Bonum Certa Men Certa

Unified Patent Court Won't Happen Just Because the Litigation Microcosm Wants It

UPC boat sinks



Summary: Unified Patent Court (UPC) hopefuls are quote-mining and cherry-picking to manufacture the false impression that the UPC is just around the corner when in reality the UPC is pretty much dead (but not buried yet)

THERE are some topics that refuse to go away; Rather than focus on EPO abuses and USPTO reforms we're often dragged back to the UPC, which died about 2 years ago (summer of 2017). António Campinos never mentions it anymore. The EPO very rarely uses that acronym (or even speaks of "unitary" anything) because deep inside they know it's doomed. The litigation 'industry' hoped it would usher in a plaintiff-friendly system that bypasses national laws, encompassing raids, embargoes and even software patents in Europe (those are typically rejected by European courts, as per national laws). Even the United States, the 'home of software patents', barely tolerates such patents anymore (courts almost always cite 35 U.S.C. €§ 101 after defendants leverage it).



Let's be frank. We never liked the UPC, even when it was called "EU" or "Community" (way before "unified" and "unitary"). One need not be against the EU or against communities or against unity to openly oppose the UPC. I'm personally very pro-EU (it's no secret), but at the same time I'm strongly against the UPC, which is inherently an EU project. Similarly, myself and many others oppose the Copyright Directive not because we oppose the EU but because it serves to discredit the EU.

As usual, as with most things (like copyright law), someone stands to benefit from changes. Law firms, especially those that have many litigators (offensive), want as many lawsuits as possible. That's understandable. Right now there are arms manufacturers drooling (maybe even literally) over wars in Iran and in Venezuela.

Just before the weekend JUVE's editor (M.K.) spoke of a new puff piece from their English site. Recall "JUVE Creates English Site, Promotes Unified Patent Court (UPC)" (01.20.19). It's a puff piece in "interview" form -- similar to those Kluwer Patent Blog used to issue aplenty with Team UPC minions. This one is pro-FRAND, pro-UPC and all those usual things patent trolls absolutely adore.

As I put it last night, "JUVE continues to lobby for UPC on behalf of its subscribers base. They want lots of litigation with patents. A selective quote as a headline in JUVE shows the sheer bias of the site. It's not news, it's lobbying thinly disguised as 'news', as usual from Amy Sandys, amplifier of Team UPC liars." (alluding to her previous work in that site)

"JUVE Patent interviews UK Supreme Court judge, David Kitchin," the editor said. "We cover FRAND, injunctions, and why Kitchin thinks the UPC project is still likely."

Those three things are connected because they're weapons of patent aggressors and trolls -- those who stand to benefit most from the UPC, along with their legal representatives.

"This one is pro-FRAND, pro-UPC and all those usual things patent trolls absolutely adore."The headline says, in quotes, “The UPC has the support of UK judges,” but here what he actually said:

Do you still believe in the UPC?

The UK is fully committed to the UPC. The government believes that the UPC and Unitary Patent project are an important way to simplify the protection of innovative products and processes across the Union. It has the support of the UK judges in this field too.


He was talking for jurists, not Brits in general. British businesses are not "fully committed to the UPC" and many speak out against it. Funny how he then speaks for the government too (he knows its beliefs, maybe alluding to IPO's actually) and then speaks for all judges. Kitchin is one of several judges in the UK Supreme Court; so his words are akin to those of one single player in a football team, alleging to be speaking for the FA, for his team, and maybe for a whole city/country. We saw something similar in a Bristows post at IP Kat earlier this month (one German judge).

Suffice to say, Team UPC is all jubilant about this interview and is citing it, e.g. in Twitter; the article speaks of mere will (of one person), no actual news, no progress.

And whose will? Obviously, those looking to profit from it, those who share corridors at events that are echo chambers. This judge's argument boils down to, "I want it, so it'll happen" -- how so typical of UPC boosters. What about other judges? They weren't even asked for their views on this. Maybe ask the Boards at the EPO about it, only to realise that virtually all judges there oppose the UPC (it makes them redundant and obsolete).

Facts and desires are often mutually-contradicting; such is the case when it comes to almost every article about the UPC. Just look who's writing these articles! Law firms, directly or by proxy. Nobody else gets given a voice or a platform whilst apathy (or misunderstanding of the underlying issues) gets exploited by Team UPC. This morning we saw this new press release from a very large American law firm. To quote from it:

Pegram is a leading expert on patent reform and the EU Unitary Patent & Unified Patent Court. He served as a staff member and then editor-in-chief of The Trademark Reporter, where he worked with members of the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board to establish the basis for the Board's Manual of Procedure. After the Copyright Law was rewritten in 1976, he advised the president of the Special Libraries Association and clients regarding compliance with the copying and fair use provisions.


So he keeps changing occupations, including a media career. A lot of people who cover patents in the media even admit to me (as recently as a week ago) that they write for lawyers. What kind of journalism is that? Admission of bias upfront?

Earlier today we saw this new article from Alex Woolgar. Can one 'borrow' foreign patent law to sue a company in its own country using these 'imported' laws? That's what UPC strives to achieve, but here's what happens in practice (here in the UK):

Another judgment, another instance of the English court seizing jurisdiction in a patent dispute. In Ablynx NV and Anor v VHsquared Limited and Ors [2019] EWHC 792 (Pat), His Honour Justice Hacon (sitting as a High Court judge) has provided a useful judgment concerning the application of the Brussels Regulation to patent disputes where there is also a purported choice of jurisdiction by contract. Even in circumstances where the parties have made such a choice, a forum shopping defendant might well find the shelves to be bare.

Ablynx is the exclusive sub-licensee of certain fields of use for three patents (now expired) protecting an invention relating to immunoglobulins derived from camelid antibodies [“camelid” refers to several even-toed ungulates, not just camels, so we can leave puns involving humps and deserts at the door, please]. Broadly speaking, the Defendants were licensees in relation to other fields of use. The Defendants are alleged to have infringed the UK designations of the patents during their term by encroaching on Ablynx’s field of use. This allegedly provided an illegitimate springboard for work completed following the expiry of the patents. There is ongoing litigation relating to the same subject matter in the Netherlands and Belgium, and there was earlier litigation in the Netherlands.

[...]

Therefore, the question of jurisdiction turned simply on the meaning of “concerned with...the validity of patents”.


Different countries have different patent laws; this may actually be a feature rather than a fault/defect because different nations have different specialty and so their patent priorities/strategies should vary; a country that exports a lot of fruit, for example, might rightly oppose patents on seeds, plants and all that malarkey. The UPC mindset wants to blur everything for the sole purpose of expanding the scope of litigation (geographically) and scope of patents (bypassing national laws). It's not hard to see to whose advantage.

