Having already halved his salary half a year ago, pending an illegal dismissal (unlikely renewal of contract)

Summary: An innocent judge (never proven guilty of anything, only publicly defamed with help from Team Battistelli and dubious 'intelligence' gathering) is one of the forgotten casualties of the latest meeting of the Administrative Council (AC), which has become growingly complicit rather than a mere bystander at a 'crime' scene

"Time for those AC members to admit to their political masters that they are powerless to exercise any form of control," one person wrote the other day. That's putting it too generously and politely. "Does anyone have an update on the current status of the suspended member of the Boards of Appeal?"

“Does anyone have an update on the current status of the suspended member of the Boards of Appeal?”
      --AnonymousThat's the question that followed, and quite appropriately too.

"On other matters," it continued, "it seems that the "rebel" AC members lost their bottle again and/or were comprehensively outmanoeuvred. It may be time for those AC members to admit to their political masters that they are powerless to exercise any form of control over this troublesome President. Their masters will not be happy, but it would be better to get this all out in the open before the inevitable action at the European Court of Human Rights causes a total s**t storm."

“Their masters will not be happy, but it would be better to get this all out in the open before the inevitable action at the European Court of Human Rights causes a total s**t storm.”
      --AnonymousThings are progressing and we have not forgotten about the judge who is one of the earliest casualties of Battistelli's reign of terror (2014). Nor did we forget about dismissed staff representatives, who should be entitled to get their jobs back (plus compensation).

Another comment said "about the DG3 judge" that there is "nothing to report bro ! The judge remains suspended until death follows... this is a huge disgrace not only for the EPO but obviously for the administrative council the level of lack of responsability is a shame. The EPO has definitively become a rogue organisation..."

IP Kat has officially quit covering EPO scandals, claiming quite falsely (we'll get back to in the weekend) that issues seem to be close to a resolution. Merpel wrote that before the horrific (depressing to staff) meeting of the Administrative Council. Days ago the very last mention was made in "Never Too Late: If you missed the IPKat last week!"

"Things are progressing and we have not forgotten about the judge who is one of the earliest casualties of Battistelli's reign of terror (2014).""Merpel gives her last update on the happenings in the EPO," it said. Well, it's a sad shame that Merpel won't be around to cover the latest travesty then. Neither will anyone else at IP Kat, which seems to have been busy lobbying for Battistelli's 'baby' or pet project, the UPC (as recently as a few weeks ago).

Meanwhile, in Merpel's absence (less accountability), Team Chinchilla is moving in for the kill. Its summary of the meeting (warning: epo.org link) is truly extraordinary for various reasons. Below is a copy of this shockingly short summary from the AC (Kluwer Patent Blog too was a bit stunned by it), which has hardly any mention of the Boards of Appeal (BoA). It just says something about "three appointments to the Supervisory Board of the Academy of the European Patent Organisation and a number of appointments and reappointments to the Boards of Appeal." We already wrote about how dubious at least some of these appointments were (Battistelli too gets to decide on these, or at least veto to some degree, thereby debunking any illusion of independence). Here is the full thing:

Munich, 17 March 2017

151^st meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (Munich, 15 and 16 March 2017)

The Administrative Council held its 151st meeting in Munich on 15 and 16 March 2017, with Jesper Kongstad, Director General of the Danish Patent Office, in the chair.

After the Chairman's activities report, covering in particular the last meeting of the Board of the Administrative Council, the Council noted the activities report given by the President of the European Patent Office, Benoît Battistelli. The Council was pleased with the excellent results achieved by the Office.

The Council had an exchange of views on the social situation at the Office and on the issue of the appointment procedure for the next President.

The Council re-elected the chairman of the Committee on Patent Law, Sean Dennehey (GB), for a term of three years. It then made three appointments to the Supervisory Board of the Academy of the European Patent Organisation and a number of appointments and reappointments to the Boards of Appeal.

Lastly, the Council heard brief oral reports on the unitary patent by the Maltese delegation representing the country holding the EU presidency in the first half of 2017, as well as by the representative of the European Commission and the chairman of the Select Committee.

Council Secretariat

Sean Dennehey is no friend of Battistelli and he will be the chairman of the Committee on Patent Law for quite some time to come (for three more years now that he is no longer in charge of the UK-IPO). What bothered us most was the opening paragraph. It spreads or at least legitimises the lies from Battistelli. "The Council was pleased with the excellent results achieved by the Office," says the report probably led by Jesper Kongstad, who protects rather than supervises Battistelli. Did he never learn about patent quality during his time at DKPTO? Granting patents is easy, but doing so correctly is hard and very time-consuming a process.

The systematic attack on justice at the EPO (labour law/ILO, judges/BoA, high courts, patent laws and even constitutional laws when it comes to the UPC) is somewhat symbolic. The EPO, including the Organisation of Team Chinchilla (faction supportive of Team Battistelli, without any concrete authority over it), has ironically become antithetical to the Rule of Law. Where are Europol and Interpol when one truly needs them? ⬆