Bonum Certa Men Certa

Anonymous EPO Staff: EPO Management's Moral Compass is Broken

"I am afraid (and very sorry) to say that even among the EPO’s top officials, the principle of the Rule of Law does not seem to be respected very much. Where are you, Administrative Council?" (source: Kluwer Patent Blog)

Batti degage



Summary: An anonymous message from EPO insiders who are concerned about the state of the Office under Battistelli's misguided and reckless leadership

As staff, we have been asking ourselves the same question for the past 3€½ years. In the last few sessions of the AC, the delegations seemed to realise that they need to act. But acting goes beyond voting on and writing down statements of intent.



What more is needed to make the Council do the right thing?

Staff still gets its bearings right, though.



We have observed the structural erosion of quality, legal and professional standards in the Office. We can clearly see how a sequence of actions was targeted at dismantling all elements in the chain of due process. Staff and all interested observers now understand how utterly unashamed the EPO's senior management are of their despicable acts.

When the only way to deal with difficult union officials is to fire them and when so many staff members feel underappreciated and ill-used, it is clear that something is badly wrong. ... The impression given by recent events is not one of firm, balanced management, but of management by intimidation. That is no way to run a patent office.


How deep do we still need to sink? When will we cry outrage and put an end to it?

The unfair dismissal of staff representatives - first Ion and Elizabeth, and now Laurent - is merely the most perverse expression of exercising limitless power. What works for staff representatives will most certainly work when used against average staff members. And why does it work? Because management is getting away with abusing the Privileges and Immunities awarded to the Organisation for the purpose of exercising its duties free of obstruction.

The madness has to stop. We cannot be seen any longer as being just as half-hearted as the Council in our claims and acts. Our claims are few and clear:

Managers must stand to account for their acts!

Their irresponsible behaviour, including "harassment ... by exclusion, isolation and intimidation" and ignoring the Council's March resolution justifies dismissal1.

This week's demonstration of EPO staff at The Hague must be the biggest ever. We all need to show our determination:

Mr Battistelli, Mr Topić and Ms Bergot must go.

Our dismissed staff representatives Ion, Elisabeth and Laurent must be reinstated.

The downgradings of Malika, Michael and Aurélien must be reversed, and the house ban on the DG3 judge must be lifted.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
Links 10/06/2025: Jaws at 50 and US Democracy Crushed Very Rapidly (Martial Law Seems Imminent)
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VII: Washing Their Hands After Corruption and Abuse
"Tragedy or comedy?"
Culling Bad RSS Feeds of Bad Sites
Not throwing out the baby with the bathwater
 
IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Links 10/06/2025: Apple Hype and Physical Attacks on Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/06/2025: Loon Lake, Farming, and Forth
Links for the day
If 'Microsoft v Techrights' is Dealt With by a 'Microsoft Court' (or a Court Outsourced to Microsoft)
More on that later
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 09, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 09, 2025
Gemini Protocol Turns Six in 10 Days From Now
If you haven't tried it yet, then give it a go today
Live as You Preach
technology is fast becoming dysphoric
Gemini Links 09/06/2025: Addition Addiction and Nitride
Links for the day
Links 09/06/2025: Science, Hardware Projects, and Democracy Receding
Links for the day
Computers Got Smaller, So GNU/Linux Got Bigger
Many people here recognise the lack of urgency (or need) to get expensive new laptops
BetaNews is a Plagiarism and LLM Slop Hub, the Chief Editor Isn't Addressing This Problem Anymore
SS Fagioli is basically a parasite leeching off or exploiting other people's work
Links 09/06/2025: Chaos in Los Angeles and Hurricane Season
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Grows at Windows' Expense and Microsoft Trolls Infest and Maliciously Target Articles About It
Microsoft is - and has long been - organised crime
They Say I'm Mr. Bombastic
They didn't take good lawyers
Links 09/06/2025: Windows TCO and Many Data Breaches
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VI: Political Stunts by Former President Edyta Demby-Siwek and the Connection to Profound Corruption at EUIPO
it's like a money-laundering operation where one politician rewards another at taxpayers' expense
Gemini Links 09/06/2025: Pipelines and Splitgate
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 08, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 08, 2025