Bonum Certa Men Certa

Battistelli-Led EPO “Led to Tensions and Even to Suicides Among Employees, Say the Unions”

NRC article



Summary: Another new article about the European Patent Office (EPO), which is almost certainly about to undergo a major overhaul

THE EPO has been receiving unwanted attention (e.g. media inquiries) from central European media because Battistelli, the EPO's President, is almost certainly on his way out. The Dutch media has done a good job, just as it did a year ago when the EPO refused to accept a court's ruling.



"The Dutch media has done a good job, just as it did a year ago when the EPO refused to accept a court’s ruling."Petra Kramer has just given us the next translation in line. Having published her previous translations from Dutch [1, 2], we now turn to the next one. It's from NRC.

In the text below, highlighted in yellow are some bits which we think merit more attention, as some of them are quite unique (compared to other press articles).

Patent Office wants to investigate leadership style president



The authoritarian management style of the President, according to the unions led to tensions and even some suicides among employees.

The ongoing crisis at the European Patent Office (EPO) seems to be turning against its criticized President, the Frenchman Benoît Battistelli. The highest body of the Agency, the Management Board representing the 38 Member States, wants an external investigation into the punitive measures Battistelli (65) has taken against union members.

It is a surprising twist in the battle between the agency, which grants European patents and, among others is based in Rijswijk, and the unions. The authoritarian management style of Battistelli and the heavy workload have led to tensions and even to suicides among employees, say the unions.

Battistelli in his turn does not recognize the unions, because the agency as an international organization would not be bound by national legislation. But according to the President the unions are trying to sabotage his reforms. Some prominent trade unionists have been suspended and will possibly be fired, including the chairman of the Dutch branch, Elizabeth Hardon.

Serious concerns about performance

The disciplinary actions led to "very serious concerns" about the "proper functioning" of the agency the chairman of the management board writes, the Dane Jesper Kongstad writes in a letter. The supervisors have unfortunately not been able to hold "any meaningful dialogue" with Battistelli about these issues.

Despite protests from the President, the council wants the sanctions to be investigated and suspended. The Member States will vote next month on that proposal. The letter is notable because Battistelli was reappointed by the management board last year to remain in function until 2018.

Battistelli has invited the unions yesterday for an interview on "any topic" surrounding working conditions. The Supreme Court called the office and the unions to engage in mediation last month.


Well, judging by what we learned privately from some sources (not suitable for sharing out in the open), there is no mediation at all. It's still nothing but hogwash; the "any topic" propaganda line (see above) comes from EPO PR; it's a form of 'damage control' and the current media strategy.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Before the OSI Was Bribed and Hijacked by Microsoft via GitHub and Compromised Management...
The OSI isn't even remotely "woke"
The OSI Has Been Silent for Over 3 Weeks, It Has a Severe Trust Issue After Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary GitHub
OSI took a lot of money from Microsoft to become a Microsoft lobbyist
Bribery is OK If You Work for Microsoft (No Punishment Expected)
It's very troubling and a symptom of a broken society/system when particular laws or rules are applied and enforced against some people but not against others
Someone Should Remind Microsoft Lunduke That Microsoft Hires Many Sexual Criminals and Pedophiles as Well
Microsoft Lunduke on an "expedition" to find one or more perverts, then generalise to everyone in the "community"
Cash Machines (ATMs) Make Mistakes and They're Proprietary Software
Correcting mistakes is a colossal challenge
Yes, Microsoft is the Problem
"I am no MS shill."
Another Failed Use Case for Chatbots (LLM): Legal Advice and Analysis
They're just some self-discrediting toy that costs way too much to operate
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 29, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Corruption is the Standard Operating Procedure at the European Patent Office (EPO)
The EPO is a dictatorship that stains Europe
Local Staff Committee Munich (LSCMN) at the European Patent Office (EPO) Requests an Urgent Meeting to Avoid Abolishing the Office
This is dictatorship led by the most corrupt
Slopwatch: Fake 'Linux' 'Articles' and Spamfarms/Slopfarms
at least 5 fake articles in one day
Gemini Links 29/07/2025: Wayland Unfit for Use and LLM Slop Faking One's Language Skills With Robot Communications
Links for the day
Nailing the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype Bubble
So-called "hey hi" as they define it now is all about large companies or regimes remotely controlling the processes running on your machine and even your very own behaviour on your machine, which is in effect no longer your machine but some remotely controlled apparatus
"Four decades; Four freedoms; For all users" Now as a T-shirt
That's shown along the sidebar
Links 29/07/2025: Bad Climate and "Fair Software Licensing" Blasts Microsoft
Links for the day
Links 29/07/2025: Data Brokers Gone Wrong/Rogue and "Copyright Thicket"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linuxconfig.org, Linuxsecurity.com, Fagioli, The Register
Today's "Slopwatch" isn't the first article about LLM slop
We Cover Topics Other Sites Are Too Afraid to Cover (Even When They Know the Facts)
It's not that they doubt the truth, they just realise there may be consequences for talking about it
They Try to Tell Us the Free Software Foundation Inc is Dying, But Its Revenue Doubled Since the Dot-Com Bubble Burst
Being in "Activism" is never easy; but it does positive things for society
It's About the Cost of Workers, Not the Fictional Skills Shortage (That Does Not Exist, the Media Spreads False and Sometimes Self-Fulfilling Narratives)
This issue isn't limited to computing, some dub it "globalism"
Links 29/07/2025: More Pushbacks Against Slop and More Praises of Tom Lehrer
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/07/2025: Purple Yarrow and Understanding Op Amps
Links for the day
This Monday WebProNews Absolutely Flooded the Web With Fake (LLM Slop) 'Articles' About "Linux", Google News Promoted Them as Legitimate
All of the following are fake articles attributed to pseudonyms or authors that don't exist; the images are also slop. Why does Google promote these?
Linuxiac is Not a Slopfarm, But at Least Some of Its Articles Are Machine-Generated Fakes
what we said about it was correct
Expect More Microsoft Layoffs
"Are more job cuts coming?"
Microsoft Behaving Like It's Running Out of Money to Pay Salaries
Does that seem like the behaviour expected from a company which claims it is "worth" trillions?
LWN Downtime Due to Linode, Not LLM Bots
"I’ve received an email letting me know that there is a potential for data loss."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 28, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 28, 2025
Nonfree Software in My Bank, by Richard Stallman
Updated 8 hours ago
Links 28/07/2025: Science, Health, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Healthy Self-Image With Autism and a "New Life"
Links for the day
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025