Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Tyranny Comes Under Fire From Politicians in Luxembourg

Small (but very rich) countries aren't so easy to 'buy'

Luxembourg



Summary: The Luxembourgian Parliament is the latest among many to have concerns raised about Battistelli's atrocious regime at the European Patent Office (EPO)

"More political support and action this time from Luxembourg" was reported to us 2 days ago. It looks pretty serious, but there is no coverage about this in English. We waited, but nothing came up.



"Political actions," a source told us, "this time [come] from Luxembourg."

"They have a vote," added this source (alluding to the Administrative Council's meeting which later this month can (and ought to) sack Battistelli, "so glad to see that those countries start to wake up in sense. Hope the fire will spread."

Well, Battistelli is rumoured to be 'buying' the votes of small countries, which reveals a fundamental flaw (all countries, irrespective of their size, having an equal voice). "Unfortunately," our source told us, the only article about this (so far) is "in French and Luxembourgish [Luxembourgian?] however the translation will follow!"

We are stil waiting for a complete translation of this article. "Questions in the Luxembourgish parliament on 03-06-2016," we are told, include the following. It is an automated translation of the letter in this article:

Mr. Mars Di Bartolomeo President of the Chamber of Deputies luxembourg

Luxembourg, 3 June 2016

Mister President,

Hereby, I would ask a parliamentary question to the Minister of Economy.

For some years now a social conflict within the European Patent Office (EPO) opposes a portion of the EPO staff and their union, on one side, in the direction of the EPO in Rijswijk (Netherlands ), the other (see my parliamentary questions No. 338 of 6 June 2014 and 1018 of 25 March 2015).

In the dispute is the President of the EPO, Benoît Battistelli, due to various measures that it has decided against the union. A judgment of the Hague Court of Appeal also ordered the cancellation of these measures on the grounds that they are contrary to the fundamental rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, the Dutch government has prevented the implementation of the judgment by invoking the immunity would benefit EPO as an international organization in the States Parties. However in March, the President of the EPO had received a reprimand from the Board and a resolution approved by a majority of the 38 countries represented on the Board, President Battistelli was invited for measures to stop the trade unionists and to make a number of changes including recognizing the rights of employee representatives. In case of non-compliance with this resolution, the President of the EPO would risk the consequences much more severe by the Board.

However, according to the statements of the union, Mr. Batistelli does not consider to meet the above-mentioned resolution, but instead prepare new controversial reforms ia concerning health insurance and dismissal procedure. In this context, a British website issued as of 1 June 2016 a letter from the EPO Boards of Appeal have strongly criticized these reforms. These would aim a decrease of autonomy and independence of the legal body constituted by the EPO Boards of Appeal and do not respect internationally recognized principles of independence of the judicial powers.

I recollect that at the next meeting of the Board on 30 June in Munich, Luxembourg consider, in case of voting, to speak in favor of the current president.

In view of the above, I would like to ask the following questions to the Minister:

Sir Can confirm these recent developments in the social conflict folder within the EPO? Sir can confirm that the Luxembourg, where voting will speak in favor of the president in office despite the fact that it has adopted measures, which according to the Hague Court of Appeal violate the rights fundamental guaranteed by the European Convention on Human rights, despite its refusal to comply with the resolution adopted by the board in March? If so, Sir can it give the reasons for this intention to vote? Please accept, Mr. President, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Claudia Dall'Agnol

MP


If anyone has the capacity to accurately translate the above article or has access to more information about this, please comment below or contact us in private.

Recent Techrights' Posts

SoylentNews Grows Up, Registers as a Business, Site Traffic Reportedly Grows
More people realise that social control media may in fact be a passing fad
 
Garden Season Starts Today
Outdoor time, officially...
More Information About Public Talks That Richard Stallman Gave This Week in Europe
Two talks in Switzerland
Engadget is Still a Spamfarm, It's Just an Amazon Catalogue (SPAM/SEO), a Sea of Junk Disguised as "Articles" With Few 'Fillers' (Real Articles) in Between
Engadget writes for bots now, not for humans
Richard Stallman's Talks in Switzerland This Week
We need to put an end to 'cancer culture'; it's trying to kill people and it is even swatting people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 28, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, March 28, 2024
[Meme] EPO's New Ways of Working (NWoW), a.k.a. You Don't Even Get a Desk at Work and Cannot be Near Known Colleagues
Seems more like union-busting (divide and rule)
Hiding Microsoft's Culpability in Security Breaches and Other Major Blunders (in the United Kingdom, This May Mean You Can't Get Food)
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is vast
Giving back to the community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 28/03/2024: Sega, Nintendo, and Bell Layoffs
Links for the day
Open letter to the ACM regarding Codes of Conduct impersonating the Code of Ethics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries