Editors • About the Site • Comes vs. Microsoft • Using This Web Site • Site Archives • Credibility Index • OOXML • OpenDocument • Patents • Novell • News Digest • Site News • RSS

10.30.18

EPO Insider: Under António Campinos “the Union Busting Done by the Administration Continues Even Worse Than Before”

Posted in Europe, Patents at 10:27 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

One year ago: ‘Efficiency’ in Action: António Campinos is Sending Jobs Abroad, Then Gagging Critics

EUIPO outsourcing

Summary: The patent office that used to be the world’s best has deteriorated and become one of the world’s worst in terms of atmosphere and human rights (routinely trampled upon by management that exploits immunity)

THE European Patent Office (EPO) under the leadership of António Campinos is still an appalling workplace with no job security and examiners are compelled to grant software patents in Europe in direct defiance of the EPC, which makes them reluctantly complicit (because they’re afraid of losing their job, whereupon they need to leave the country with their family).

As one EPO insider put it a short while ago: “With the arrival of the new president #campinos nothing significant has changed… noppes, nada, niente! On the contrary, following the recent developments, the union busting done by the administration continues even worse as [sic] before. Really depressing for all staff involved.”

“Many suicides are a symptom of the problem. From a dream job it turned into a stressful nightmare and a high proportion of EPO workers seek professional mental support.”It often feels as if the US controls the ‘European’ Patent Office. “The European Patent Office (EPO) is holding a seminar for US‑based patent attorneys,” says this new page (warning: epo.org link), which a day ago the EPO promoted as follows: “What are the advantages of using the EPO as PCT International Searching Authority? We’ll present them at our upcoming events in Houston and Washington…”

Yes, Houston, Texas. That part of Texas (east). Imagine the USPTO holding patent events across Europe as often as the EPO goes to the US to promote software patents and other such nonsense. The EPO just keeps promoting software patents in Europe and yesterday it wrote: “Why attend our Patenting #Blockchain conference? For one, you’ll be able to develop your knowledge of blockchain-related examination practice at the EPO. For more reasons, see here: http://bit.ly/EPOblockchain18 pic.twitter.com/C0ezZCizPX”

Welcome to EPO 2.0. It’s a software patents powerhouse. What would the founding fathers (behind the EPC) have said? It all went wrong. Many suicides are a symptom of the problem. From a dream job it turned into a stressful nightmare and a high proportion of EPO workers seek professional mental support. █

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Reddit
  • co.mments
  • DZone
  • email
  • Google Bookmarks
  • LinkedIn
  • NewsVine
  • Print
  • Technorati
  • TwitThis
  • Facebook

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

  1. Links 18/1/2020: Mir 1.7 and GNU Guile 3.0.0

    Links for the day

  2. IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 16, 2020

    IRC logs for Thursday, January 16, 2020

  3. Links 16/1/2020: Mozilla Layoffs, PinePhone Braveheart Shipping, KDE Plasma 5.18 LTS Reaches Beta

    Links for the day

  4. Microsoft is a Market Leader in Lying and Corruption

    Microsoft is working hard to describe itself as the exact opposite of what it is and what it has been; ‘Internet rot’ helps a lot with this agenda, not to mention control of the media (the narrative)

  5. The European Patent Organisation Continues to 'Piss All Over' Separation of Powers

    The EPO continues to scatter invalid patents (IPs) that are European Patents (EPs) all over Europe and nobody can stop this, not even the judges of the EPO because they lack independence (by their very own admission)

  6. Zealots of Team UPC (Patent Litigation) Now Attacking the Courts and the Judges, Removing Their Mask on the Face of Things...

