Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Fall of the UPC - Part XIII: A Death Worth Celebrating and Many Lies Worth Debunking

Scoreboard/scoresheet coming next

Scoreboard



Summary: We take stock of positive responses to the decision made by the German constitutional court (FCC) 2.5 weeks ago; we also explain why it has taken so long to piece together firm-by-firm scoresheet for UPC lies

THE UPC is dead. But it's not the end of it. Now is a good time to look back at all the lies told, not only for years prior to the death but also immediately afterwards. This site has long focused on countering lies and setting the record straight, especially in areas that are well understood by us. Well, in recent years we studied the European Patent Office (EPO) very closely, going well beyond our original scope of software patents in Europe and seeing how Battistelli broke more laws that we can recall offhand (but we have it documented, thankfully). António Campinos is more of the same, but by the time he settled in at the Office the EPO had already gotten the media "under control" (bribes and intimidation go a long way).



"This site has long focused on countering lies and setting the record straight, especially in areas that are well understood by us."Quoting some lies and borderline parody from Campinos, the EPO has made its ridiculous public statement on the topic (the UPC's death). We don't intend to revisit that anymore, unless of course those same lies from the EPO persist. There will be at least 3 more parts from what we can piece together at the moment, maybe as many as 5 more. We'll post our concluding words at the end, itemising and summarising past parts. We want this to be the most comprehensive rebuttal out there. We spent literally weeks researching this and we're getting close to the point where Techrights can do full debunkings, or further hammering regarding UPC lies, having gathered plenty of evidence of it. We'll name the lying law firms one by one. The order of the mentions matters; that's perhaps the hardest part: outlining.

"We'll name the lying law firms one by one."The key objective is to find as many legal opinions as possible, from as many firms as possible, not only prominent voices of Team UPC and pushers of Benoît Battistelli's agenda (the António Campinos policies are the same). Last month we published "Everybody Knows UPC is Over, Even Those Who Still Attempt to Lie to the Public (and to Their Clients)". Remember that there are many firms out there -- SMEs included -- that spent much of their hard-earned money on this lie. Law firms lied to them and became rich(er) by lying. This is not acceptance.

Over at FFII, an automated translation of the FCC's decision (not the formal English version) was archived. "Decision of the German Constitutional Court on UPC in english translated by Google Translate is here," wrote the FFII's President. It's probably an historic decision -- so historic that UPC boosters now dig into the personal life of the judge's wife!

The FFII's President's also revisited this old publication [PDF], nearly a decade old ("UPC: some good reading for the evening "The Unified Patent Court: help or hindrance?"..."); it's from 2012. "We heard the rumor that Mr David Cameron was asked by the large UK pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to remove the CJEU as having a say in patent law (articles 6 and 8). That was the condition to have a deal with the UK. Now that the UK has left, you know why the CJEU was removed from having a say over patent law, and software patents in particular," said the FFII's latest press release, mentioned and quoted in part here.

So one can more or less see whose interests are being pushed/advanced in the UPC. This needs to end. Otherwise the Rule of Law ends.

"So one can more or less see whose interests are being pushed/advanced in the UPC."Quoting Glyn Moody's article here: "The EPO has long been a controversial institution: it is not part of the EU, its premises enjoy extraterritoriality, and its executives are granted diplomatic immunity that effectively places them outside the law..."

Had the complaint been judged also based on its deeper substance, this issue would likely have been brought up. There are still some additional complaints about the EPO at the FCC; the aspect of illegality might be brought up by the FCC later this year or next year (because of Coronavirus).

"Also the Unitary Patent did not have compulsory licensing," Benjamin Henrion (FFII) recalled, "which is crucial in a period of pandemic..."

This is particularly relevant right now because some liars have attempted to exploit the pandemic, making bogus claims about how the UPC's fall somehow helps the virus spread. It's really laughable a claim!

