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

'Tech' Gimmicks Are for Advertising, Not for Usability
In the case of Microsoft, they latched onto slop
BetaNews Sacked Brian Fagioli and Deleted His Comments, But He Still Tries to Use the "BetaNews" Brand for Self-Affirmation
Fagioli takes the work of other people
[Meme] Hard to Be a Better Person?
Sooner or later they'll realise that for each pound I spend they need to spend about 1,000 times more
New US Editor for The Register is a Microsoft Booster
"Avram Piltch has served as US editor for The Register since July 2025."
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled
Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
We all remember that rather well, don't we?
 
Gemini Links 24/07/2025: Forgejo Woes and Smolnet Directory Week
Links for the day
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
Links 24/07/2025: Storage Tapes Still Kicking, Windows TCO 'on Steroids' (Microsoft-Induced Catastrophes)
Links for the day
Bobby Borisov (LinuxIac) Has Apparently Begun Experimenting With LLM Slop, So We Cannot Trust LinuxIac Anymore
So did LinuxIac become a slopfarm? Maybe not yet, but it's getting there
Informa TechTarget's ITProToday is Becoming a Slopfarm Generated by Microsoft Chatbots
Busted.
The LLM Con Artists Are Highly Destructive
Who will ever be held accountable for this scam?
Too Bribed by Microsoft to Move to Free Software?
Microsoft lies and Microsoft bribery (in politics)
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
“Inhumane” and “Disgusting” Mass Layoff Execution, According to Microsoft Staff
The workers are looking for other places to work
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
The freedoms are what's most important
LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
All are run by the same people
Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
Links for the day
Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
Links for the day
New and Old
On Ageism in Tech
Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
Links for the day
Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
Links for the day
Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
Examples of white-collar trolls
Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
"Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
Links for the day