    The tactics of Team UPC aren't changing, only the shamelessness associated with these tactics is changing (because it looks like the end of days to them)

  7. Microsoft Now Uses or Leverages Software Freedom Against Free Software

    A reader's explanation of what Microsoft is trying to accomplish with its so-called 'embrace' and what steps will come next (how they manifest themselves)

  8. IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 15, 2020

    IRC logs for Wednesday, January 15, 2020

  9. Links 15/1/2020: CentOS Linux 8.1, Oracle VirtualBox 6.1.2 and GNU Sed 4.8

    Links for the day

  10. OSI Board at Microsoft: This is How Institutions Die or Completely Lose Their Purpose/Direction

    The photo (or meeting) may mark the turning point of the Openwashing as-a-Standard Initiative (OSI), which less than a year earlier took a bucket of money from Microsoft

  11. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 14, 2020

    IRC logs for Tuesday, January 14, 2020

  12. When Microsoft's Actions Speak for Themselves (About Back Door Access)

    Unwittingly, people are being reminded of the 'special relationship' between Microsoft and the US Army (or government); The back doors or bug doors are still there, even 7 years after Edward Snowden's NSA leaks

  13. Why You -- Yes, You Too -- Should Consider Migrating to GNU/Linux

    The window is closing (and Windows/Vista 7 closing down); the chance to use machines that the users actually control is still there

  14. Can We Please Stop Lying for Microsoft in the Mainstream Media?

    Dishonesty for short-term financial gain (e.g. advertising money) will be a big loss in the long run. There’s a reason why so many news sites perish and Datamation (where I wrote more than a decade ago) now throws away remnants of reputation by spreading a big lie from Microsoft.

  15. It's Only Factual and Truthful to Point Out That About Half of the EPO's Management Committee Are From the President's Nation (and Many Are Underqualified Friends of His)

    The patent-granting extravaganza of what a reader and contributor of ours likes to call "Club Med" will result in great pain (not just for the Office but for Europe as a whole); pointing out who's to blame (the culprits) is an exercise in practicality

  16. Stranger Than Fiction: Team UPC's Mental Condition

    Team UPC's delusions continue to unmask UPC proponents (in 2020) as totally and entirely detached from reality

  17. Links 14/1/2020: IBM Joins LOT Network; X.Org Server 1.20.7, Tails 4.2.2 and Zanshin 0.5.71 Released

    Links for the day

  18. Vista 7 is Dead, Long Live GNU/Linux

    A reminder of Microsoft’s universal “PC tax” ambitions — evidence that the company was never interested in ‘playing nice’ with anybody

  19. Links 14/1/2020: Git v2.25.0 and End of Vista 7

    Links for the day

  20. Systematic Abandonment of the Independence of Judiciary at the EPO (or Collective Amnesia)

    The ‘constitution’ or the convention upon which the EPO is based (known as EPC) is routinely violated and nobody seems to care anymore; the EPO governs itself and conducts itself without as much as a fundamental legal text

  21. They Always Say They Love Linux (and 'the Children')

    Microsoft says it “loves Linux” and the Gates Foundation insists it “loves children” but the real underlying motivations have more to do with monopoly (Windows, Monsanto etc.) and nothing to do with “Linux” or “children” or whatever

  22. The Media's Obligation is Not to Repeat the Lies of EPO Management, But Money Changes Things

    The ridiculous lies about prospects of the Unified Patent Court are now spreading to EPO-friendly publishers — few powerful people to whom truth isn’t valued as much as the customers (their subscribers and sponsors are law firms)

  23. IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 13, 2020

    IRC logs for Monday, January 13, 2020

  24. The FSF and GNU Need a Better Savannah to Attract GitHub Refugees

    Thomas Grzybowski's explanation of why GitHub poses a risk to software freedom and what can be done about it

  25. Links 13/1/2020: Linux Lite 4.8, Linux 5.5 RC6, Corebird Continues as ‘Cawbird’

    Links for the day

  26. GNU is Not Linux and Not UNIX, Either

    When GNU started it needed to clarify that it wasn't UNIX but a UNIX-like replacement for it; now it needs to argue, sometimes in vain, that calling GNU with Linux just "Linux" is factually wrong

  27. Mansion of Pedophilia – Part VII: Guilty Verdict in Case of Pedophilia (Staff at the Mansion of Bill Gates), But Where Was the Mainstream Media?

    We take our first glimpse at court documents and a preliminary look (overview) of what the case in question entailed, with updates on the record for almost 5 years

  28. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 12, 2020

    IRC logs for Sunday, January 12, 2020

  29. Open Letter to Richard Stallman About the Free Software Movement

    New letter to the founder of GNU and the FSF; the authors "wish to have it published as an open letter as well."

  30. Links 12/1/2020: End of Windows 7, LibreOffice 6.4 RC2 and Sparky 5.10

    Links for the day

RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts