03.26.17
Heiko Maas and the State of Germany Viewed as Increasingly Complicit in EPO Scandals and Toxic UPC Agenda
Summary: It is becoming hard if not impossible to interpret silence and inaction from Maas as a form of endorsement for everything the EPO has been doing, with the German delegates displaying more of that apathy which in itself constitutes a form of complicity
WE PREVIOUSLY wrote about Maas supporting the UPC, which would exacerbate the already-growing problem of patent trolls in Germany. What does Maas want for his country and what does he envision for Europe? The same mess that Battistelli is envisioning?
“The German delegation sometimes expresses strong criticism of Battistelli’s reform proposals during Council meetings,” one reader recently told us. “But in the end, they almost never vote against any of them.
“An example is the recently-endorsed proposal ‘functional allowances’ which authorises the payment of additional boni to some selected managers. Its lack of clear criteria and transparency were criticised in the March 2017 Council meeting. Other examples are two reforms voted in the December 2016 Council meeting: the Internal Appeals Committee reform (which bears a great risk that the composition of Battistelli’s Internal Appeals Committee will be ruled illegal by the ILO tribunal again; it would be the third time), and the removal of the Boards of Appeals to Haar (which was qualified as both unnecessary and non-urgent by many delegations).
“The cartoon apparently makes fun of the German delegation’s indecisive maneuvering.”
As a reminder, the head of the German delegation might be Battistelli’s successor [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] and German parliament (Bundestag) recently did a charade of a vote where only 5% of politicians actually voted [1, 2]. It became a publicity stunt of Team UPC and EPO management; no doubt Maas too was pleased. As far as we’re aware, neither he nor Merkel did as little as react to the letter from the International and European Public Services Organisation [1, 2]. It’s a disgrace; it damages Germany’s reputation in Europe and worldwide. █
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Dr.Guinness said,
March 26, 2017 at 4:52 pm
The German prime minister Angela Merkel said to the new US President Trump:
“Germany and America are bound by common values — democracy, freedom, as well as respect for the rule of law and the dignity of each and every person, regardless of their origin, skin color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or political views. It is based on these values that I wish to offer close cooperation, both with me personally and between our countries’ governments.”
Mr Heiko Maas, Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection is well informed that there is a bad copy of Donald Trump President of the European Patent Office: namely Benoit Battistelli of french nationality. He is a bad copy because he has no respect for the rule of law, even not for the European Patent Convention, and the dignity of each and every person.
It is for me and many others not clear what the reason is why Mr. Maas did nothing until now and many people working at the EPO have to suffer day after day. Mr.Maas is of the political party SPD, a socialist party that forgot that they should protect the working people.
I am afraid that Mr.Maas has, just like Battistelli noa idea what IP is.
Dr. Roy Schestowitz Reply:
March 26th, 2017 at 5:15 pm
This document was recently published by Heiko Maas [DE, PDF]: https://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Gesetzgebungsverfahren/Dokumente/GE_Einheitliches_Patentgericht.pdf;jsessionid=2971A334B0812E482C0305CA098125C1.1_cid297?__blob=publicationFile&v=2
Background in [DE]: http://www.juve.de/nachrichten/namenundnachrichten/2016/12/europaeisches-patentgericht-deutschland-traegt-loewenanteil-der-kosten
How much he is involved at a personal capacity I am not sure, but this might help explain why he turns a blind eye amid so-called ‘reforms’ for “Social Democracy” at the EPO.
http://techrights.org/2017/03/03/democratic-people-republic-of-epo/
http://techrights.org/2016/12/31/leaked-epo-open-letter/
As for Battistelli, he was only introduced to the whole “IP” thing when he turned 54.