03.16.17
Posted in America, Patents at 12:07 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The court system versus a self-justifying patent ‘industry’, which tries to guard and expand its power by broadening patent scope ad infinitum
“But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs — balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage — balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration. “
–Dwight D. Eisenhower
Summary: The latest developments in the United States, which is now attempting to undo the damage caused by overpatenting — a trap which the EPO and SIPO are currently being lured into
FOLLOWING the SCOTUS ruling on Alice — a ruling which was embraced by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) after corrupt people like Randall Rader had left (he is still trying to return to positions of power) — software patents have been invalidated centre, right and left. It’s actually pretty major news, typically celebrated by the patent microcosm, when a software patent is upheld by a high court as valid. Whatever the USPTO grants, it doesn’t matter much until the patent is actually put up to the test at a court of law. More often than not we find out that the USPTO granted patents in error (worryingly enough a trend which will grow in Europe now that patents are flying off the EPO‘s shelves, including software patents that are by principle invalid).
“More often than not we find out that the USPTO granted patents in error (worryingly enough a trend which will grow in Europe now that patents are flying off the EPO’s shelves, including software patents that are by principle invalid).”The US patent system became notorious for granting patents on all sorts of things provided it says “over the Internet”, “on a computer”, and more recently “on a phone”. We saw one such example in yesterday’s ‘news’, namely “Patent for smartphone connectable scanner published in USA” (it’s about exactly what it sounds like, nothing novel here). One of the most notorious patent trolls in the US was going systematically after every conceivable business that could cough up money and used a scanner (we wrote about that many times before). It’s something akin to business methods if not software patents.
It is in light of this that the arrival of PTAB is very much welcomed and needed. According to this new article, a “Versata Patent [is] Targeted By Ford Ineligible For CBM Review” by PTAB:
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board declined Wednesday to institute an America Invents Act covered business method review of a Versata Development Group Inc. software patent that was challenged by Ford Motor Co., finding the patent was not eligible for the review program.
The AIA states that the CBM program — which allows the PTAB to review patents on grounds not available in inter partes reviews, including that it is directed to an abstract idea — is designed for patents that are related to financial products…
Another new PTAB article from the a trolls-friendly publisher (IAM) bemoans these reviews and sobs for a firm that produces nothing at all. To quote:
According to Lex Machina, during the period between 17th January and 17th February, IP Bridge was on the receiving end of 18 IPRs filed by GlobalFoundries, 4 filed by Xilinx and one each from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and ARM.
The Xilinx petitions came on the same day that the US chip company made a complaint for declaratory judgment of patent non-infringement covering 12 patents. The San Jose-based company also challenged the validity of four of those patents. IP Bridge had earlier sued Xilinx in the Eastern District of Texas over two separate rights, neither of which is being challenged at the PTAB.
We wrote about this quite recently, after IAM had published another sob story for the aggressor.
It certainly looks as though PTAB is gradually becoming a force for good, whose workload is also increasing. It deserves expansion, i.e. more staff (the same goes for the EPO’s appeal boards). People like Dennis Crouch try to slow PTAB down and yesterday he wrote about the term “technical”, which itself is somewhat of an abstract term. He looked closely at Clarilogic v FormFree Holdings. He said: “The principle that patent prosecutors are following today is in the headline: Get Technical or Get Denied.”
“It certainly looks as though PTAB is gradually becoming a force for good, whose workload is also increasing.”MIP, another patent maximalist, wrote about a case against the US government and Elbit (covered here over the weekend). This was not the usual case outcome, so they like to bring attention to it (drawing attention to the 20% or so of cases that are ruled in favour of the patent microcosm).
What we ought to note here is that none of this is new; people who are in the business of patents just want more and more of them. They’ll never have “enough”.
“The patenting of living organisms remains controversial, despite decades of debate. Sirena Rubinoff provides a guide to the arguments,” MIP wrote in a separate news article.
