03.16.17
Gemini version available ♊︎Battistelli Wants to be ‘King’ for a Decade or Longer, Jesper Kongstad Protects Him
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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