Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Latest Expensive PR Blitz of the EPO, Led by Jana Mittermaier and Rainer Osterwalder Under the 'European Inventor Award' Banner

EPO preoccupied with lobbying officials rather than patent examination

Portugal and Battistelli



Summary: The PR agencies of the Corsican in Chief, who appears to be buying political support rather than earning any, are very busy this week, as yet another reputation laundering campaign kicks off

REMEMBER "European Inventor Award"? That incredibly expensive (wasteful) EPO PR and lobbying charade which is artificial (manufactured) hype?



"Battistelli thinks he is "improving lives" (the headline/title); Except thousands of his workers' lives (plus their families'), including those who committed suicide due to him."Well, it's back again and yesterday the EPO wrote (warning: epo.org link) in the monarch's narrative, as usual: ""This year's finalists demonstrate that Europe continues to be a world leader in innovation. The outstanding inventors nominated for the European Inventor Award allow us to honour the men and women whose ingenious work contributes to the competitiveness of the European economy and improves our daily lives," said EPO President Benoît Battistelli. "The European patent system remains a pillar for securing Europe's position as a global marketplace for innovation."

"The European patent system remains a pillar" of a broken chair maybe. Battistelli broke it.

"Under Battistelli, as a matter of fact, the Office actually rewarded those whose fake 'innovations' were killing many people."It didn't take long for the EPO's PR department to then tweet a link to Battistelli's 'blog' (warning: epo.org link). Battistelli thinks he is "improving lives" (the headline/title); Except thousands of his workers' lives (plus their families'), including those who committed suicide due to him. How about the lives of all those inventors and businesses that got sued (or will get sued) with bogus EPs granted under Battistelli's regime due to pressure? Patents don't improve lives on their own. They can sometimes support an important discovery, but the patents in their own right don't "improve lives".

"These innovations," he wrote, "have improved and even saved the lives of millions"; well, how many ill people were denied access to live-saving medicine due to patents that killed off generics? Battistelli is quite a newbie when it comes to this topic (only in his mid-fifties he belatedly got introduced to it), so one can almost excuse him for such ignorance.

Under Battistelli, as a matter of fact, the Office actually rewarded those whose fake 'innovations' were killing many people. That's hardly a good thing. He helped legitimise a fraud.

"Jana Mittermaier and Rainer Osterwalder are behind at least some them (they are explicitly listed) and occasionally other firms..."Later in the day the EPO retweeted some nonsense from Siemens (Philips probably did the same thing). "Siemens Healthineers Jan van den Boogaart & Prof Dr Oliver Hayden are finalists for 2017 European Inventor Award," they said. But wait, it didn't quite happen like this. There is a big, expensive PR campaign going on. It started with this tweet and then another which said: "Behind every invention is a scientist who made it happen."

Soon thereafter we found a lot of puff pieces about it, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. On the surface it may look like superficial, poor journalism, but actually it's almost ghost-written or coordinated in advance. See for example this one. Some of the above are 'planted' pieces and/or paid EPO press releases intended to promote Battistelli's lobbying event. They are being published right now in tandem. Jana Mittermaier and Rainer Osterwalder are behind at least some them (they are explicitly listed) and occasionally other firms, with names like these showing up (more PR help from the outside?):

Jonathan Weinberg Shepard Fox Communications Tel. +44 2033 184491 Mobile: +44 7947 141014 jonathan.weinberg@shepard-fox.com


The matter of fact is, a lot of stakeholders' money is being totally wasted on utter nonsense. Mittermaier and Osterwalder, together with FTI Consulting we suppose, are trying to paste/plant their rubbish in news sites, quite frankly as usual.

Lo and behold. This is what the EPO has become.

Recent Techrights' Posts

When Abusive Law Firms (Working for Microsofters Against Us) Assert That Someone Writing in Social Media About Himself is Confidential Information
There was no reason to throw "GDPR" into 2 SLAPPs; they know it, but the goal was to increase the cost of a Defence and lessen the incentive to challenge the SLAPPs
 
"Linux" Sites That Went Astray
there are even worse things than shutdowns
Links 16/06/2025: Climate, Wildfires, Breaches, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Links 16/06/2025: Summer in Finland and Misunderstandings
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 15, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 15, 2025
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: Rainy Season and OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Military Games, Parade, and Actions
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, and Wars
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: "AI Fatigue and Crappiness"
Links for the day
Microsoft Attack Dogs Against Watchdogs and Guard Dogs in Software
Last year Microsofters hired attack dogs or "guns for hire"
Slop Cannot Replace Domain Expertise
All this "AI" hype (it's not even intelligence, it's all a misnomer, as many of us have insisted all along) will fizzle and be written off as a failed experiment
IBM's Fresh 'PIPs' (Action Before Layoffs)
At times like these, even once-reputable employers resort to PIPs and other procedures/tricks for denial of workers' rights
Microsoft is a Problem Not Just for Denmark
Every country should consider what Denmark is doing, why Denmark is doing it, and then do the same
The Slopfarms' Self Detonation
If more sites like BetaNews go under, then maybe we can still salvage some of the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 14, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 14, 2025
Links 14/06/2025: FDA Changes Priorities, Cassette Data Storage From The 1970s
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Steam Next Fest and Thoughts on Gemini
Links for the day
Site/Datacentre Maintenance Next Week
speed things up
Bulgaria: GNU/Linux Near 10%
The Bulgarian market seems to be changing
I Never Spoke to BetaNews. But BetaNews Wants to Ensure I Never Will, Either.
Sometimes just the reluctance to talk about it can say a great deal
Throwing Money at Lawyers Can't Stop Us (It Never Did)
Even just trying to censor things can result in the opposite of the desired outcome
Online Search or Large Search Engines Aren't Working Anymore
business models that directly compete with interests of Web users
Holidays and Breaks
I've hardly taken any long breaks since I got married
Danish OpenDocument Freedom
"year of Linux"
Links 14/06/2025: Wars and L.A. Distortion Effect
Links for the day
BetaNews Has More or Less Died After Experiments With LLM Slop, Is Linuxsecurity Next?
It doesn't seem like BetaNews knows what it's doing, let alone what it talks about
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Historic Ada Design and GeminiSpace.Club to Expire
Links for the day
Links 14/06/2025: India Plane Crash and Middle-Eastern War
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 13, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 13, 2025