“The problem boils down to granting of patents based on greedy people’s guidelines — those who quantify the “success” of a granting authority (patent office) by the number of patents granted rather than the quality of patents granted (which is a much harder thing to objectively measure).”These patents are outrageous and unacceptable; it isn’t patent-eligible in most places. Even the EPO was forced, at least temporarily, to stop doing it (after it had repeatedly failed to comply with directives).
Such patents are not just abstract but pertaining to naturally-recurring (reproducible in nature) things. How long will it take for people to recognise that sites like IAM or MIP describe as a victim anyone whose supposed patents are not respected by courts? The problem boils down to granting of patents based on greedy people’s guidelines — those who quantify the “success” of a granting authority (patent office) by the number of patents granted rather than the quality of patents granted (which is a much harder thing to objectively measure). █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 11:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
After Team Battistelli had paid a lot of money for FTI Consulting to manipulate the German media, as it did, aided by threats
Summary: As EPO patent application numbers decrease and stock runs out the Administrative Council still refuses to see what’s going on (or refuses to actually act while driving into a wall) and German media acts as though all is fine and dandy in Munich, which now fosters Europe’s biggest embarrassment
THE USPTO has been tightening patent scope, whereas the EPO does the very opposite — a terrible strategy which would prove very costly to Europeans.
Earlier this week we wrote two articles about how the EPO tried to distract from the decline in patent applications, namely:
The EPO has not gotten tired of its bogus, unscientific info [sic] graphic (based on missing data, in order to defend bogus figures). Today, for the third day in a row, it posted the same info [sic] graphic again, this time with a German ‘flavour’.
“Applications from Germany grew in 2016 reversing the downward trend of the previous years,” it said. How about all those countries (missing from the EPO’s map) where 2016 saw a reversal from increase to decrease? The EPO hasn’t the integrity to name the many such countries! Maybe it even lacks the space (in the info [sic] graphic to list them all).
“I imagine he [Kongstad] has made a decision between two options: a) abandon him [Battistelli] (and be sacked by him now), or b) attempt to prop him up for as long as possible (and be sacked along side him).”
–AnonymousAmplifying Battistelli’s propaganda right now, in German (which means Battistelli cannot read it), is this article which was in turn propped up by the EPO’s Twitter account (see retweets, it was sent to all those bogus accounts that "follow" EPO).
What’s wrong with this article other than the ridiculous picture (“innovation”)? Mind the headline; the headline does not match the body, as it actually helps distract from the declines in applications and instead focuses on the low-quality arrivals from China (we had already explained why these are of very low quality). We took a screenshot of the relevant portion, derived from this automated translation. A few months ago we said "Shame on the German Media for the Media Blackout Surrounding EPO Protests in Munich (and Sometimes Berlin)" and we are still left wondering why British media does an order of magnitude more work covering the EPO scandals than the German media, about the Office which is based in Germany!
What happened to German media? Germans too are often wondering.
Right now in Germany, Jesper Kongstad, a heartless Dane, is herding the Administrative Council’s delegates. He must be herding them like he is herding chinchillas: Lock them up in golden cages, eventually sell them to millionaires.
“Does the Turkish patent office have an opening at the moment? Sounds like this guy would fit right in with Erdogan and his cronies. They’d get along like a house on fire.”
–AnonymousHere is a good explanation of what goes on with Kongstad (in reality, technically, he cannot be sacked by Battistelli, through Battistelli can lobby and stage a coup, like he did against a judge, against SUEPO and so on): “I imagine he [Kongstad] has made a decision between two options: a) abandon him [Battistelli] (and be sacked by him now), or b) attempt to prop him up for as long as possible (and be sacked along side him).”
Eventually, as in all such scandals (e.g. FIFA), consequences will likely be severe.
One person has just asked: “Wouldn’t it be nice to get the courier with the ‘you are fired’ notice be called Thor?”
“They are like parasites preying on the host that they are killing while nations (outside NPOs, i.e. outside the patent microcosm) refuse to intervene.”Another person asked (about Battistelli): “Does the Turkish patent office have an opening at the moment? Sounds like this guy would fit right in with Erdogan and his cronies. They’d get along like a house on fire.”
