Bonum Certa Men Certa

Team Battistelli Uses FFPE to Give an Illusion of EPO Peace With 'Unions' and Justify/Support a Now-Famous Lie

FFPE represents EPO workers like Daniel Domscheit-Berg (OpenLeaks) represents Wikileaks

Daniel Domscheit-Berg Photo credit: Andreas Gaufer, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.



Summary: The European Patent Office's current management, which may soon get dismissed, is putting together a little show that gives the impression of peace with trade unions

HILARIOUS or outrageous it may be, depending on one's mood. The latest publicity stunt from Team Battistelli (not the same as the EPO, which they merely exploit for their own agenda of power and money) is like something out of the propaganda books. Battistelli and his circle smile in their suits next to a bunch of what Soviets would call "useful idiots"; this isn't 'the' union but a tiny group which claims to be one. FFPE is the Daniel Domscheit-Berg of the EPO's staff. Only under intense pressure from colleagues it expressed solidarity with SUEPO, but those who look closely enough will see how Battistelli et al view and exploit FFPE [2, 2]. FFPE members cannot claim to be passive participants; they know too well how their complicity in this PR stunt would be used against SUEPO and by extension against EPO staff as a whole.



"FFPE members cannot claim to be passive participants; they know too well how their complicity in this PR stunt would be used against SUEPO and by extension against EPO staff as a whole."Team Battistelli now truly leaves a misleading mess, ensuring that no external observer like a journalist can make sense of things. Battistelli is just trying to mislead media about unions, pretending there is peace. Tomorrow he will try "results", exploiting lack of critical skills and an inability to properly scrutinise the claims. What gives? How much is Battistelli willing to lie to the world in his desperate effort to save his job?

Pathetic. Truly pathetic. More so than Battistelli calling people whom he views as opposition "Nazis". One thing is clear now. Team Battistelli won't give up with a fight (a dirty fight) that includes lying to journalists, lying to staff, fake letters of 'support' etc. Evil all the way. "As for the author of the pathetic letter in support of the President and his management style," said one comment earlier today, "the information you received from your source is highly likely to be correct because the named PD was indeed assistant of Mr Minnoye prior to her appointment as PD (a well calculated step) and she is a typical product of the BB’s regime, always aligned with those in power. You know the classical kind of person: “lêche….”. This kind of person would do anything in order to please the boss."

"Team Battistelli won't give up with a fight (a dirty fight) that includes lying to journalists, lying to staff, fake letters of 'support' etc."It's not surprising that some people out there, especially people whom the EPO is now willing to recruit and also promote, play ball for the tyrants. They're being groomed as a reward for their docility. "That IS hilarious," wrote to us one person [1, 2]. "It's so fake they even didn't photoshop some union faces in that picture. As there should be in such "deals" [...] If you groom people for being leeches and backstabbers at your service, what do you think they'd do for you once you need them?"

"You can even see the strings," another person remarked about the photo. For those willing to take the risk of clicking an epo.org link, here it is. The totally Orwellian nonsense contained just one tiny photo (11 people in full body size with just 264 pixels across, 172 top to bottom). Well, the photo is so tiny that I can hardly even recognise a handful, and those whom I can recognise I already know too well not to recognise even with just 10-20 RGB pixels making up their faces.

“FFPE has about 4 people in it...”
      --Anonymous
This is what's known as "Photo op", which Wikipedia defines as "short for photograph opportunity (photo opportunity), is an arranged opportunity to take a photograph of a politician, a celebrity, or a notable event."

Wikipedia correctly notes that this "term has acquired a negative connotation, referring to a carefully planned pseudo-event, often masqueraded as news. It is associated with politicians who perform tasks such as planting trees, picking up litter, and visiting senior citizens, often during election cycles, with the intent of photographers catching the events on film, generating positive publicity."

One reader asked us earlier today: "Have you seen the EPO homepage???"

People are starting to notice, no doubt...

"FFPE has about 4 people in it," told us this reader. "FFPE only exists in The Hague."

"The longer Team Battistelli stays, the worse things will get for everyone, jeopardising everybody's jobs."Well, we heard estimates of ~20 members at most, but they don't want to say (despite queries), so it's quite likely less. They're close enough to the Battistelli-led circle that they hang out with Bergot, based on comments we saw. It's called 'controlled opposition' in some circles. The "good boy", i.e. FFPE, unlike the naughty boy (SUEPO) is how it works. Classic!

How can anyone not see what Battistelli is hoping to achieve here? Propaganda galore.

