Bonum Certa Men Certa

The European Patent Office is in a State of Transition, But Not Battistelli's Transition or 'Reform'

The end of heartless leadership

Wizard of Oz



Summary: As Battistelli is expected to be on his way out (some sources tell us ejection is likely to happen in June), there is no denying that big changes are afoot and we take stock of some

We previously published hundreds of articles about the European Patent Office, which had threatened to sue us for writing about its many abuses. Two of the latest developments we might as well want to repeat/highlight/cover in depth. These developments are as follows:



  1. About 60% of the EPO's staff voted for a strike two days ago. They are fed up with the management's abuses. There are strikes and protests imminent.
  2. The President is probably about to get sacked (or pressured to resign), mostly for his abuses against the course of (in)justice and union-busting.


A lot of this is being covered in German and in Dutch (among other languages). It's in newspapers, television programs, and radio. These articles or broadcasts also increasingly cover the role of EPO abuses in staff suicides, which soared under Battistelli.

“A more diplomatic president would have heeded the warnings earlier: when in a hole it’s usually best to stop digging.”
      --Anonymous
Not so much coverage about these matters can be found in the UK, possibly due to language barriers and the distance from the patent offices/headquarters, which are all in central Europe (continental). The Register, WIPR and a few IP-centric news sites are being the exception when it comes to coverage in the English language (there is only one writer at The Register who's keeping abreast of EPO developments, so the other coverage mostly targets lawyers, who are a niche audience).

“The EPO said that the door is still open to SUEPO to sign the MOU,” said this very recent article from WIPR. So the wolf said his door is open to sheep. This is merely pretense of amicability or peace. How many people are willing to fall for it? Lesser informed journalists might interpret this as 'evidence' of these problems having been resolved, or SUEPO being the vicious, merciless party.

According to this new article from MIP (English site for lawyers):

The Administrative Council also discussed the envisaged structural reform of the Boards of Appeal which may lead to a relocation of the Boards of Appeal to premises not shared with other departments of the EPO, possibly even remote from Munich, such as in Berlin or Vienna. Concrete proposals could be decided upon by the Administrative Council as early as at its March meeting.


The headline of the article says "Organisational concerns in spite of performance gains," but it shouldn't be taking at face value the so-called 'results' that the EPO keeps repeating even in Twitter this morning and afternoon [1, 2, 3], despite these so-called 'results' being deficient and increasingly the subject of ridicule. See what Francisco Moreno, whom we recently mentioned here, wrote about it last week:

Filings & Applications

Churras & Merinas

Pears & Apples

Platos & Tazas

#EPOresults


People who work in this area increasingly realise that the EPO isn't telling the full story, just as it's lying to journalists and lying to staff. When I leaked a document which the EPO later admitted was authentic the EPO's Twitter account told angry lawyers that I was "wrong" (for merely showing a document!). A week later the EPO threatened to sue me.

We were rather amused this morning to see that someone in IP Kat doubting the legitimacy of the leaked documents we published last night. Well, we have the originals (definitely authentic) but published the text only in order to protect the source. Here is one response posted in relation to that:

This seems to show what will be the line of defense of battistelli will be: disciplinary authority is my prerogative, there is no legal basis for an external/independent review.

This guy does not seem to understand the pressure under which the AC - and the ministers at home (see the answer of Haas in the BR report) - find itself as a result of the intense media coverage about the EPO.

He may get away with his stupid arguments, but this will make the things only worse because the question will continue to linger:

if the disciplinary action were taken following the law - as they continue to repeat -, WHY IS IT THAT THE PRESIDENT DOES NOT WANT ANYBODY TO HAVE A LOOK AT IT?

If battistelli does not agree with the requests of the AC, he may always file an appeal at the ILO ...


Here is a response to the above:

He won't need to do that.

Look at Article 10 of the Rules of Procedure of the Administrative Council: "Article 18 - Specific provisions concerning the review and appeal procedures for Council decisions (1) The President of the European Patent Office shall draft an opinion for the Council on the request for review. (2) Taking into account the opinion referred to in paragraph 1, the Council, in accordance with Article 109 of the Service Regulations for permanent employees of the European (a) shall decide whether the request for review is receivable and, if so, (b) shall take a decision on the merits of the request for review."

http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/F44EA2A833862CD9C1257B1A00322E35/$File/CAD12010_en.pdf

In other words all he has to do is to file a request for review. He then gets to draft the opinion on the basis of which the Council decides on his request.


Lastly, here is a comment which says Battistelli "has dug himself into a hole" and that "when in a hole it's usually best to stop digging."

The President has dug himself into a hole, despite warnings and instructions to the contrary from the AC, and now he can't get out of it without presenting SUEPO a major victory. A more diplomatic president would have heeded the warnings earlier: when in a hole it's usually best to stop digging.

This presents the AC with a problem. What's needed at the present time is conciliation, not a major victory for one side or the other. But the President is making conciliation impossible.


Whether the PR team admits it or not (it is paid to lie to or mislead people), the EPO is in a state of transition right now. There's turmoil that only a major overhaul can end.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nonfree Software in My Bank, by Richard Stallman
Updated 8 hours ago
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
 
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
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
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
The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles