Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Crisis: What If There Was an Administrative Council Meeting and Nobody Came?

Delegates' no-show protest?

Empty Administrative Council meeting



Summary: A reader lays out one possible approach for national protests that can help put an end to the Battistelli era at the European Patent Office (EPO)

GIVEN THE abundant evidence of gross abuses by EPO management, any national delegate would have to be blind, dishonest, or even corruptible to pretend that everything is fine, even when Board 28 admits it's a disaster.



One of our readers tried to come up with a plan. How can one bypass Battistelli's timely gifts and protest without facing the severe consequences from the Napoleonic Nobel wannabe.

"Judging by what I read from the recent Techrights posts," said this reader, "chances are high that Bastardelli [sic] will have his ass saved by a bunch of votes bought from minor countries. Like this, I guess also those countries who oppose him will save their faces by stating they voted against but kept actually enjoying the present regime with him still on the saddle."

“...I guess also those countries who oppose him will save their faces by stating they voted against but kept actually enjoying the present regime with him still on the saddle.”
      --Anonymous
We have actually heard things along those lines (or to that effect) for quite some time. Battistelli is playing games with other people's money. He continues to use money as a carrot-and-stick utility.

"They will simply say that there is nothing else they could do," our reader added, alluding to what s/he called "minor countries."

The reader continued: "Well, actually there is something, and it is quite something, major Countries could do: to withdraw their delegates in protest from the Council and from the Convention altogether.

"I know this is a strong step, but just the threat of it would be effective: it would devoid of legitimation the very existence of the AC and of the European Patent Convention. In fact, it seems to me that in case Battistelli stays on, this would be the only way to press on the whole AC and on Kongstad to take responsibility, for an intolerable situation that should no longer exist. It would also turn to be of major impact for the public, FIFA style.

"Unless, of course, major court cases explode nationally, but that would take more time and may still not happen at all: national Courts would still need major reasons for wanting to pick up their responsibilities in EPO related issues, pretending to respect an immunity that should not actually exist for criminal charges.

“It would also turn to be of major impact for the public, FIFA style.”
      --Anonymous
"To withdraw a delegation from the AC would be equivalent to the closure of diplomatic relations between countries, the step previous military hostilities... I guess this would be the only way left that "virtuous" Countries could play to limit and eventually reverse the power bought by Battistelli in the AC and possibly to start a tide against Battistelli."

Such a strategy would only be truly effective if several major delegations participated in it at the same time, so coordination may be needed.

"Maybe we should make a lobby in sync to every delegation for that," our reader suggested, "I considered that for my own delegation, but as a single individual issue, that would never be taken seriously. Now issues are far from being individual ones. And if more countries dare this threat..."

"This theatre should have been stopped already a long time ago," one new comment in IP Kat said earlier today. Here is the full comment:



After a few years following the development within the EPO under Battistell(BB) as President and Jesper Kongstad (JK) as chairman of the Administrative Council (AC) I come to the conclusion that only the representatives of the big countries in the AC (NL,DE,GB,FR,CH,IT,SP) can stop this disasterous development by demanding very strongly a diplomatic conference as forseen in the EPC. BB and JK are big friends. It is the tactics of this ۬team۬ BB and the AC with chief JK and with many BB-friends in the group of representatives of the small countries, to demand from BB as AC things to do and not do and when BB is doing nothing the AC is also doing nothing. This theatre should have been stopped already a long time ago.


This seems to be a strategy supported by quite a few people. Here are the contact details of all the delegates. Maybe our readers can explain to them this strategy and put an end to Battistelli's coup (or reign of terror, even over delegates whom he reportedly threatens/bullies).

Recent Techrights' Posts

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
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"
 
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
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
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
Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games
Links for the day
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol