"Identity politics"

Summary: It seems so perfect a match; Cambodia (with no European Patents and a genocidal legacy) with a so-called 'patent' office run by ex-military people (not just Philpott)

THE management of the EPO had nothing better to brag about on Friday than this nonsense (warning: epo.org link) about Cambodia. For those who don't know, Fridays are somewhat notorious inside the EPO because the managements tends to unload lies on EPO staff on that day, typically later/late in the day. The Cambodia affair has long been ridiculed by internal people (EPO examiners). Cambodia has a lot more to gain from those photo ops than the EPO. The EPO was once renowned for many things. Now it is a world leader in SLAPP, bribery, corruption, gambling, nepotism and so on.

Shortly after the puff piece from the local press there (in Cambodia) the EPO decided to write this prose:

Organised with the support of EuroCham Cambodia and with a welcoming speech by the Ambassador of the EU to Cambodia, Ms Carmen Moreno, the conference celebrated the significant validation registrations being witnessed since the implementation of the EPO-MIH validation agreement which came into force in March 2018, stressing the importance of IP rights in both attracting foreign direct investment as well as supporting innovation locally.

[...]

Cambodia was the first Asian country to recognise European patents on its territory. Under the validation agreement with the EPO, inventors and businesses filing for patent protection at the EPO can also extend protection given by a European patent to Cambodia. The validation agreement is now being systematically used, and significant numbers of validations of around 75 per month have been coming in since around October 2019.

EPO is satire; "Cambodia was the first Asian country to recognise European patents on its territory," it says. Well, it has no European Patents. It has no democratic system, either. The whole thing resembles the EPO's management, which breaks the law with immunity. ⬆