Extortionists on stage

Reference (EFF article): The Times Profiles a Patent Troll

Summary: The thugs who run the European Patent Office invite other thugs to speak at their events, reaffirming the perpetuation of thuggery and service to patent trolls from the United States

THE STAFF UNION of the European Patent Office, SUEPO, is not saying much. It's just linking to a few reports here and there, occasionally producing word-by-word translations of these. Three days have passed and SUEPO never reinstated what it wrote about USF, so it was quite likely censored by threats (nastygram from Bergot yet again? Her name was rubbed off by USF).

Meanwhile, the EPO management persists in union-busting (some say it's worse or more effective than before), followed by systematic gagging of all staff representatives, not just SUEPO. It means that EPO staff lost its voice. It's almost mute.

"...software patents in Europe are on the rise; they're just described or categorised using hype waves and buzzwords."This is a perfect opportunity for this corrupt management to further lower patent quality and fake 'production' figures, then give itself bonuses for the 'accomplishment'. As we've been stressing many times in recent months, software patents in Europe are on the rise; they're just described or categorised using hype waves and buzzwords.

Aaron Gin, Michael Krasniansky and Alexandra MacKenzie have just published this article about software patents disguised as "AI". Their opening paragraph says: "The field of artificial intelligence has progressed rapidly over the last few decades, resulting in billions of people using AI of some form or another in their daily lives."

The article speaks of "Patenting Trends For Artificial Intelligence," but "AI" nowadays gets (mis)used (more often than not) as synonym for "computer", "algorithm", or "program" (which nowadays has its own synonym, "app"). As long as it's "smart" -- another widely-misused term that refers to constant monitoring of users.

"The EPO has created many loopholes -- more so recently -- for software patents (and told its examiners they must swallow these buzzwords and grant... or else!)."As someone put it yesterday: "Does it mean I can now easily patent anything if I append "… using AI" after it? Just joking, remembering "… with computer" or "… over Internet" craze few years back (with fallout still felt)."

The EPO has created many loopholes -- more so recently -- for software patents (and told its examiners they must swallow these buzzwords and grant... or else!).

With a hiring freeze in effect (lowing staffing numbers), the EPO already sent the signal that those who don't 'perform' will be sacked. That's one heck of a motivator right there.

Yesterday too, as usual, the EPO advocated lots of computer vision patents i.e. bogus software patents, "on a car".

"In 2017 alone," it wrote, "almost 4 000 patent applications for self-driving vehicles were filed at the EPO." It also linked to the blog of António Campinos, summarising as follows: "New on the EPO President's blog: Patent information: past, present and future..."

"With a hiring freeze in effect (lowing staffing numbers), the EPO already sent the signal that those who don't 'perform' will be sacked."The EPO then retweeted a patent maximalist, Anthony Trippe from the US. We suppose they put the interests of the litigation 'industry' from another continent ahead of 1) Europe and 2) science.

"So fabulous to see one of the influential people in #patents talking about the importance of patent #data and #machinelearning," he wrote, linking to yesterday's blog post.(warning: epo.org link)

It's similar to the press release they issued. One paragraph before the last paragraph and signature the President of the EPO promoted illicit patents on software using all the familiar hype waves and buzzwords:

The other element of managing patent information – investigating new technologies – is already well underway. A lot of you know that we’re serious about harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence, based on a full understanding of the impact of the technologies. That was helped by a major conference on AI earlier this year but now we turn our attention to another subject that could impact upon patent information: Blockchain. In theory this new way to record ownership and other elements of information may have ramifications for patent data but exactly how it will impact this field, and how much, is still unclear. It’s the kind of issue we want to investigate further with your help. So I hope many of you will consider attending our conference on 4 December to discuss how Blockchain could affect various parts of the whole patent landscape.

Shortly afterward the EPO wrote about "Patenting Blockchain" (warning: epo.org link): "Marieke Flament from Circle, Benoît Abeloos from DG CONNECT - @EU_Commission, Jon Wright from @SterneKessler & Erich Spangenberg from @ipwe_ will discuss the possible future impact of blockchain at our event in The Hague: http://bit.ly/EPOblockchain18 pic.twitter.com/shNp3B8dk1"

"Nothing has changed under Campinos; he's still union-busting and gagging staff representatives, using the likes of Bergot for indirection (to make himself look "clean" and "friendly")."I am disgusted but not shocked that the EPO now entertains the highly notorious patent troll Erich Spangenberg, who sends me death wishes. New low for EPO and for Europe in an event that promotes software patents (likely illegal).

The EPO isn't just run by thugs; it's also proudly inviting them. Nothing has changed under Campinos; he's still union-busting and gagging staff representatives, using the likes of Bergot for indirection (to make himself look "clean" and "friendly"). Surely the staff can recognise this by now? ⬆