The developer of Devuan, who is Italian (where the most people died from Coronavirus), wrote in light of the FCC's decision: "Software patents are a danger for small companies that cannot afford defense, especially against patent trolls. http://blog.ffii.org/eu-software-patent-court-stopped-by-constitutional-court-patent-industry-will-try-again/ … big up \o/ to @zoobab and @FFII for the hard work keeping #Europe a safe place for developers and digital innovators..."

"A UPC without the UK and without compatibility with various constitutions across Europe is a non-starter."He was taking note of a mention of the press release. There's also a mention of "UPCv2.0", citing a German and quoting him: "So there is widespread consensus that re-ratification (subsequently to renegotiation) is a question of ***when***, not ***if***. interestingly, the two patent firms as well as Patentverein say or at least imply it's also a question of ***how***" (it's not trivial as they want us to believe).

A UPC without the UK and without compatibility with various constitutions across Europe is a non-starter. They might try something else, call it something else, but that too would likely fail. They tried several times before and it always fails. Let's face it: UPC was all along a wishlist of corrupt people trying to buy the law and then milk the law. It is a sort of white-collar malpractice if not corruption that relies on bribery of the media as well (to play along with the corruption). In the next few parts we'll highlight lies from Team UPC and its media partners, which made no effort whatsoever at fact-finding and fact-checking. They're too busy trying to sell this dud called "UPC".

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Sophie Brun, Raphael Hertzog & Debian sexual conflicts of interest
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Instant Bluewashing at Confluent: Mass Layoffs Alleged at IBM
So the main question is, did IBM just fire 800 people?
 
