Bonum Certa Men Certa

Exclusive: The Enlarged Board of Appeal Complains About Battistelli's Corrupt Management to the Administrative Council (Updated)

That was then...

Software patents protest against EPO



Summary: Text of the complaint from the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) reaches Techrights, demonstrating just how rampant the abuse in Battistelli's EPO has become

FIVE YEARS ago the EPO was in a state of turmoil and the Enlarged Board of Appeal got involved after important changes and a continual battle for restoration of the EPO's integrity. Unrest at the EPO is not exceptionally novel, but it does help show the systemic presence of dissent, which emanates from genuine concerns. There is often a battle within and outside the EPO; the greedy parties want to prey on and exploit the EPO, whereas the smart people inside the organisation just wish to do their job with professional integrity. Patent examiners are not to be confused with patent lawyers; in fact, patent examiners are scientists, not lawyers.



"It sure looks like Battistelli and his cronies have begun attacking the Enlarged Board of Appeal..."A new article has been published by IPKat, where one of the bloggers has been covering the EPO scandals for a while. Titled "Enlarged Board appeals - direct to the Administrative Council," the article speaks of a curious "suspension of a Board of Appeal member by the EPO President, under the guise of a "house ban" [which] has generated enormous disquiet, not only among bloggers, attorneys and EPO union officials, but now also within the Enlarged Board of Appeal."

It sure looks like Battistelli and his cronies have begun attacking the Enlarged Board of Appeal as well, having shut down some other departments whose purpose was to oversee them. It's like some kind of slow-motion coup d'état. Sooner or later there will be nobody left to topple or even investigate Battistelli. He is systemically eradicating dissent, hopefully not quickly enough to eradicate many hundreds of his staff who march against him in numerous streets in Europe.

The IPKat blogger "cannot remember any such internal EPO dispute spilling out into the public domain with such vehemence. The letter from the Enlarged Board should dispel any preconceptions that the current troubles at the EPO and the complaints about Mr Battistelli are confined to a few disgruntled examiners looking to protect their cushy jobs (a view she has heard from several quarters)."

Anyone who claims it was a grudge "confined to a few disgruntled examiners" (or anything along those lines) was either the editor of the Establishment media in Europe or someone from within Battistelli's circles. Techrights has been in contact with numerous people from the EPO (people who work at high levels too) and there is no denying that there is a massive issue. It's shocking that Battistelli still keeps his job. His dismissal or resignation should be imminent and sources tell us that he already resorts to desperate "damage control" measures.

Someone has just passed to us a copy of a new letter from the Enlarged Board of Appeal. It highlights what has been going on at the EPO and it comes from a high authority. Many people added their signatures to it. We are working to get a textual (plain text) version of it, but in the mean time we present the scanned pages below. Updates likely to follow.

Update: Here is the full letter as text.

CONFIDENTIAL

Members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office c/o Secretariat Room 206

Munich, 8 December 2014

To the Representatives of the Delegations to the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organization

And

To the External Members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal.

On December 2014, a member of the Boards of Appeal was escorted out of the Office by the Investigation Unit (0.6.1.1), a unit operating directly under the responsibility of the President. As the other members of staff wer informed by Communique 64 on the Internet on the same day, the President has imposed a "house ban" on him. It appears from this communique that the staff member is accused of having disseminated defamatory material.

A house ban may very well be considered a de facto suspension, because the Board member can no longer perform his duties.

The provisions unde which the above action has been taken, namely the Investigation Guidelines, do not - and cannot - provide a legal basis for such actions. According to Part 1, their purpose is to establish, in cases of possible misconduct, the underlying facts on the basis of which the President can come to a reasoned assessment regarding the initiation of disciplinary proceedings.

Article 95 of Service Regulations provides that if an allegation of serious misconduct is made against a permanent employee and if the misconduct alleged is of its nature incompatible with his continuing in service, the "appointing authority" may decide to suspend him forthwith.

The appointing authority for this purpose is the Administrative Council (Article 11 (3) EPC). The President may propose such a disciplinary measure to the Administrative Council (Article 10(2)(h) EPC). It is however the Administrative Council as the disciplinary authority who has to decide on it (Article 11(4) EPC).

This specific distribution of roles is part of the concept of separation of powers and the independence of the Board of members as enshrined in Article 23 EPC. However, in the present case, the President decided in lieu of the Administrative Council, for which no provision appears to exist.

To this is added the fact that his computer was confiscated by the investigation unit, which has given them access to possibly confidential information regarding the preparation and deliberation of cases by the member's board, without proper legally sound guarantees.

The undersigned members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal are deeply concerned about this conduct which could affect the validity of the whole proceedings if the results of the enquiry were in fact to lead to disciplinary proceedings. They are aware that independence does not imply impunity.

The actions of the investigation unit on the orders of the President also appear to be a clear challenge to the judicial independence of the Boards of Appeal.

It is therefore urgently requested that the Administrative Council in its capacity as appointing and disciplinary authority ensures the independence of the Boards of Appeal, one of the pillars of the European patent system. What is needed is a clear limitation on the executive power, as far as the Boards of Appeal are concerned, in situations like the present, so as to avoid any impression of undue influence on their judicial work, contrary to the independence requirements of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Yours sincerely, Gabriele Alt Graham Ashley Gianni Assi Ingo Beckedorf Fritz Blumer Tamas Bokor Brnhard Czech Albert de Vires Eugene Dufrasne Franz Edilinger Gunnar Eiasson Kevin Garnett Pascal Gryozka Andre Klein Thomas Kriner Albert Linder Hugo Meinders Rainer Moufang Ulrich Oswald Michael Poock Giovanni Pricolo Gaston Raths Joseph Riolo Marco Ruggiu Werner Sieber Fred van der Voort Bianca ter Laan Claude Vallet Martin Vogel Gerard Weiss Stefan Wibergh Manfred Wieser Michael Harrison Marie-Bernadette Tardo-Dino Wolfgang Seretaruk

cc Mr. Benoit Battistelli annex: Circular 342 with the Investigation Guidelines





EBoA letter regarding EPO




EBoA letter regarding EPO




EBoA letter regarding EPO

Update: Here are the enclosed rules (part of the EBoA letter regarding EPO) which show how Battistelli et al. are breaking the law in an attempt to silence their critics.

EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules






EPO rules

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Brett Wilson LLP Has Track Record in Scam Coin Cases (e.g. Craig Wright and More), Now It Works for 'Crypto' Scam Purveyors
But wait, it gets worse
Will Brett Wilson LLP Handle Its Own Winding Up Petition or be Struck Off for Overt Abuse of Process?
Today we sue not only the first Microsofter
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Sharing Code and Recipes
It helps explain the triviality of software freedom
How Many Women Has Microsoft's Alex Balabhadra Graveley Already Strangled and Where Does That End?
If you too are a victim of this man and wish to share information, contact us
"We Might Save Somebody's Life"
I follow the example of my father
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: Tmux and OCC25 Working TLS
Links for the day
 
Under the Guise of "MIT Technology Review Insights" the Site MIT Technology Review Posts Corporate Spam as 'Articles'
Some of the articles aren't even articles but 'hit pieces' against Free software and some are paid advertisements
Exclusive: corruption in Tribunals, Greffiers, from protection rackets to cat whisperers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/07/2025: Chip Bans and Microsoft’s “Digital Escort” Program
Links for the day
Revolving Doors: One Day You're a Judge, the Next Day You're an Attorney Paying Public Officials and Working for Violent and Dangerous Microsoft Employees
how the US justice system works
Slopwatch: Noise, Plagiarism and Even Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
What are we meant to do to prevent a false association or misleading connotations? Game the LLMs? No. Boycott slopfarms.
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Simple Web Browsing with TLS
Links for the day
Links 16/07/2025: Fascist Slop Takes "Intelligence" Clothing, New Criminal Case Against MElon
Links for the day
Why I am Suing the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, in the UK High Court This Week
Out of respect to the process and to the Court, I shall not share any pertinent details about the case
Links 16/07/2025: China’s Economy Grows Steadily, France Takes Action Regarding Harm to Children by GAFAM and Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
It is Not About Politics
Beware the people who try to make this about politics
Good Journalism Saves Lives
a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner
Recognition of Women's Contributions to Free Software
Being passive is not an option when bad things are happening
Slopfarms Are Going to Perish Because Public Opinion is Changing
Many slopfarms will simply go offline
19 Years of Standing Up for Justice, Equality, and Truth
This week we shall take it up a notch
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Links 15/07/2025: LLM Pollution and Pushback in Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: xkcd, New Cert, and Alhena Gemlog
Links for the day
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders
Links for the day
Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day
Coming Soon: Another OSI Scandal, This One Implicating Molly de Blanc
OSI has been fairly quiet lately
Outreachy & Debian pregnancy cluster, Meike Reichle evidence
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Again, "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People"
Microsoft Lunduke is not trying to "protect" Linux
XBox is Rapidly Turned Into a Slopfarm by Microsoft
Slop isn't about efficiency and saving money
One of the Most Hilarious Things About the Microsoft SLAPPs
It's so ridiculous
Financial Support for the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project
The FSF has extended until Friday its fund-raising campaign
Illegally Hiding (or Demanding Secrecy Around) Illegal Requests or Attempts at Extortion
unlawful communications like threats
Microsoft's Halloween Documents and systemd, Wayland, Etc.
Maybe one day Wayland will be widespread. Or maybe not.
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: BOFH Archive, Updating Old Palm PDAS, and Nginx vs Slop Bots
Links for the day
Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like
What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False
Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals
Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
Links for the day
Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day