Bonum Certa Men Certa

Even EPO Patent 'Justice' is Now Measured in Industrial Terms Like 'Production' Rather Than Accuracy

Strip on too many software patents in Europe



Summary: Europe is being flooded with loads of invalid (as per the EPC) patents that are enshrined as European Patents while judges are unable to stop that (there's a risk to their job if they dare try)

THE concept of justice ceased to exist at the European Patent Office (EPO), both inwards and outwards, i.e. towards employees and the public/stakeholders. Criminals who loot the Office are not being held accountable and innocent, law-abiding staff which insists on basic rights being respected gets punished -- or worse -- led to illness, sometimes suicide.



"If justice at the EPO wasn't already sufficiently destroyed, with annual reports from judges bemoaning (out in the open) their loss of independence, now comes another report."Remember what Battistelli has done even to judges. There was collective punishment (for all colleagues) and António Campinos has not brought them back to Munich after they were illegally sent to exile. This confirmed many people's fears that Campinos would cover up for his 'master', who had rigged the process to secure this job for him (a fellow Frenchman and old friend).

If justice at the EPO wasn't already sufficiently destroyed, with annual reports from judges bemoaning (out in the open) their loss of independence, now comes another report. "The 2018 Annual Report of the Boards of Appeal is out. Have a look here," the EPO wrote some hours ago, linking to an annual report page (warning: epo.org link). It has been mentioned by WIPR (and cited by us in passing as recently as this morning) before the EPO announced it, which makes one wonder if the EPO's PR people coordinated a puff piece with WIPR (whose staff told us there's a degree of coordination between the two). To quote the EPO:

The Annual report of the Boards of Appeal provides detailed statistics on proceedings before the Boards. It also describes general developments in the Boards during the preceding year.


These statistics don't tell the full story. It's not the full picture. They're quantitative rather than qualitative. They also overlook factors such as judges' fear of reprisal/retribution (if they rule the 'wrong' way, where wrong refers to the Office management's preferences). How many bogus software patents are being accepted?

The EPO has just used two meaningless buzzwords for illegal software patents being granted in Europe (two in one tweet even!). To quote today's tweet: "Experience the EPO first-hand by joining our next study visit. The focus will be on AI, the 4th industrial revolution and #patents ..."

No more "CII"? How about "ICT"? "This one made my day," Benjamin Henrion wrote this morning. "When you don't like something, just rebrand it! Just like Trump proposed to rebrand the Boeing MAX737 with another name. Forbidden software patents being rebranded as AI, 4th industrial revolution, and others."

Can the Board throw out all this "AI" nonsense? It's the kind of rubbish SUEPO was alluding to some weeks back.

Regarding the above report, IPPro Magazine's Barney Dixon and Ben Wodecki (the former speaks with staff, the latter usually just repeats PR from EPO management) have just published this article with a positive headline (as usual, especially for Wodecki). But also as usual, the key bits are further down at the bottom (probably added by Mr. Dixon, based on his source/s). To quote:

The report states that a total of 3,032 technical appeals were received in 2018, an 8.4 percent increase on the previous year. In 2018 2,733 technical appeal cases were settled, a 19.7 percent increase compared with the same period in 2017.

[...]

Timings of examinations are of increasing concern to EPO users, with a majority of users requesting greater flexibility in the timing of examination.

The EPO has faced criticism in recent years over its approach to tackling its backlog. Some of these measures have been linked to an increase in production targets for staff and a drop in overall patent quality.

The EPO has faced both protests and petitions against the perceived quality drop.

[...]

The Boards of Appeal is also undertaking a “comprehensive” revision of its rules. The report states that the aims of these revisions are intended to increase efficiency by reducing the number of issues to be treated, predictability for the parties, and harmonisation.

The revised rules won’t enter into force until 2020, but the report highlights that active case management by the boards will be a central element to the changes.

[...]

A source close to the Staff Union of the EPO said that the Boards of Appeal have already increased their productivity by 18 percent since 2017 and that production/productivity figures are now the “predominant criterion for evaluation” in the Boards of Appeal.


That says nothing about accuracy and quality. One could just assign decisions to a computer and reach decisions within milliseconds, based on so-called 'AI' (which doesn't guarantee anything).

When they're "increas[ing] their productivity by 18 percent" (read: cutting corners) it doesn't mean improved justice, only rushed 'justice'; the same issue that affects examination. You can never deliver a baby in 4.5 months by using two ladies in tandem. Proper work takes time and research, sometimes a lot of effort and contemplation.

Suffice to say, there's an effort by the EPO to introduce ludicrous courts where judges can be thrown out (limited tenures) and might not even speak the language of defendants! The EPO and the patent zealots thought of altogether replacing or deprecating these boards (even before they lost their independence) and earlier today UDL Intellectual [sic] Property's [sic] Garry Stuttard was trying to resurrect this zombie. The boards are under attack from many directions; that being the case, no justice can be assured in the EPO, only illusion thereof. It's a monarchic system of patents where patent maximalism is "God". God bless "productivity" and "efficiency" (i.e. the granting of as many patents as possible, as fast as possible!).

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Un-cancelled the Best People, Just in Time for the Big 4-0
Mr. Oliva should have been there all along (since 2019)
Most "Modern" Technology Makes You Slower and Dumber
Because proprietary software makes you worse off
"What Comes After Free Software?" Wrongly Insinuates We've Reached the Goal (Prison is Not the Goal)
The oil tycoons use similar tactics against environmentalists, giving them fake "wins"
Making More Work Space
I learned the hard way that less is more in circumstances where more means distraction
MAHA is a Lie, Public Officials Never Valued Citizens' Health (They Still Value Private Businesses, Their Sponsors)
Reject demagogues
New Techrights Turns 2
Today starts the third year of the SSG-based Techrights
What Scares Them the Most is Independent News Sites That They Cannot Control and Censor
Wikileaks was a good example of this
If You Don't Control Your Online Platform, Then Someone Else is Controlling You
be (or become) independent
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
 
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part II - UK SLAPPs for Americans, SLAPPs for Profit
Brett Wilson LLP has a track record of this kind
Mayday: Optus emergency calling crisis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/09/2025: Massive Data Breach, Slop Versus Productivity, and Vista 11 Update Breaks Things Again
Links for the day
Code of Censorship
Extortion is peace
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Press Kit for the Weekend After Next Weekend (40th Anniversary)
miles better than social [sic] media [sic] quips, moderated by narcissists and oil tycoons.
Microsoft Had Two Waves of Mass Layoffs This Month (That We Know of) and It'll Get Worse for Microsoft Soon
Will the axe fall again by month's end?
Gemini Links 23/09/2025: Happy Equinox, Photronic Arts, and Perception Cognition
Links for the day
Lessons We've Learned After 17 Years of American Hosting
GAFAM is "all-in" with the "Trump agenda"
Back to Normal Now, We Plan to Do More In-Depth Series (or Multi-part Stories)
Articles (or series thereof) that contain philosophy are important to us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 22, 2025
Microsoft Media is Panicking Amid Mass Layoffs Every Month, H-1B Fees, and "Seattle’s Tech Scene in Trouble"
In "late stage Microsoft", copyleft becomes proprietary
The Next Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs Being Discussed Already
Red Hat is sort of disappearing the way Tivoli did
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025