If anyone can leak to us the results of the Administrative Council’s votes, we will certainly appreciate it. This way we’ll know whose E-mail addresses to publish (for inquiries regarding Battistelli complicity).
This cannot go on for much longer. The EPO is dying. It’s running out of work and it won't be long before it results in massive, unprecedented layoffs. The future of the EPO as a whole is now at stake while Team Battistelli is busy enriching itself with complicity of well-paid delegates. They are like parasites preying on the host that they are killing while nations (outside NPOs, i.e. outside the patent microcosm) refuse to intervene. █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 7:34 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Like putting Kongstad in charge of cages with chinchillas (for systematic slaughtering in the name of rich people’s ‘fashion’)…
See "Controversial Chinchilla Farming by the Kongstad Family" for more such photos
Summary: Growing media scrutiny follows a growing number of complaints against Benoît Battistelli, who has constructed his own authoritarian kingdom at the very heart of civilised Bavaria and refuses to leave in spite of the endless scandals, his age (which disqualifies him), and many other factors that would land anyone else in court, if it wasn’t for the diplomatic immunity
THE German media keeps silent about its own back yard, but British media is another matter altogether.
The EPO‘s much-disputed ‘king’ was scrutinised by the Switzerland-based (but English-speaking) IP Watch last night (i.e. yesterday) and today Kieren McCarthy published a detailed list of the latest complaints against Battistelli, namely:
Another wave of letters condemning the controversial president of the European Patent Office, Benoit Battistelli, has been sent ahead of a meeting of the organization’s Administrative Council this week in Munich.
The council is due to discuss posting a vacancy notice for the presidency, with Battistelli’s term due to end in July 2018 – a step that would lead to the controversial Frenchman being turned into a lame duck president as soon as this July.
Among the letters are:
- One from an unofficial group of EPO staff (EPO Flier) who called on the Administrative Council – for a fourth time – to take action against Battistelli.
- One from the Federation of International Civil Servants Associations (FISCA) to Mr Battistelli lodging a “formal complaint against what has evidently become systematic mistreatment of staff representatives.”
- One from the staff association of CERN to the EPO’s staff union, SUEPO, offering its support in its “battle to maintain the possibility to perform your union duties in accordance with the prevailing conditions in all international organisations.”
- One from the staff representative of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt to German Chancellor Angela Merkel outlining Battistelli’s behavior and asking her to pressure the German representative to EPO to stop supporting the president.
- Another from EPO Flier to the Dutch government – which is reviewing the EPO’s behavior – outlining its concerns and suggesting questions that should be asked.
We’ve found the comments interesting. One query suggests that a lot of people are still unaware of the many scandals. To quote:
For those unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding him, might it not be a good idea to actually detail why these complaints are happening?
What activities has he been undertaking?
What are the unpopular reforms he’s imposing?
Responses soon came, one of which said:
Google is your friend, but if you have not been following this saga you better make yourself a cup of your favourite warm beverage first because it’s a (far too) loooong collection of events.
The short version is that this man should not have been in charge of anything more involved than a hamster cage (without the hamster, because that would have been animal cruelty), and certainly not of a full organisation. It demonstrates that letting unprincipled, incapable people reign in a place without good checks and balances is not a particularly good idea.
The “hamster cage” analogy seems apt, especially in light of what Battistelli’s protector is doing for profit.
The next comment says this:
“[..] Admin Council chair Jesper Kongstad who is attempting to protect Battistelli ..”
I believe that, given the toxicity of this whole affair, anyone putting their support behind Battistelli must be aware that they could very well be caught in the downdraft when the hammer finally falls.
Because the hammer is on its way, now.