Rebuttal to the latest Team Battistelli lies (regarding results) will be published here tomorrow. Team Battistelli is quickly burning any remnant of reputation that the EPO ever earned. They hate the EPO so much -- unlike SUEPO (loving enough and caring to suggest improvements) -- that they lie to everyone and think that this will somehow stick. The longer Team Battistelli stays, the worse things will get for everyone, jeopardising everybody's jobs. The sooner Battistelli and his goons leave, the quicker the EPO will get back on its feet and restabilise. The EPO cannot coexist with Europe (or the EU) when it not only has a conflict with public interests but also with its own workers' interests and European law.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why We Support Richard Stallman and You Probably Should Too
It's not about being "Richard Stallman fan", it is about maintaining the right to hold positions (on technology) like his
Some Large German Media Covers Richard Stallman's Talks in Germany Earlier This Week
LLM-based chatbots are just "bullshit generators" (as he has long called them)
Trouble in Red Hat/IBM and a Retreat to Ponzi Economics in Search of Wall Street Market Heist
Would you invest your life savings in this kind of crap?
Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses)
The IRS does not reveal who or what's tied to this refund (or the cause/reason)
 
Slopwatch: Google News and Slopfarms That Relay Nonsense From LLMs
Google News, which once prioritised or used to care about provenance and quality, is feeding slopfarms
Links 23/10/2025: More Health Concerns Over Dumb Chatbots (LLMs) and "Talking Cars" as Latest Buzz
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Daylight Savings Time and Duration Shorthand
Links for the day
Links 23/10/2025: LLM 'Hallucinations' (Defects) in Practical Code 'Generation', China Becomes More Economically and Technologically Independent
Links for the day
Linux Foundation Uses LLM Slop to Promote Microsoft in Linux.com (Again), Rendering It a Linux-Hostile Slopfarm
Openwashing with slop by "Linux.com Editorial Staff", which basically seems to be a bot
Links 23/10/2025: Windows TCO Galore and "The Internet Is Going to Break Again"
Links for the day
Social engineering attack: Debian voted to trick you on binary blobs
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Will Always Stand for Women's Rights
We even invest money - personal savings that it - in our principles
Certified Lawyers Should Know Better (Than to Intimidate Us With Man Who Drives on Motorcycle Through a Really Bad Storm Between Distant Cities, Then Collects Photos of Our Home)
Mentioning someone was in prison for bad things isn't a crime, it's a public service
The "AI" (Slop) Bubble is Already Imploding
"ChatGPT Usage Has Peaked and Is Now Declining, New Data Finds"
The So-called "Sexy" Buckets (AI, Quantum) Cannot Save IBM From Reality, Shares Tank
"No matter how much financial hocus-pocus they use to reclassify revenues to land in the "sexy" buckets (AI, Quantum), it still smells old and musty - just like this company."
Paul Krugman is Wrong About the Scope of Mass Layoffs in the United States
A few years ago society was accelerating its journey towards feudalism, boosted by COVID-19
Links 23/10/2025: Proprietary Blunders and CISA's Latest Disclosure of Holes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/10/2025: Fast Past (F1), 99.9% Uptime
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Slopwatch: Google News is Promoting Fake 'Articles' About Fake Xubuntu, Fake Articles About Replacing Windows With GNU/Linux
The quality of the Web deteriorates and unless someone cleans up the mess, real sites will lose an incentive to produce anything
When "AI Layoffs" Mean Layoffs Due to the "AI" Bubble Popping
many people that are laid off by Microsoft claim to be specialists in "AI"
Mysterious grant forfeited, $100,000 from Software in the Public Interest accounts 2023
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: bullying, student union behaviour: Armijn Hemel's FSFE resignation
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Evidence: psychological abuse, stalking, Galia Mancheva, Susanne Eiswirt ignored by FSFE judgment for Matthias Kirschner
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Helping FSFE scam victims and conference organisers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Nigerian fraud in FSFE constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Worrying and Amusing Stories of "Clown Computing" Gone Awry
Many of these disasters could be avoided
Links 22/10/2025: Amazon Plans to Replace Workers With Robotics, AWS and Clown Computing in General Ridiculed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/10/2025: Niri Completely Changes Multitasking and Overview of Diff-ers
Links for the day
Links 22/10/2025: Study on Misinformation by Slop and Heavily Debt-Sabbled Microsoft OpenAI (ClosedSlop) Uses "Browser" as Gimmick/Distraction
Links for the day
They've Already Spent Close to a Million Dollars on Lawyers and Sent Us About 50 KG of Legal Papers (Sponsored by Mysterious Third Party) to Try to Censor Techrights, Without Success
They try to overcompensate with sheer volume for a lack of solid, clear arguments (we are the victims here)
12 Months Ago the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Officially Went 'Tag-Team'
We're actually sort of flattered or proud that such despicable people are so desperate to censor us
"Cloud Computing" Was Always a Joke, But This Week Was the Punchline
Maybe stop following tech trends and fashions
"Cloud Computing" Does Not Mean Safety
Fault tolerance is related to the notion of software freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Fall of Windows: From Something to Nothing
Of course Microsoft will pretend everything is fine and "just trust the hey hi" (AI)
Sounds Like Fedora is Ready to Become Less of a Slave of Microsoft (GitHub)
This seems like a belated move in a positive direction
XBox is a Dead Microsoft Product in a Dying Industry
It's probable that another wave of XBox layoffs is just over the horizon (maybe even before month's end)
Progress on Techrights Site Search
Fun times
IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Means the Layoffs Are Silent, Barely Reported
Don't wait to hear about "Red Hat layoffs"
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Happy Disconnection, AWS Falling Apart, Closing of Gemlog Blue
Links for the day
Full Audio of Today's Richard Stallman Talk in the Technical University of Munich
Free/Libre software and freedom in the digital society
Microsoft XBox is Just Vapourware (Promises of Hardware That Doesn't Exist), Real Products Perish
just as developers lose interest in developing for XBox Microsoft is increasing the costs imposed upon them
Slopwatch: Fake Articles (Slop) in "Linux" Clothing in Google News (Noise)
all about what Google does
Links 21/10/2025: Even "Inventor of Vibe Coding" Rejects Vibe Coding, USPTO Experiments With Slop in Examination
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Talk Now Available for Viewing (Archived Copy, Not Live-streamed)
This recording is over 2 hours old
Links 21/10/2025: AWS-Induced Chaos and Social Control Media Curbs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Programming, StarGrid, Brand-New Palm OS Strategy Game in 2025, and Chatbot as Addiction Mechanisms
Links for the day
The African Lion and the American Cowards
Safaris exist for people to watch and enjoy animals
Amazon Web Shenanigans Perfectly Timed for Today's Talk by Richard Stallman
Maybe listen to him instead of looking for excuses to ridicule the messenger
Mission:Libre Has Taken Off (Project by Carmen Maris)
there will be a lot more to report on next month (after the event)
Techrights to Publish More EPO Leaks Next Week
We're meanwhile also doing lots of work on search, whose interface now looks better
Links 21/10/2025: 'The Lost Art' of Neon Signs and Twitter (X) to Enable Identity Theft (or Handle Theft) as a Service
Links for the day
Plagiarism With LLM Slop: Hindustan Times (HT Digital Streams Limited) Has Become a Slop Factory/Hub
What a disgrace
A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe, by Richard Stallman
"The surveillance imposed on us today is worse than in the Soviet Union. We need laws to stop this data being collected in the first place"
Next Week We Launch Search at Techrights
We're planning to launch it some time next week. Maybe Tuesday, maybe Thursday.
Talk by Richard Stallman Will be Live-streamed in Less Than 10 Hours
Happy hacking
"No Kings" in the Software World (GAFAM Should Not Exist, Either)
"No Kings" is a good slogan. Let's start by ridding ourselves of masters, not only those who reside in DC or visit DC
Every Morning
Bugs/edge cases combined with automation can spell disaster
Insane, Deliberately Dishonest, or Just Another Bigot?
very intellectually-dishonest human being
A Lot of Techrights is Built on Perl
Perl also runs the sister site
The Register MS Selling Slop for Microsoft (Vapourware, Ponzi Scheme, False Claims)
What will be left of The Register MS if it keeps repeating falsehoods and looking to profit from Ponzi schemes?
analytics.usa.gov Says Less Than 14% of Web Requests (to Government Sites) Come From Vista 11
Vista 11 was released more than 4 years ago!
People Who Attempt to Take Down Correct Information Need a Doctor a Day
“Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” ― George Orwell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 20, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 20, 2025
Vista 11 is Sinking While Microsoft is PIPing (Mass Layoffs But Silent Layoffs)
We're witnessing a shift in platform dominance
Richard Stallman is Having a Good Week Already (Stallman Was Right About 'Clown Computing')
That alone is worth bringing up in his talk
An Update About Soylent News, With Jan Rinok "Back in the Saddle"
Burnout or "near burnout" a possibility when having to curate abuse
When Prominent GNU/Linux Distros Are Run by Spies
What has Microsoft Canonical become?
More Publishers and Companies Nowadays Say "GNU/Linux", Not "Linux"
It's not to see InstallAware saying GNU/Linux this week