Smug Threat by Garrett to Put My Family and I in Prison Doesn't Prove We Did Anything Wrong, It Only Proves He's Truly Desperate to Stop Further Publications That Embarrass Him
his reputation is poor in the United States
systemd Increasingly Microsoft Project, Controlled by Microsoft and Slopware
Cannot allow choice
What IBM Meant to Red Hat: "Proprietary Bundling, Restricted Source Access"
Anyone or anything that joins IBM likely shortens its lifespan
IBM Thrashing Confluent Upon Arrival, Based on Rumours
We deem it a bigger issue that investigative journalism perished, not that one must rely on hearsay online or mere "rumours"
Slop Is Plagiarism, Not (Vibe) Coding, and It's Not Automated, It Doesn't Save Money
Reject misnomers, explain what's actually happening
UPC is Still Illegal and Unconstitutional (Kangaroo Court for Patents, Manned by Corporate Staff), Federal Court of Justice of Germany Receives Belated Complaint About It
What is happening to Europe???
EPO Demonstration Happening Right Now, Later This Week Things Will Only Escalate Further
The SUEPO The Hague Committee wrote to staff this morning
Links 18/03/2026: Commodore's Hedley Davis Dies, Apple Not Good Enough, Cheeto "Floats Treason Charges for Iran War Coverage"
Links for the day
A Step Close to Shutting Down the European Patent Office (EPO)
Not going to work all month long
EPO Staff Demonstration Today
The demonstration will be live-streamed for those thousands of colleagues who don't live in Munich
Gemini Links 18/03/2026: Brazilian SYN Attacks and BGP
Links for the day
LibreLocal Also Coming to Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, and Spain
It helps raise awareness of Software Freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 17, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 14 Out of 200: Men Who Strangle Women (and Worse) Trying to Force Us to Write Public Apologies to These Men
For those who never before saw a SLAPP, they basically make many demands
"Vibe-forking" and Why It'll Ultimately Fail (Hype on Top of Hype)
Code made with LLMs sucks; converting solid, human-tested code into slop only complicates matters and increases risk
Updates About Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation
After all those years (a decade) and in spite of phony scandals many people out there still respect him
LLM Slop With "Linux" in the Domain Names
This is becoming a pain and a problem also in the arts and in software engineering
The EFF Has a Bug, Fixing This Bug is Likely Not Possible Anymore
"the EFF's continued existence impairs the arrival of a replacement organization, one which will actually champion digital rights."
Links 17/03/2026: Microsoft Windows Broken by Samsung, Afghanistan-Pakistan War Escalation
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/03/2026: Newcomers and False-Positive 'Slop'
Links for the day
Héctor Orón Martínez & Debian shadow candidate pressure on Sruthi Chandran
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 17/03/2026: American Fentanylware (TikTok) Investors Implicated in Kickbacks, "Big Oil Knew It Was Wrecking Louisiana’s Coast"
Links for the day
For Third Time in a Week The Register MS Runs Google SPAM That Paints Google as an Ally of Women (Which is False, They're Womanisers)
What does that make The Register MS to women?
British Justice Minister Sarah Sackman Blasts Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The "legal industry" is due for "some reckoning"
GAFAM Deprecating Old Videos ("Content") by Removing the Support for Their Format for No Good Reason
"Security" is not a valid excuse
Credit/Debit Cards Have Long Been Called Plastics, Over Time They're Becoming More Like Pure Plastics
They cost less than a dollar to manufacture
The European Patent Office (EPO) Holds a Public Demonstration Tomorrow and It'll be Live-streamed
The EPO's workforce was meant to be capable of speaking many languages and have extensive experience in the sciences
People Who Attacked Techrights Also Attacked My Mother
Picking on old ladies because you don't like Free software advocates is never OK
Little Community Element Left in CentOS
CentOS, unlike Fedora, was meant to be long supported and solid
Social Control Media is Cancel Culture (Companies Like Facebook Also Punish/Ban Accounts for Mentioning "Linux" and Lobby for Anti-Linux Legislation)
The masters of Social Control Media decide what ideas can and cannot be expressed
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 16, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 16, 2026
Someone at Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is Censoring the Birthday Greetings to Richard Stallman
Some people remember
The European Patent Office (EPO) Illegally Transitioning Into 'Gig' 'Economy' Equivalent (a Shop for Patent Monopolies in Europe)
for scabs aka SEALs
At Least Six EPO Strikes Next Month (Yes, Six!)
The pressure intensifies over time
Several MPs Blast Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for Inaction and Ineffective Action This Week
"Four MPs have written to the SRA"
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 14 Out of 200: The Abusive Cases of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft and His Litigation Buddy Garrett Did Cause "Serious Harm"
claims were de facto abandoned at the trial
Today's Discussions About How IBM Pushes Workers Out
The corporate media keeps trying - baselessly and in vain - to paint everything that happens with the "hey hi" brush
Linux Teck (linuxteck.com) and Ubuntu PIT (ubuntupit.com) Are Botspam
now they just keep experimenting by trashing their sites and reputation
Links 16/03/2026: Moscow Experiencing Cellphone Internet Outages, "Salman Rushdie Is Tired of Talking About Free Speech"
Links for the day
Links 16/03/2026: Arctic Security and 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin'
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/03/2026: KN95 Skins and CSS Surprises
Links for the day
Debian is Dying for Some of the Same Reasons IBM's Fedora is Rapidly Dying
Prioritising CoC censorship, not communities
The Register MS is Again Femmewashing GAFAM (Which Makes Widows) in Exchange for Money
This is a moral issue because they betray or harm women and prop up authoritarian regimes
Gemini Links 16/03/2026: AB 1043, Lagrange Android Beta 47, and Poetry
Links for the day
"Slop-forking" or "Vibe-forking" as the New 'Noble' Plagiarism
New Cloudflare Slop Project?
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VII - Cult Mentality, Mobbing, Nepotism
Does the EPO actually believe in the law?
2026 Microsoft Layoff Rumours
Surely if we had properly-functioning media, then someone would investigate this rather than rely on official statements from Microsoft and WARN notices
EPO Strike This Week
contact your national representatives about it
Gemini Links 15/03/2026: "Create Opportunities for Good Things to Happen", DOSbook, and Bitcoin Criticism
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 15, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 15, 2026
Pirate Praveen Arimbrathodiyil & Debian denouncing volunteers, hiding romances
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock