Bonum Certa Men Certa

Victim Card Ends up in Another Blunder for Battistelli and His Six Bodyguards

Megalomania and paranoia are not so far apart

EPO Frame Breaking



Summary: Battistelli is wrecking what's left of the EPO's reputation (after decades it took the Office to earn it) as the media continues to scrutinise his appalling regime

IN SPITE of an effort to keep a low profile, the EPO is receiving unwanted attention from European TV, from European politicians, and even Croatian authorities. There's more on the way, based on our sources. In the mean time, judging by this article from earlier today, patent scope at the EPO comes under fire again. To quote:



In May, a record 65,000 people from 30 countries and 32 organizations have backed the complaint issued to the European Patent Office due to the approval of a Syngenta tomato discovered in South America and cultivated by traditional methods.

The tomato was accepted as an "invention" in August 2015, with patent EP1515600, which further describes a "flavonoid pathway in the production and domestication method of the tomato." This gives the Swiss company Syngenta the power over all plants with the characteristics mentioned, including seeds and even fruits and foods derived from them.

"This so-called "invention", however, is simply a crossing of tomatoes originating in Peru and Chile, with varieties currently grown in industrialised countries," said via email to La Gran Época María Carrascosa, of the association Red de Semillas, which joined the international coalition "Against patents on seeds".


There should be similar movements against software patents at the EPO. This relates to the UPC and we are aware of organisation against it (work in progress apparently).

Regarding the presidential bike story (updated thrice by now), one person asks: "Why would an (alleged) tampering with brakes matter at all? I can't imagine BB [Battistelli] braking for anyone or anything..."

There is now even a whole article about it, published earlier today at The Register. To quote some bits: "Every CEO knows it's impossible to be universally liked. But when staff start cutting your brakes, maybe it's time to consider moving on.

"The president of the European Patent Office (EPO), Benoit Battistelli, has already been on the receiving end of an official censure from his board, a series of strikes, several highly critical news reports, and a zero per cent confidence rating. But an announcement sent to all staff on Wednesday topped the lot.

""Deliberate damage to personal property of the President," read the subject line in an email sent from EPO vice president Željko Topić and seen by The Register."

Here is a new fact. Battistelli apparently has nothing short of six (6!) bodyguards now. That's insane and no wonder it's so expensive. To quote: "That's not all. According to reports, the EPO has recently hired no fewer than six bodyguards to provide "close protection" of Battistelli for six months for the princely sum of €550,000 ($615,000).

"The irony of the EPO paying hundreds of thousands of euros to protect Battistelli from his own staff while cutting the salaries and benefits of staff representatives that stood up to his reorganization plans has not been lost on people.

"Incredibly, however, despite an ever-increasing outcry against Battistelli and his executive team and several meetings of the EPO's Administrative Council focused solely on how to overcome the breakdown in staff-management communication, Battistelli is still refusing to budge an inch.

"Despite being told to fix the situation and scale back the problems in March, Battistelli has instead proposed reforms that have angered staff even more. They are now planning yet more protests to take place during the organization's annual PR showpiece, the EPO European Inventor Award in June."

“It is worth explaining that EPO has been granted sovereignty status by the European Commission, hence no local laws apply and its president has status almost equal to that of a head of state (totalitarian one).”
      --Anonymous
This is very negative publicity for the EPO. "The EPO Also Ranks No. 1 in Having the Most Unpopular President," wrote Patent Buddy, perhaps alluding to the IAM nonsense (also published earlier today).

Looking at some of the comments on this article, there is no sympathy at all for Battistelli. One person says: "There's a line in HHGG about "waiting for the right...price". I'd sack the whole board as well, they are supposed to ensure that situations like this never occur."

Another comment says: "It is worth explaining that EPO has been granted sovereignty status by the European Commission, hence no local laws apply and its president has status almost equal to that of a head of state (totalitarian one)."

The number of bodyguards is then brought up: "SIX bodyguards?

"I assume that means he has 24x7 protection and more than one bodyguard much of the time. Apparently they're worried about a team coming after him, not a single disgruntled individual."

Many jokes ensued, e.g.: "Good job no one tried to kill the VP

“I mean if he needs bodyguards surely a bicycle isn't an option.”
      --Anonymous
"That would be going off Topic"

Here is another joke: "Do the bodyguards have bikes too and how exactly would that work?

"Do they flank him either side? Follow from behind at a safe distance?

"I mean if he needs bodyguards surely a bicycle isn't an option."

Finally: "From now on, he'll probably use a bullet proof bicycle."

There is more coming Battistelli's way in the negative publicity sense. The harder he tries to paint himself as a victim, the worse it gets for him.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Against Outsourcing of Sites and E-mail
Software Freedom is great, but it is not enough if you let someone else do it 'for you'
Drew DeVault: People Talking About My Attack Site (Against the Founder of GNU/Linux) is "Spam"
"Spam on sr.ht mailing lists"
"Oppose the Fascist"
what the founder of GNU/Linux said
Halloween, All Saints Day & Swiss citizenship
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Saving the Planet With Honesty, Transparency, and Sharing (Not Only of Computer Code)
GAFAM is destroying the only habitat humans and other animals have and it'll only get worse
Shout-out to Christine From FOSSForce
Who noticed our short story
Apple's MacOS Shows Us the Vision of Computing That GAFAM Has for Us (Digital Prisons)
Freedom means "we the people" should be in control, not people being controlled by corporations (contemporary slaveowners)
 