Recent Techrights' Posts

EPO Cocainegate: Feedback and Clarifications
Part III will come out soon
Links 29/10/2025: "US Military Is Destroying the Planet Beyond Imagination" and Boat Strikes Deemed Unlawful
Links for the day
Quality Comes First (Techrights Search)
It's generally working already, but we wish to polish it some more
Techrights Party Countdown
Late next week we'll be holding a party near our home
European Parliament and Council Directive on Privacy is Vanishing
"edited / censored some time more recently"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 28, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Slopwatch: The March of Slopfarms, From UbuntuPIT to Linux Journal and to Various Fake Sites Still Promoted by Google News
It's so worrying to see what the Web has become
Links 29/10/2025: CISA, Ukraine, and Amazon Problems
Links for the day
[Teaser] The EPO's Spokesperson, a Cocaine User, Fancies Young Women
How's that for "optics" in the EU and Europe's second-largest institution?
How Will António Campinos Respond to the EPO's 'Cocainegate'?
That's the same thing we saw and still see when the press deals with enablers and partners of Jeffrey Epstein
Join Us Now and Share the News - Part IV: There Cannot be Free Software Without Free Press and Free Information
One day, one can hope, more people will recognise that for Software Freedom we need free press and free thinkers
Join Us Now and Share the News - Part III: Principled Stance Is Never Cheap
Protecting the truth and insisting that the general public is made aware of things that really happened isn't cheap
Join Us Now and Share the News - Part II: Because Scarcity of Accurate Information Breeds Collective Ignorance
we too will strive to share information that's aggressively suppressed
Gemini Links 28/10/2025: More New Arrivals at Geminispace, xkcd on "Document Forgery"
Links for the day
Join Us Now and Share the News - Part I: Defence of the Truth
This year we make a very strong, firm statement for truth, even if that means explaining our work to the top media judge in the country
Links 28/10/2025: Meta and Fentanylware (CheeTok) Age-Restricted Down Under, "Britain Needs China’s Money"
Links for the day
Links 28/10/2025: Mass Layoffs at Amazon and Charter to Cut 1,200 Jobs
Links for the day
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part II: The Person Who Planted Paid-for Fake News for the European Patent Office (EPO) is a Cocaine User, Friend of António Campinos, Now on Record as Having Been Arrested
Background: High-level manager at the European Patent Office caught in public with cocaine, arrested
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 27, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 27, 2025
Google News Drowning in Slop (and Slopfarms That Hijack About Half the Results)
Google News seems to be drowning in this stuff
Gemini Links 28/10/2025: "How to Maximize Your Positive Impact" and ASCII Art and Artist Attribution
Links for the day
PETA and Activism
Being staff or volunteer in PETA isn't easy
Big Blue, Huge Debt
debt will soar again
Links 27/10/2025: Mass Surveillance Sold as "AI", People Reluctant to Lose Physical Media
Links for the day
Parties and Milestones Again
we've begun putting up about 40 balloons
Techrights' 19th Anniversary: Bronze
Time to go back to preparing for this anniversary
Our Latest European Patent Office (EPO) Series Will Last Several Weeks, Will Ask the EPO Management and the European Union (EU) Very Difficult Questions
If nobody loses a job (or jobs) over this, then the EU basically became no better than Colombia or Nicaragua
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, Brian Fagioli, and Google News
We focus on stories that are fake or LLM slop that disguises itself as "news" about Linux
Links 27/10/2025: Wikipedia Vandalism, Bruce Perens Opens up on Childhood
Links for the day
This Site Could Not be Done by LLMs Even If It Wanted to (Because It's Not a Parrot of What Other Sites Say)
LLMs have no knowledge or deep understanding
Microsoft is Disloyal Towards Its Most Loyal Employees
Against its most faithful enablers
19 Years, No Censorship
No factual information is ever going to be removed, more so if it is in the public interest
We Are Not a Conventional Site, That's Why They Hate (or Love) Us
Throughout the week this week we'll be focusing on the EPO
Following the Line of Cocaine All the Way to the Top
Even a million denials and spin-doctoring won't distract from the core issue
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part I: António Campinos Brought Corruption and Nepotism to the EPO, Then Came the Cocaine
High-level manager at the European Patent Office (EPO) caught in public with cocaine, the Office has some answering to do
Purchasing/Possessing Computers Isn't the Same as Controlling Computers
Let's strive to put computers back under the control of their users, no matter who purchased these (usually the users)
Gemini Links 27/10/2025: Alhena 5.4.3 and Fixing Bash
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 26, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 26, 2025
Thankfully We've Made Copies of More Interesting Data From statCounter
If statCounter (the Web site or the 'webapp') vanished overnight, we'd still have something left of it
More Silent Layoffs at IBM/Red Hat
when the media counts such layoffs or presents tallies the numbers are very incomplete