion who wrote: "Unitary Patent needs to die, it is an undemocratic court system controlled by the patent mafia, not parliaments..."
He responded to this early prediction/rumour which said: "Former MP & Europe minister predicts UK will pull out of #UPC & #UnitaryPatent in announcement tomorrow https://twitter.com/DenisMacShane/status/802805432528019456 …"
That's what should have happened, but it didn't. Maybe infighting over this? We need leaks about what these politicians did and why.
The term "patent mafia" just led to a joke, not a serious response: "If only there were, like, a handshake or something"
“Unitary Patent needs to die, it is an undemocratic court system controlled by the patent mafia, not parliaments...”
--Benjamin Henrion (FFII)Responding to Managing IP, the anonymous EPO person wrote: "To not be able to identify them, one must be
a) totally unfamiliar with UPC, EPO or the like
b) naïf
c) blind"
Or d) nepotism-driven/corrupt.
The matter of fact is, the term "patent mafia" is more or less equivalent to what we habitually call "Team UPC". They're like a collusion of patent firms, together with large clients and the EPO, scheming to change the law in their favour under everyone's nose and usually behind the scenes or behind closed doors (with very high entrance fees and no speaking opportunity). They're hijacking the system.
“UK companies won't be able to freely trade in the EU post Brexit and EU Patent Trolls can extort UK companies... bad deal”
--AnonymousRegarding the UPC bubble, we're sorry to shatter or disrupt the echo chamber, but the selfies or photo ops of Lucy with Benoît don't help. Very fishy all around. We really want to know the reason UK-IPO et al decided to suck up to Battistelli and we welcome leaks on the subject. We never compromised a source and we need to understand what happened behind the scenes here (documents or correspondence).
What UPC means for Brits who are not parasitic lawyers is hardly mentioned at all (anywhere!) and as one person put it, "UK companies won't be able to freely trade in the EU post Brexit and EU Patent Trolls can extort UK companies... bad deal" (horrible even).
Businesses in Britain have nothing to gain from it, but some trade association which claims to "represent the future" says it "welcomes Government's #UPC confirmation but says now UK will join it must stay in" (prior to it it just said that "The Government have confirmed it plans to ratify #UPC Agreement in the coming months. See more here"). Well, it can't be both, can it? For the UK to leave rather than stay in Europe it will have to reject the UPC. ⬆