All about Benoît, not the Office

Like much of the EPO's Web site, annual results too are being personified

Summary: The strategy of the EPO seems to be centered around the interests of Benoît Battistelli and his political career rather than that of the EPO; validation deals and dubious 'Inventor Awards' seem to be part of this pattern

Corruption at the EPO has become almost banal; and yes, at this stage we can loosely throw around the "c" word (corruption) if not worse words. The President misuses the EPO's budget, he gets together with former French colonies that have zero European Patents (EPs), and awards are being granted to literal frauds. We have never ever seen anything remotely like this at the USPTO. Or any other patent office for that matter...

"We have never ever seen anything remotely like this at the USPTO."Yesterday there was this article from southeast Asian media about Battistelli's agreement with "Morocco, Moldova, Tunisia, and Cambodia" (almost all are former French colonies). It said this:

In January 2017, the government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the European Patent Organization (EPO) entered into an agreement on validation of European patents. The agreement came into effect on March 1, this year and makes Cambodia the first Asian country to grant validation to European patents. Similar agreements have come into force between the EPO and Morocco, between the EPO and Moldova, and between the EPO and Tunisia in the last three years.

[...]

For European patent applicants, one of the key advantages that the validation offers is that it will now be possible for them to cover up to 44 countries – European states as well as Morocco, Moldova, Tunisia, and Cambodia – with a single European patent application. For Cambodia, it is an opportunity as the validation of EU patents offers incentives for its owners to consider investing in Cambodia. The validation agreement could significantly improve Cambodia’s competitiveness and attract more European investors.

It's hard to see what value the EPO derives from this, especially given the fact that Cambodia has no EPs; the other nations too barely have any EPs. These deals are generally viewed (e.g. by EPO insiders) as purely political stunts, set up by Battistelli to benefit Battistelli and his political associates.

"These deals are generally viewed (e.g. by EPO insiders) as purely political stunts, set up by Battistelli to benefit Battistelli and his political associates."Speaking of southeast Asia, yesterday there was this promotional 'article' (more like a press release) about a company from Thailand (for perspective, the number of granted Thai EPs was 61 last year and 60 the prior year):

Pipper Standard, Thailand's leading brand of natural household cleaning products, has been granted multiple patents by the European Patent Office for its proprietary fermented fruit technology.

"We are thrilled that our innovative technology has been awarded three patents by the European Patent Office," said Peter Wainman, Chairman and CEO of Equator Pure Nature Co., Ltd. (EPN), manufacturer of Pipper Standard products. "This further underscores our role as a leader in the global movement away from chemical cleaners towards safe, natural, non-toxic products. To our knowledge, we are the only natural cleaning brand in the world with patented technology."

If only they knew that patent quality at the EPO has sunk and many EPs are thus unproven and are of questionable use (e.g. in courts). ⬆