Lying has become a norm

Summary: Team UPC has grown louder with its lobbying efforts this past week; the same lies are being repeated without much of a challenge and press ownership plays a role in that

EARLIER this week we warned about two lies about UPC -- lies that we see perpetuated almost daily by Team UPC and sometimes the EPO as well. Amid expectations of layoffs the Office is looking for a replacement.

The UPC won't start in a matter of months; this is a blatant lie from corrupt Battistelli and Team UPC, which has a lot of money at stake. They need this lie repeated ad infinitum in order to make sales (telling customers to pursue their 'unitary' offerings). As for Battistelli, if all his abuses were in vain (resulting in 8 years of immeasurable damage, corruption and unprecedented abuses), how would he be remembered?

"The UPC won't start in a matter of months; this is a blatant lie from corrupt Battistelli and Team UPC, which has a lot of money at stake."We'd like to draw attention to the latest lies and respond to these very quick. Well, marked as "(press release) (blog)" in Google News yesterday was this utter garbage titled "Patent Translation in Europe: How to Deal with IP Protection" (they mean patents, not "IP"). Rae Steinbach is trying to tell the German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) what to do. And what for? To basically harm the whole of Europe for the interests of some patent law firms (like his). Great example of the arrogance and greed of Team UPC? Still willing to lie and break laws, constitutions etc. to make a buck/euro?

from the 'article' (flagged by Google as "press release" and "blog"):

The European Unitary Patent package also aims to address these complications and make the system easier for businesses and individuals to navigate. As a result, the organization is looking to reduce the costs associated with patent and other IP related applications.

It is expected that the Unitary Patent package will come into effect in 2019...

[...]

As the largest EU economy, it is essential that Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court decides in favour of ratifying the Unitary Patent System. Doing so will make it an attractive alternative to individual EU state’s patents for persons and businesses wishing to obtain legal protection for intellectual property, inventions, and innovations across Europe.

Notice the above claims; these fit perfectly the pattern of lies we've been speaking about. They write these lies and then pay sites to carry these lies (so that Google News perpetuates their lies). And they don't just embed themselves in the media as sometimes they literally own it. Here's an example from yesterday, stating upfront, in Out-Law.com, that "Dublin-based Ann Henry of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com," is lobbying for the UPC using the media -- its very own media -- spreading lies in its financial interests again. Here are the relevant passages, pressing the Irish authorities to embrace something there was no referendum on in Ireland (this was indefinitely delayed):

Dublin-based Ann Henry of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said a new report published by the Irish government highlighted the range of concerns pharma-chemical businesses in Ireland have about the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

[...]

"Clients in the sector are particularly concerned about divergence in technical specifications and products standards making product authorisation potentially more costly and protracted," Henry said. "In addition, Brexit throws up a raft of intellectual property law related issues such as customs watch notices and the future of the unitary patent and the Unified Patent Court. These are all concerns for the sector, as is the logistics and supply chain disruption Brexit creates for pharmaceutical and chemical businesses in circumstances where the UK has been effectively Ireland's 'bridge' to continental Europe."

So under the guise of "news" what we have here is a law firm pushing its own interests, demonstrating issues of media control.

"Marks & Clerk has been one of the loudest UPC lobbyists out there, outdone only by Bristows, at least in the UK."Another new example from yesterday (albeit unrelated to the UPC) came from Physics World, which acts as a megaphone for lawyers rather than actual physicists. Latest example of patent marketing disguised as advice? We wrote about this phenomenon only a few days ago and we've gotten some feedback since, e.g. from people who said they had experienced the same thing (lawyers looking to exploit them like that). From the so-called 'article' (summary): "Every company wants to attract investors and deter competitors. Patent attorney David Robinson explains how a good intellectual property strategy has helped biomedical physics firm Bioxydyn do just that" (the bottom says "David Robinson is a partner and patent attorney at Marks & Clerk in Manchester, UK").

What we have here are proponents of software patents and UPC not far from where I live. Marks & Clerk has been one of the loudest UPC lobbyists out there, outdone only by Bristows, at least in the UK.

Hours ago we saw "Karl Barnfather chairman of IP firm Withers & Rogers" pretending that patents and innovation are the same thing. He just cited EPO data:

New figures suggest innovation in the UK has increased, but we are lagging behind other parts of Europe and Brexit could yet turn the clock back writes Karl Barnfather chairman of IP firm Withers & Rogers

A site called The Engineer is now being composed by patent lawyers. Great!

"How many articles have been written over the past 3 years saying that the UPC was about to start? They were all wrong."And if that's not bad enough, across the Atlantic we have Watchtroll advertising software patents of SafeBreach under the guise of "investment" news. This vaguely-titled spam/ad in ‘article’ form (for DLA Piper) is also noteworthy.

The media, at least as far as patent matters are concerned, is a joke. It's mostly marketing if not spam from law firms. A lot of it is also lobbying disguised as news. We have been writing about this problem for many years. Bemoaning it may not accomplish much, but at least we hope that readers are made aware. How many articles have been written over the past 3 years saying that the UPC was about to start? They were all wrong. ⬆