THE world is coming to grips with the fact that the UPC may, in fact, be dead. Or at least dying. This isn't surprising to us; nor is the fact that the EPO's management, a chronic liar, keeps pretending that the UPC is alive and well. Night is bright and day is dark to these people...

"They talk of it as though it's "coming soon"; anyone sane knows that it's not at all the case, but the EPO's management carries on promoting UPC (and UPC-related services) which even some UPC proponents now accept isn't going to happen."Watch what the French media is saying; watch what the EPO wrote yesterday: "Unitary patent & Unified Patent Court – what do patent searchers need to know? We'll discuss this at #EPOPIC"

They talk of it as though it's "coming soon"; anyone sane knows that it's not at all the case, but the EPO's management carries on promoting UPC (and UPC-related services) which even some UPC proponents now accept isn't going to happen. We'll say more about it in a moment.

Watch what Watchtroll wrote yesterday: "EPO ready for the first Unitary Patent as soon as the ratification requirements are met"

"We sat down for an on-the-record interview in advance of the EPO's two-day seminar," the article said and a UPC sceptic (Francisco Moreno) referred to it sarcastically: "The UP [Unitary Patent] won't come this evening but surely tomorrow. #WaitingForGodot"

"They have been doing this for nearly half a decade. They're always "nearly there" (but not quite)."Yeah... "real soon now!"

They have been doing this for nearly half a decade. They're always "nearly there" (but not quite). It's a marketing strategy and it makes many politicians defeatist to the point of just sighing and then signing. That same UPC sceptic later highlighted from this Grant Philpott 'interview' with Watchtroll the bit where it speaks about the criteria on patents. "What ensures quality? According to Philpott (EPO): "procedurally correct and consistent decisions based on clear, established..."

Clearly full of it. They cannot attain patent quality like that. And insiders tell us so; it just doesn't work!

Only a couple days after that EPO puff piece (software patents promotion) Watchtroll also began spreading UPC 'fake news', namely the illusion that UPC is about to start.

Generally speaking, seeing Watchtroll and Team Battistelli liaising like that says everything one needs to know about what became of the EPO under Battistelli. From a reputable office it became an ally of radicals. Vile, lying, manipulative, bullies. That's what the EPO stands for today.

In the next post we'll focus on actual barriers to the UPC and realisation of these (acknowledgment, acceptance) even within the patent microcosm. ⬆