Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Greenwashing and Chronic Lying From the EPO Spreads to EU Through EUIPO

The lies of the EPO are becoming a credibility risk factor for the EU as well

Willy Minnoye impeach
When lies spread everybody gets dirty



Summary: The lies of the EPO keep spreading even to EU agencies and there are greenwashing aspects to these lies (which means climate science too can be discredited)

"HEY HI!" (AI)

It's so easy to fake innovation using a bunch of meaningless buzzwords and sound bites. António Campinos did that at EUIPO, so why not at the European Patent Office (EPO)? Battistelli started this buzzwords craze as well as habitual greenwashing.

"It's so easy to fake innovation using a bunch of meaningless buzzwords and sound bites."Yesterday the EPO published yet another greenwashing puff piece (warning: epo.org link). This one too gets promoted as "sustainable technologies", having been presented to an audience from the litigation 'industry', with a keynote full of greenwashing by the lying Romano-Götsch, whose track record at the EPO is far from positive (the staff hates her for what she did). Here's what the EPO wrote:

More than 160 participants from 110 companies attended this year’s User Day – an opportunity for the EPO to receive direct feedback from our users, and for IP professionals to share their experiences, and discuss procedural and technical matters face-to-face with EPO experts.

The annual event, which took place on 24 September in The Hague, was attended by patent attorneys, paralegals and other IP specialists from 19 countries. It featured a mix of interactive plenary sessions and practical workshops on key topics such as the EPO’s online services, opposition and appeal procedures, and sustainable technologies.

[...]

In her afternoon keynote, Ms Romano-Götsch spoke about the future of mobility, patents and the benefits of sustainable technologies in the global race against climate change.


She speaks of the "benefits of sustainable technologies in the global race against climate change," but patents do not help tackle climate change; instead they create a monopoly on any solutions that may exist. This is obscene greenwashing not only by the EPO.

"This is obscene greenwashing not only by the EPO."AWA has just promoted through Lexology (same company as IAM) this piece entitled "Denmark champions patents as fundamental to preventing climate change" and guess what they cite as "proof"... to quote, "Kollerup’s comments come as a Joint Report from the European Patent Office (EPO) and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) published on IPR-intensive industries and economic performance in the European Union."

It's that disgraceful 'study' which even IP Kat debunked this week. There's a new comment on it. "Don't pull my leg" left this comment:

Who said once that you should never believe a statistic you did not manipulate, not to say faked, yourself?

This study has be looked at the fact that at best a third of applications at the EPO are coming from European applicants. How

Furthermore, the patent policy, or better IP policy, of subsidiaries of non-European companies residing in Europe is not decided in Europe. Has this point been taken into account?

It is pretty obvious that neither the EPO nor the EUIPO can explain that their effect on European industry/society is negligible. That lots of approximations were necessary to show this, does not render the study more convincing.

Thanks for having drawn our attention to a study which has not one but quite few drawbacks.


When the EPO offers bribes to scholars it's hardly surprising that they reach dubious 'conclusions' and 'findings'.

"When the EPO offers bribes to scholars it's hardly surprising that they reach dubious 'conclusions' and 'findings'."When the EPO bribes the media it's not too shocking that some publishers gleefully disseminate the lies (we covered some examples of these last week).

The EPO has retweeted EUIPO (EU) as saying: "One in three Europeans works in industries that use #trademarks, #patents, #designs and #copyright intensively."

"The underlying 'logic' of this whole 'study' may be suitable for a project or a report in elementary school."So what? Three in three employed Europeans work in companies with lavatories on site. Does that mean that urinating and defecating are a recipe for commercial success? Of course not. This so-called 'study' is ridiculous. But not only the EPO and EUIPO keep amplifying what they paid for. The UKIPO joined in and the EPO retweeted it as saying: "Industries that make intensive use of #intellectualproperty rights (IPRs) generate 45% of economic activity in the EU."

Industries that make intensive use of lavatories generate 100% of economic activity in the EU. Right? Right? Right. This whole 'study' of the EPO is poo and those who keep parroting its 'findings' -- including greenwashing aspects -- have poo for brains. The underlying 'logic' of this whole 'study' may be suitable for a project or a report in elementary school. Or something an adult writes at the pub of the top floor of the EPO's building in Munich (after heavy drinking). It's infantile nonsense.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Firefox in Trouble in the US, Down to Lowest Level in 20+ Years
more sites will stop or intentionally neglect Firefox support
Clownflare: More Than 1 in 5 Laptops or Desktops in El Salvador Run GNU/Linux or ChromeOS
Clownflare Radar reckons it's more like 20%+ now
Omarchy is Already Dying
Same as the life cycle of slopfarms
Slop's Achilles Heel: It Increases the Workload, Not Just Costs
Set aside its inability to scale well
Improving techrights.org
Technical debt (like 17 years with WordPress) is something that's better to address early, not later
 
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: "Big Boost in Autonomy" and "Answer of E-Mail"
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 154 Out of 200: Computer-Generated Legal Filings From Men Who Are Salaried by Mass Plagiarism Companies in Another Continent (America)
This isn't the behaviour of a moral person but of some sort of "crypto bro" or "slop bro"
Fired by IBM for Medical Leave, Rampant Censorship of IBM Critics Explained
We've already caught and showed many cases where thelayoff.com deleted comments that were not even remotely racist
Links 19/08/2026: First Amendment Under Fire by White House of Cards, "Universities Were Forced to Pay Up" for Not Censoring
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: What Friendship Means, Sm0lNet/SmolNet, and New Feeds
Links for the day
No, WSL (Windows With Fake 'Linux') Isn't Growing Faster Than Ubuntu, This Was Disinformation Spread by a Microsoft Propaganda Site, Then Spread by Slopfarms
Be sceptical; Microsoft is truly desperate for anti-Linux spin right now, seeing that Windows is in a freefall
Microsoft's Mass Layoffs Impact the Ability to Run Microsoft
Can Microsoft still run Microsoft?
Microsoft's Active Directory ("AD") and "Entra" Are National Security Threats
Even the US government concluded Microsoft could not be trusted for security; it issued a formal report about it in April 2024
Instant Impact: GNU/Linux Skyrockets to 10% in China Days After Policy Changes
Let's see what the 'aftermath' looks like by year's end
Links 19/08/2026: Timothy James King (AmigaDOS) Dies, GitHub Goes Offline, Finland Wants to Shun Social Control Media
Links for the day
Mass Layoffs at Dropbox, Blame the Debt, Not Slop Hype
The debt of Dropbox Inc., which isn't an imaginary (estimated) thing, is over 4 billion dollars
Microsoft is 'Angel of Death' to Developers (Even Its Own), 'Voluntary' Layoffs Happening Again
From what we are hearing and reading, there are 'voluntary' layoffs again
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: Shirts, Handwriting, and Fights in Geminispace
Links for the day
Laos Leaving GAFAM Behind, Gradually
Yesterday evening it was measured at 10% for GNU/Linux at one point
They Were Wrong All Along
Two women combined won't deliver a healthy baby in just 4.5 months
A "Tech Journalist" Would Not Cover Vote on LLMs as a Sex Issue
For a moment there you have to pause and wonder, is this a "Tech Journalist" or the Daily Stormer?
20,000 by Year's End
The "New Techrights" will have 20,000 pages by year's end
Last Night GNU/Linux Measured at 9% in Africa
Nighttimes in Africa are times when GNU/Linux usage on desktop/laptop devices typically surges, based on Clownflare [...] It changes in favour of GNU/Linux
Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Google Bait and Switch (Getting College People 'Hooked' on 'Cheap' Storage, Then Backups Gone), a "Question of E-mail"
Links for the day
Bluesky is in Trouble
Bluesky is a private company (unlike Bluesky Digital Assets Corp. in Toronto, that one runs a pyramid scheme!), so it's hard to know for sure just how much money it is losing
China Says Goodbye to Microsoft
It is hardly surprising that Windows is shedding off userbase all around the world
Links 18/08/2026: US Abandons South Korea, New Legal Disputes Over Slop Plagiarism in the Music Scene
Links for the day
Linux Losing Interest in Users' Freedom, Pursues DRM Instead
"Linux" is (or was, as GNU/Linux) meant to empower - not artificially restrict - the users
GNU/Linux in Ecuador and Colombia: Growing, Still Below International Average
locals turn away from Windows and try GNU/Linux instead
IBM is Dead or Dying. Now It Asks Workers to 'Resign' Voluntarily.
To save face, to pretend no layoffs are happening (as it might alarm shareholders) [...] We keep hearing more and more stories like that
Links 18/08/2026: Sergey Brin Controlling State Policies, "Dario Amodei's (Anthropic) Wife Is Closely Linked to Jeffrey Epstein"
Links for the day
SBS News Interviews Daniel Pocock
The locals say this PR stunt (by the bigot, Farage) was a waste of money
Clownflare Sees One in 7 Web Requests in Libya Originating From GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux has taken a (foot)hold there
Openwashing and Manifestos Composed in Private by Dictators With Deliberately Addictive (and Subsidised, Bundled) 'Tech'
It's long, so make a cuppa first
SLAPP Censorship - Part 153 Out of 200: Decades of Debt, Weaponising Borrowed Money to Try to Put Their Critics in Debt
they've always had a financial report by now
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 17, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 17, 2026
Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Solar Power, Kipple and Impermanence, Catastrophe Ethics
Links for the day
Evri (HermesUK) is Now Run by Bots and Hallucinating Scammers
Years ago they virtually removed support and tried chatbots instead
Less Technology, More Life
Technology is being associated (sometimes rightly) with physical and mental problems
Google Search Has Gotten Worse (a Lot Worse)
getting worse
Birthday in 80 Days
we'll start decorating and party online with our community
Loans and Massive Debt at Microsoft, This Won't End Well.
Microsoft running out of money to pay salaries (to the point of paying people for 'voluntary' layoffs) is a positive sign?
Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Life in Plain Text, Mimicking KARL, Release of Jugulans, Avoiding Slop
Links for the day
Clown Storage Without Backups
Setting up several reliable copies of the data, plus several off-site backups (this data is nowhere as sensitive as medical data), should only cost a few grand
FreeCAD is Becoming Slop-ware, Use LibreCAD Instead
It has regular releases and "Qt5 is mandatory" now [...] they at least audit what they add
Cuba and Venezuela High in Adoption of GNU/Linux
some of the "communist" nations
Links 17/08/2026: Myanmar’s Cholera Outbreak, China Sends Commercial Vessels Through Arctic
Links for the day
GAFAM Loyalty Has Come to an End, Morale Low, People Whose Future is Uncertain Choose to Become "Lifers"
morale is low and there's no loyalty anymore
SLAPP Censorship - Part 152 Out of 200: Injunctions Do Not Cover Criticism, They Have Scope
self-incriminating communications
Clownflare Sees About Quarter of Web Requests in Ireland Coming From GNU/Linux
Well, in Ireland it seems like many people adopted GNU/Linux
Clownflare: In Australia and New Zealand GNU/Linux Peaks at Over 10% During Working Hours
That right there is interesting in its own right
Slowing Down by Intention
At the moment we have 6 or 7 ongoing series
Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Chamboree, Partial Solar Eclipse, Lady Macbeth
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2026: "Bluesky Is Down Again!" and "Anti-Social Media"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 16, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, August 16, 2026