EPO Publishing Something Like A "White Paper" I...

Today, the European Patent Office (EPO) has made available (@EPOorg on Twitter) a second edition of An overview of the national patent litigation systems in Europe available for download on-line. The text provides an overview of the national patent litigation systems across the European Patent Organisation's 38 Contracting States and presents an at-a-glance description of the different national revocation, nullity and infringement procedures currently in place. The competent courts dealing with these matters at first instance and appeal are also depicted.

In principle this publication should be warmly greeted as the EPO is well known for providing high quality contents on its website.

However, what has irritated me in this case is that they don't simply offer a download link as usual but lead me to a form (see screenshot picture above) where I am requested to fill in a number of mandatory fields before going on with the download:

• First name
• Surname
• Job title
• Organisation/Company
• City
• Country
• e-mail address

What if a member of the general public is interested in this matter without being affiliated with an organisation or a company? Is EPO about to refuse to give away such papers to interested private individuals? Well, and there are "Terms of Use":

"Patent Litigation in Europe has been prepared by the European Patent Office (EPO). Although the study has been prepared with great care, it cannot be guaranteed that the information therein is always accurate and up to date. The information is not meant to be a comprehensive study, nor to provide legal advice.

The Patent Litigation in Europe study and any of its parts may be modified or translated on condition that the EPO is credited as the provider of the original, and that it is clearly stated that changes have been made to the original material, that the modified or translated version has not been authorised by the EPO, and that the EPO shall not be responsible for the correctness of any such modified or translated version. Any other reference to the EPO, and in particular its official logo, shall be removed from any such version.

This document may be used and reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate acknowledgement is given to the EPO. Reproduction for commercial purposes is subject to the prior written approval of the EPO."

Let us repeat: "This document may be used [...] for non-commercial purposes [...]". Well, does that mean that e.g. patent attorneys are not allowed to use that paper because of their dealings are inherently of some commercial nature? Maybe that someone at EPO might wish to learn something about CC licensing instead.

So: Why on earth do EPO dare to make download of this paper dependent on prior filling in lots of personal data into download form? Does EPO staff now think that the institution is entitled to act like any commercial company offering "white paper" in exchange for personal data?

[UPDATE 2011-02-01 16:50] Obviously one hand at the EPO does not know what the other is doing. Thanks to @Topalovi I now know that the paper is also directly accessible via the EPO search engine.