This alludes to Kongstad’s complicity, which we wrote about last week and again this morning (we had also accused him of protecting Battistelli back in 2014, well before EPO scandals were widely known to the public). █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 7:25 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Even Max Walters recognises the intrinsic problems
Summary: Improved journalism in the area of ‘unitary’ (globalist) patents, also known as UPC, as opposed to fake news produced and trotted out by Team UPC, helps reveal the degree of manipulation and the inherent incompatibilities between Brexit and the UPC
THE EPO is collapsing and the UPC ambitions have a lot to do with it. The EPO wants to ‘produce’ a lot more patents, faster, then foster more litigation, everywhere. This may be good for injunctions-loving and monopoly-seeking pharmaceutical giants and their patent lawyers; price gouging, however, hurts everyone. There are many other issues associated with scope of patents, e.g. software patents that UPC would instantaneous legitimise in many nations which currently deny them. It’s an open door to patent trolls.
“This may be good for injunctions-loving and monopoly-seeking pharmaceutical giants and their patent lawyers; price gouging, however, hurts everyone.”We’ve noticed that some blogs no longer promote UPC as often as they used to because, just perhaps, they recognise that it’s unpopular (they tried to keep it out of the sight of pro-Brexit people and actual engineers) and maybe because they are afraid of fact-checkers, i.e. who call their output what it really is: fake news and lobbying (disguised as guidance). Even Max Walters, who writes for the Law Gazette, has begun openly expressing concerns about the UPC earlier this year [1, 2, 3]. He now has this new article about a recent debate on the subject:
Referring to a Daily Express article on the UPC ‘exposing’ a ‘secret plan to tie us to Europe’, Stothers said the arm’s-length relationship to the CJEU will not be enough for some people.
McDonagh said a reference to a new arrangement for dispute resolution that could apply to different agreements, outlined in the government’s Brexit white paper, could hint at why the UK may be willing to proceed with the agreement.
But Stothers said a previous incarnation of the court, the European and Community Patents Court – which also allowed references to the CJEU – was found to be in breach of EU law, ‘apparently in part because it included non-EU member states’.
“Some ways in which the UK might get round its UPC CJEU problem are clearly identifiable here,” IAM wrote about this article.
Who needs laws anyway? Just workarounds. Or changing the law as one goes along.
IAM got paid by the EPO's PR firm to promote the UPC and now we have non-stop fake news and lobbying from Joff Wild and him minions. Giving ideas of workarounds amid Brexit, or lobbying the likes of Jo Johnson and Spanish/German politicians to ‘impress’ Battistelli will certainly be a wise move if the goal was to attract more funding from Team Battistelli and Team UPC. But it’s costly to IAM’s reputation (what’s left of it). █
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Posted in Asia, Deception, Europe, Patents at 6:20 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
China’s growth in patents is superficial and misleading; In Europe there is negative growth, but ‘infographics’ like the one below try to paint the opposite picture
Poland missing from the map as it’s part of what the EPO is trying hard to hide
Summary: The European Patent Office continues to insult nations and also insult science, essentially by spreading lies and deleting from the map particular nations in order to legitimise these lies
WE have decided to leave aside USPTO articles until the weekend because the frequency of lies from the EPO is increasing again and if these lies are not confronted with facts there is risk that even some EPO employees will believe them.
We previously explained that application numbers at the EPO are declining in Europe. Prior to that we showed how the EPO had been lying. See for example the following:
2 days ago we wrote about unscientific (if not antiscientific) and rather offensive maps from the EPO, serving as a sort of propaganda or misinfographics for the lazy. They have already mentioned Belgium (highest growth), so now it’s Italy’s turn (second highest), as the screenshot of this tweet (above) shows. In spite of criticism, knowing that they are being bashed for it, the EPO’s PR team has decided to tweet, yet again, this offensive, antiscientific map. Later they wrote: “Patent applications from Poland dropped after increases in 2015″ (screenshot above, as they recently removed such tweets and we caught the deletion).
“Has the EPO removed Poland from the map just for king Battistelli and his desperate need for brainwash throughout this week? Is Poland no longer part of Europe?”Notice how, for obvious reasons, they are not even showing the map because Poland was conveniently removed from it! Has the EPO removed Poland from the map just for king Battistelli and his desperate need for brainwash throughout this week? Is Poland no longer part of Europe? Mind the fact that they also make excuses for this decline, as if to say, “yes, it’s down, but it’s actually up!”
This is the kind of “alternative facts” that we are seeing more and more of, courtesy of an Office that has become a disgrace to science itself.
Where is the EPO seen as a growth opportunity? The land of patent gold rush, where patent quality thresholds/barriers are so low that last year alone there were over a million patent applications (at SIPO). We have been writing a lot about it, irrespective of our EPO coverage. See yesterday’s article “Brighter prospects for business method and software related patents in China” (alternative headline: SIPO lowers quality of Chinese patents to zero).
“WIPO does not want to tell the full story, but the devil is in the detail.”At the EPO, the only region of growth is China (US demand for EPs is down very sharply). But then again, the same is true for other patent offices across the world. It’s not just an EPO phenomenon, it’s a Chinese phenomenon. According to Korean media (e.g. the Korea Herald, which is published in English), patent lawsuits are totally out of control in China, exactly as we predicted (it’s up 37% in just a short period of time). China is now destroying its own leadership and wrecks its own industry with litigation, making only a bunch of law firms richer. They didn’t learn from the mistakes of the US, did they? Another Korean publication stresses the ramifications for Korean companies operating in China. The patent maximalism encouraged by SIPO is destructive and suicidal (in the commercial sense). This is why companies won’t want to operate in China, or will be reluctant to expand to China. According to a lot of reports from yesterday [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], patents are down except in China (with few exceptions here and there). WIPO does not want to tell the full story, but the devil is in the detail. WIPO wrote: “International #patent applications grow by 7.3% to a record 233,000 in 2016: http://ow.ly/l87S309VSfu”
Francisco Moreno looked at the underlying figures and wrote (in Spanish, but obvious to non-Spanish speakers):
Solicitudes internacionales de patente (PCT) en 2016:
Totales 233.000 +7,3%
*de origen chino: 43168 +45%
*de origen español: 1503 -1,7%
WIPO does not show this breakdown to a wider audience. No word about the role played by China (+45%) just patenting everything under the Sun. Spain (-1.7%) is absent from the EPO’s map, for obvious reasons. Now, watch this new tweet from the EPO. Yesterday is said: “Philips remains no. 1 patent applicant at the EPO in 2016 – 2nd year in a row. http://buzz.mw/b1wxh_f”
“In today’s EPO, it’s garbage in, garbage out (applications, granted patents).”But Philips is the only European company at the top. 60% of the top 5 are east Asian, and only one is European. So much for “European” Patent Office… “90 per cent of patents in Australia are foreign owned,” someone pointed out to me last night, but Europe is not a population as small as Australia’s. There are similar numbers in India, where software patents are not permitted.
Whose interests are served? In today’s EPO, it’s garbage in, garbage out (applications, granted patents). The GIGO Office is what Battistelli is after.
“It doesn’t matter to them what it means to innovation, as long as there is a lot of litigation and money keeps flowing into the pockets of middlemen (including robber barons like Team Battistelli).”Last year, shortly after the so-called ‘results’, we spent some time explaining that patents from China aren’t quite what they seem. Many are just in Mandarin. It’s faked growth and the quality of this ‘growth’ is low.
Pro-litigation (or pro-trolls) sites like IAM are obviously infatuated with east Asia these days, as we noted here before. They see this is a growth (profit) opportunity, at least for those who make money — at professionals’ expense — by suing and settling. Baker McKenzie, a legal firm, has just written about Thailand and IAM relayed this placement/ad for a firm from Taiwan. It doesn’t matter to them what it means to innovation, as long as there is a lot of litigation and money keeps flowing into the pockets of middlemen (including robber barons like Team Battistelli). █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 5:27 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
He is not even eligible for his current term because of his age, but tyrants will be tyrants
Summary: Helping Battistelli’s tyranny, Jesper Kongstad and his council of obedient chinchillas do nothing substantial to get rid of the abusive autocracy, let alone berate it
The dubious character of Jesper Kongstad (kong in Danish means king, so maybe the clue is in the name) has become an embarrassment to Denmark. Danish people too are saying so (in various media circles). Last week we wrote about Kongstad protecting Battistelli, not only hiding his salary (and who knows how much money he himself is pocketing or will be pocketing some time down the line, contrary to his claims) — to the point where Danish people like Mr. Brock-Nannestad are being told (yesterday): “Perhaps you are not aware of the role played by your compatriot Mr. Kongstad in this sorry little affair? Together with Mr. French he has succeeded in making a right Danish pastry of the EPO.”
“Kongstad is protecting him, and will likely continue to protect him until his term’s end (if not well beyond that).”Actually, Brock-Nannestad is very well aware of it, and he was quoted in the Danish media in response to Kongstad's dodgy dealings, which include the mass slaughtering of defenseless rodents, for the sake of rich people’s ‘fashion’. Jesper and his wife don’t need to do these things (he is Director of the DKPTO), but this just comes to show how greedy they are and the moral depravity to which they have sunk. These are the sorts of people who run the EPO! No wonder the President is a sociopath. Only other sociopaths can sympathise with that.
Think Batttistelli will be fired this week? Forget about it. Kongstad is protecting him, and will likely continue to protect him until his term’s end (if not well beyond that). For the tyranny to end, as we noted here before, Battistelli will need to resign (public image issues never seemed to lead to it, he just labels the truth “defamation”). Management of the EPO, namely Team Battistelli, was selected to suit the sociopath (just like in the world’s most notorious regimes) under Kongstad’s watch, so it is too ‘toxified’ (occupied by Battistelli, his friends, their family and ex-colleagues who are his cronies). As for Kongstad’s side, the Administrative Council of the EPO is full either of cowards (with few exceptions) or people willingly complicit. One of the exceptions recently lost his job and we hardly hear anything from Roland Grossenbacher anymore (Battistelli allegedly lobbied to remove him too).
“As for Kongstad’s side, the Administrative Council of the EPO is full either of cowards (with few exceptions) or people willingly complicit.”Articles such as this new one from Dugie Standeford (who is familiar with EPO scandals, having covered them before) remind us how bad things have become.
“Are The EPO President’s Days Numbered?”
That’s his headline, but we are not so optimistic. Dutch officials need to be relentlessly contacted for intervention; German officials, unlike Bavarian politicians, seem like a lost cause if not complicit, just like German media which turns a blind eye to serious scandals. Here are some portions from Standeford’s new article:
Nevertheless, there are “some reasons for concern,” SUEPO said. The chair of both the AC and the Board 28 (a sub-group of the AC) said he intends to make a proposal to all delegations concerning the election process for Battistelli’s successor, but it’s unclear what that means, it said. In addition, a matter that should be fully transparent is being handled in an opaque and cavalier manner, the union said. It worried that the president would “try to bamboozle the Council with ‘alternative facts’” or convince them that they can’t agree without first coming up with a specific “process.”
The president is reportedly hoping to stall the process of appointing a successor by claiming that the AC needs a ¾ majority to decide on publication of the vacancy notice, SUEPO said in a 10 March call for the demonstration. That’s nonsense, it said: Such a majority is needed to appoint a president, but because Battistelli’s contract ends on 1 July 2018, only a simple majority of more than 50% is needed to approve publication.
[...]
Pressure from EPO member countries on Battistelli is increasing, the EPO-FLIER Team said in a 13 March letter to the heads of AC delegation. The team identifies itself as a “group of concerned staff of the EPO who wish to remain anonymous due to the prevailing harsh social climate and absence of the rule of law” at the EPO. After debates in the Dutch, French and Bavarian parliaments, the social conflict at the Office has “become the subject of discussions at government level,” the letter said.
French and Dutch ministers have publicly criticised Battistelli for his intimidating and destructive management style, the latter saying in a 23 February letter to the chairman of the Netherlands House of Representatives that, “If there is no clear improvement in the industrial relations within the EPO in the short term, I see no other option but the discussion of the situation at a high political level with the member states of the European Patent Organisation.” And the situation has become even more toxic as proposed new rules will, if they enter into force, entitle security staff to seize and search bags, phones and laptops and will bar dissemination of posters and flyers, the EPO-FLIER team wrote.
Here is a new comment about the above article:
Dear Merpel:
Don’t take a cat nap on this just when things are getting interesting…..
See this from IPWatch:
https://www.ip-watch.org/2017/03/15/epo-presidents-days-numbered/
Best wishes,
Uncle Wiggily
IP Kat threw in the towel and decided not to cover Europe’s biggest scandal (or at least one of the biggest), for reasons we’ll explore another day. We recently explained why we are eager to carry on covering the topic until some sort of resolvability is reached. Battistelli’s reign of terror has reached as far as blogs. Being silent about it is accepting defeat to the likes of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Has European press lost its eagerness/ability to combat injustices and corruption? Resistance is not an option; it’s a moral imperative. █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 4:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
14th century Office (in the human rights sense) isn’t suitable for the needs of science in the 21st century
Summary: Groups of scientists and unionists blast the union-busting activities of Battistelli, who is simply acting like a medieval king rather than a President
SCIENTISTS from CERN are not entirely tolerant of the antiscientific ‘king’ of EPO — the man who lies so habitually and whose Office deletes countries from the map in order to match his propaganda (more on that soon).
CERN’s staff representatives previously spoke out against this ‘king’ (in his own mind), as we mentioned last year on several occasions. Now, as delegates who pretend to represent countries (rather than themselves) meet in Munich letters are being sent to EPO staff representatives in Munich [PDF] and The Hague [PDF]. These two-page documents, with French and English versions for each, are identical letters (English versions at least), except the recipient. These are dated yesterday and SUEPO explains that it’s a “solidarity message”.
“Letter of support sent by Mr. Ghislain Roy, President of CERN Staff Association to the Staff Union of the European Patent Office,” SUEPO describes that as. We have decided to reproduce the text below to broaden its reach. How much reality check or fact-checking will it take for Battistelli to realise that it’s time to resign? He has become a heavy liability to France, to Europe, and to the whole world. He’s a disgrace to human kind.
Staff Association
CERN
CH – 1211 GENEVE 23
SUEPO Munich
Limburgstr. 8
D-81539 München
Téléphone/Telephone: 41/22/767 3638
Courriel/Email: staff.president@cern.ch
Site web http://staff-association.web.cern.ch
Meyrin, 15 March 2017
Dear Colleagues,
With this letter, the CERN Staff Association wishes to repeat its full support to you in your battle to maintain the possibility to perform your union duties in accordance with the prevailing conditions in all international organisations. The freedom and independence of staff unions, represented by staff associations or staff committees, are essential to the proper functioning of our organisations.
Similar attacks are also taking place at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. The FICSA (Federation of International Civil Servant Associations) is also informed and intervenes, as well as all staff associations that are members of the Federation.
It is completely unacceptable that representatives of the personnel should be dismissed or placed under pressure as a result of their commitment to defend the rights of the personnel.
Freedom of association and collective bargaining have been an integral part of CERN’s Rules and Regulations ever since the creation of the Organization more than 60 years ago. That is why we were, and continue to be, profoundly shocked by the situation that has persisted in the European Patent Office (EPO) for far too long. We hereby offer our solidarity to all union representatives and colleagues of the EPO.
When faced with threats, we are, and always will be, stronger together.
On behalf of the CERN Staff Association,
Joel Lahaye
External Relations
Ghislain Roy
Staff Association President
SUEPO has meanwhile highlighted this letter in German [PDF], describing it as: “Letter of support from the International and European Public Services Organisation (IPSO), The European Central Bank’s recognized trade union for ECB staff to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Federal Minister of Justice Heiko Maas on dismissal at the European Patent Office.”
We hope that one way or another a translation of it will be produced. Maas seems to be in bed with Battistelli in the UPC sense, so we cannot quite envision him doing as much as responding to that letter. █
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