Microsoft Bribing Canonical (to Stop Competing) and Bribing Users to Shun the Competition
Canonical is worth shunning
Disinformation About Election Outcomes Even Before Any Election Outcomes (or Election/Voting!)
seeding doubt about election outcomes
[Meme] The 2024 'Info Bros'
And prehistoric googling
Computers Getting Worse (for the User) Over Time
This is like Windows-ism coming to "Linux" through the hardware
[Meme] How NOT to Vote
Another form of (mostly-unspoken-of) election interference
An LLM Inside a 'Search' Engine Means That Companies Tell You What They Want, Not What Web Pages to Visit
The future of 'googling' things might be as unreliable as using Social Control Media as a source of information
Google's Debt Has Increased and 'Cash on Hand' Fell by 22.27% This Past Year
These are the numbers that the corporate media intentionally leaves out
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 04, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 04, 2024
There's a Reason Why Techrights is Turning 18 and Tux Machines Will Turn 20.5 Next Month
I started advocating GNU/Linux when I was a teenager
Techrights Has a Long History of Fighting to Expose 'Team Mono' or Microsofters Inside GNOME
Never downplay the malice of Microsoft and its operatives
Gemini Links 05/11/2024: Halloween Over, Intention and Implementation, Bookmark Syncing
Links for the day
Microsoft Lost Nearly Half of Its 'Cash Reserves' This Past Year
Is Microsoft (MSFT) the next Intel (INTC)?
The Year Isn't Over Yet, There Will be More Waves of Microsoft Layoffs
Nowadays Microsoft just tries to conflate/equate its energy waste with "value"
The Corporate Media Blasted Bitcoin for Destroying the Planet and Must Do the Same to Incite the Public Against the 'Great Rigging of Wall Street' (Under the Guise of "AI", the Latest Gold Rush)
"AI" is the next "metaverse" (trailing by a few months)
[Video] Richard Stallman is Back to Halo and Gown (in Peru) With 2+ Hours of a Public Talk
The globetrotting Richard Stallman gave many talks at the end of last month
Going Strong Against the Wind
the abuse serves to emphasise or affirm the importance of what we do
Links 04/11/2024: Squashing More Software Patents and Taiwan at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/11/2024: Typing vs Writing and a Smol (Net) Pub
Links for the day
Links 04/11/2024: LibreOffice Had Adopted PeerTube, "Hey Hi" Hype is a Threat to the Energy Grids (Worse Than Fake-Coins)
Links for the day
[Meme] Social Control Telescreens With Microphone
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Not Boycotting Apple (Yet)?
"Apple Forces The Signing Of Applications In MacOS Sequoia 15.1"
statCounter This Month: Android Has Nearly Become Twice as Big as Windows
If it happened, it would be an unprecedented milestone
Why Technical Sites Need Not Make Political Recommendations or Endorsements
Except perhaps when it's for some purely technical role, e.g. FCC chief
[Meme] Apple Freedom
Freedom is... the ability to purchase as many 'i' things as you want
"Active" as in One URL, One Emoji, and 4 Words in One Week
Diversity community in Fedora
Apple Vision Pro Has Failed, Just Like "Metaverse"
Vision Pro lacks software
Things That Can Improve Election Integrity
the first two relate to "tech"
Rigging Elections is Difficult, Cheating a Little is Not
Avoid social control media, it is the biggest rigger of all
"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"
On throwing stones in a glass house
Our Stance on Electronic (or Digital) Voting Machines
The simple activity of voting and counting ballots does not require thousands of complex machines with hundreds of millions of transistors and hundreds of millions of lines of code
Microsoft and "Retrospective Re-writing of History..."
in YouTube anyone can make stuff up (as one goes along)
This Coming Week
Go exercise your right to vote
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 03, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, November 03, 2024
Reddit is (Still) Lying and Faking
Don't fall for this phony idea that the above sites are grassroots or edgy; they're not
GNU/Linux Users Are Not Cheaters
The bottom line is, most cheaters use Windows
Links 04/11/2024: FCC, Broadband Industry Spar Over Net Neutrality; Software Patent Squashed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Official MyGemini.Space Announcement
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Election Thoughts, Plagiarism, and LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 03/11/2024: Deere 'Right to Repair' (RoR) and "Threads Bans Anyone For Mentioning Hitler"
Links for the day
[Video] "El Movimiento del Software Libre y el Sistema Operativo GNU" by Richard M. Stallman
The footage is a bit jittery (taken with a phone apparently, and there's no tripod available), but the sound is OK and the words (in Spanish) are comprehensible
Android at New Highs (47%), Windows at New Lows (24%), Suggests Latest Data From statCounter
So the market share of Android is about double that of Windows
[Video] Richard Stallman's Talk in Spanish (in Peru Last Week)
Alternative URLs too
The Media Focuses on the Wrong Scandal
The real scandal at MIT was Gates
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Fantasy Life Day and Worship
Links for the day
[Meme] Write Us Drivers and GTFO!
When you realise sanctioning BRICS devs goes against the community
Decommissioning Copper Lines Makes Us Less Safe
We've essentially degraded the robustness or reliability of critical systems
Life of an Addicted Lolicon Who Can Also Code
Personal blog as an open diary
[Meme] Reporting Crime is Not a Crime
Obviously!
Manchester Party for Techrights
If you choose to come, of course we'll cover the cost of the food and treats (but not travel)
Privacy is Not a Crime (in Places Where It is a Crime the Regime is Typically Very Rogue)
Also, criminals lack "privacy rights" to hide their crimes from the public
GNU/Linux "Market Share" in Lebanon More Than Doubled in a Few Months
Maybe it's a reaction to something? Assassination in Haret Hreik was in July.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 02, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 02, 2024
Nearly 40 Years Without Security Incidents
People who use Windows have come to sort of "accept" that security incidents are part of life or "normal"
[Meme] The Streisand Effect
Simon says, don't bother trying to suppress facts
Streisand Effect at IBM?
Trying to silence your workers isn't the best approach. It only makes colleagues even more curious.
Microsoft is a Gift That Keeps Giving (Future Stories to Techrights)
Microsoft has been trying to silence me using dirty tricks for nearly 20 years
Elon Musk Has Trashed Twitter for Ideological Reasons (and Propping Up Trump in Exchange for Financial and Political Favours Once in Public Office)
In case you didn't leave Twitter already, consider the fact that Twitter's (or "X"... whatever!) future is uncertain
Wall Street Has Demoted Intel, Seeing There May be No Future to Intel
Intel's loss isn't a loss to us
Free Software Licence Compliance is About Security Too
Linux as de facto proprietary off-the-shelf platform