Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO's Vicious Attacks on Its Very Own Staff Have Peaked (War on Dissent) While Oppressive Patent Regime (UPC) Phased in

Summary: Hoping to 'pacify' (euphemism for eliminate) voices of reason, the EPO's management is now crushing unions in order to make an example out of them (intimidation) and proceed with policies that are unequivocally hostile towards European interests (collectively and per member states)

RIGHT at this very moment the EPO's management along with British interrogators are bullying a staff union member. Union-busting takes place at the very heart of Europe and to make matters worse, European taxpayers foot the bills. The EPO has hopefully become a laughing stock which will fail to attract talent (many are already leaving, some by killing themselves [1, 2, 3, 4] to the dismay and denial of Benoît Battistelli), at least until the corrupt leadership resigns and there are true reforms, not just a change of logo and/or a Web site redesign. A lot of damage has systematically been done at an organisational level, let alone the controversial (likely corrupt) staff appointments, by Benoît Battistelli. He changed the system over the years and removed oversight. He (re)built the EPO establishment as though it's modelled after the Kremlin. Staff rights have been reduced to Chinese standards.



"Actions continue at the European Patent Office (EPO)," says SUEPO's site today (since yesterday). "The next demonstration will take place on Tuesday 15 September, starting at 12.00h from the Pschorrhöfe complex in Munich.

"From there the demonstrators will march to the local Labour Inspectorate, Gewerbeaufsichtsamt (Heßtraße 130)."

Florian Müller has just shed some light on the union-busting that takes place at this moment and he suggests that "EPO employees who are unhappy about the situation should try to find a better way to vote with their feet than taking to the streets of Munich (and other cities) to no avail. They should quit their jobs at the EPO and take jobs in the private economy. Engineering jobs, especially."

That would hit the corrupt management where it probably hurts most and make it abundantly evident that it failed to manage. It just drove people away (both staff and stakeholders, including businesses). Battistelli and his millionaire (and billionaire) friends are now moving a step closer to global monopolies on ideas [via Laura F. Ercoli] because judging by this update, they are moving towards the UPC before it's even authorised or approved by the public. A lot of this happens discreetly (in secret) because the public would never overwhelmingly endorse such a move. "At its meeting on 3 September 2015," says the site, "the Preparatory Committee agreed the draft proposal for the Rules on the European Patent Litigation Certificate and other appropriate qualifications. The Explanatory memorandum and a copy of the Draft Rules are available."

Was this meeting even announced anywhere? Who attended? Where were the stakeholders? It's about as undemocratic as these so-called 'trade' deals' (like TPP). Laura F. Ercoli ‏wrote more on the subject, noting that there is still opposition in Italy. To quote: "Italy has officially confirmed it is joining the unitary patent, but there are clear signs that its politicians are still not reconciled with the use of English, French and German only as unitary patent working languages."

"Italian politicians still not reconciled with English, French and German as sole unitary patent working languages," Ercoli wrote.

Pushers/lobbists of the UPC already push ahead with a "Preparatory Committee" -- whatever and whoever that is -- putting in place "Rules for the European Patent Litigation Certificate".

They are bringing more patent aggression (litigation) to more of Europe, repeating the errors of some countries (or one country) where patent trolls continue to thrive.

As one might expect, patent lawyers' sites are happy about this and one writes that "The European Patent Litigation Certificate is the qualification that a European Patent Attorney will be able to obtain in order to have the same rights to conduct litigation at the Unified Patent Court (UPC) as a legal practitioner in a member state which is a party to the Unified Patent Court Agreement (according to Article 48 of that Agreement)."

Notice how patent lawyers in Europe are (re)acting. They write about it as though the UPC is already a reality. Even the patent 'industry' (lawyers) in the UK prematurely makes buildings/courts for the UPC, before there is even a referendum or any hard confirmation of the UPC becoming inevitable. Perhaps they think that a self-fulfilling prophecy strategy would work. They are broadening litigation scope because it helps massive corporations and their lawyers (Benoît Battistelli's mates). As some patent maximalists put it the other day, "Chris Benson of HGF - the Unitary Patent Court won't eliminate forum shopping- the rules and tactics will just change." Yes, for the worse, for sure!

For those who haven't been following the UPC (we have written about it for about 7 years, even when it had different names in its prior incarnations), there are simple ways to get up to date. We recommend a restricted access article from IP Watch (Swiss site), composed two months ago. It is titled "Is The European Unitary Patent System On Its Way To A Tepid Start?"

No doubt there are big plans here to expand the scope of patents, enriching lawyers, providing more protectionism to very large corporations, and essentially pass commonwealth or public wealth to very few hands. It's a heist or a systemic privatisation of knowledge and wealth. The EPO's actions can be correlated to a lot of the actions taken by 'trade' deal 'negotiators' (essentially traitors to their population), so no wonder the EPO has become more militant and aggressive against dissent (which it is rightly expecting).

The EPO is now unambiguously engaging in a war (on dissent), dictating to staff and clearly conveying the message that if they are not 100% on board and in line with Battistelli's vision, there will be dire consequences. Even for a private corporation such a standard would be deemed unthinkable...

Recent Techrights' Posts

Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
Links 10/06/2025: Jaws at 50 and US Democracy Crushed Very Rapidly (Martial Law Seems Imminent)
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VII: Washing Their Hands After Corruption and Abuse
"Tragedy or comedy?"
Culling Bad RSS Feeds of Bad Sites
Not throwing out the baby with the bathwater
 
IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Links 10/06/2025: Apple Hype and Physical Attacks on Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/06/2025: Loon Lake, Farming, and Forth
Links for the day
If 'Microsoft v Techrights' is Dealt With by a 'Microsoft Court' (or a Court Outsourced to Microsoft)
More on that later
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 09, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 09, 2025
Gemini Protocol Turns Six in 10 Days From Now
If you haven't tried it yet, then give it a go today
Live as You Preach
technology is fast becoming dysphoric
Gemini Links 09/06/2025: Addition Addiction and Nitride
Links for the day
Links 09/06/2025: Science, Hardware Projects, and Democracy Receding
Links for the day
Computers Got Smaller, So GNU/Linux Got Bigger
Many people here recognise the lack of urgency (or need) to get expensive new laptops
BetaNews is a Plagiarism and LLM Slop Hub, the Chief Editor Isn't Addressing This Problem Anymore
SS Fagioli is basically a parasite leeching off or exploiting other people's work
Links 09/06/2025: Chaos in Los Angeles and Hurricane Season
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Grows at Windows' Expense and Microsoft Trolls Infest and Maliciously Target Articles About It
Microsoft is - and has long been - organised crime
They Say I'm Mr. Bombastic
They didn't take good lawyers
Links 09/06/2025: Windows TCO and Many Data Breaches
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VI: Political Stunts by Former President Edyta Demby-Siwek and the Connection to Profound Corruption at EUIPO
it's like a money-laundering operation where one politician rewards another at taxpayers' expense
Gemini Links 09/06/2025: Pipelines and Splitgate
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 08, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 08, 2025