Bleeding reputation

Summary: 'Musical chairs' at CEIPI and the EPO/EUIPO (Battistelli, Archambeau, Campinos) as well as joint reports never fail to reveal the extent to which EPO abuses are spreading

OUR 5-year research into abuses at the European Patent Office (EPO) often led us not astray but into abuses at other institutions. EUIPO, for instance, does not have a shortage of scandals; for instance, recall António Campinos/Battistelli 'musical chairs' at CEIPI, immunity scandals, nepotism/entryism, and outsourcing.

Now that Campinos is the President at the EPO he's promoting software patents in Europe and doing just about nothing to improve anything; later this month he might even give 30 million euros to a company with roots in the Third Reich.

"What has Campinos brought to the EPO? Nothing."In Twitter, IAM has just resorted to facts-free name-calling against me, seeing that we covered the back room story about how Christian Archambeau's appointment was 'fixed'. He's still head of the EUIPO and now he has his "first press briefing," on which World Trademark Review/IAM was very eager to 'report' (and yes, it's an incredible puff piece or marketing). The summary says: "Christian Archambeau sat down with journalists earlier today in what was his first press briefing since he became executive director of the EUIPO. In a wide-ranging discussion, he revealed various plans that the office has in the works."

IAM aren't "journalists"; they're paid by the very same institutions they cover, e.g. EPO. Sadly, EUIPO is quickly becoming the same thing EPO was about 5 years ago, owing to nepotism and corruption (the head of the EUIPO came from EPO and head of EPO came from EUIPO; sometimes known as "cross-pollination").

"New study looks at relationship between SMEs, growth and use of Intellectual Property Rights," says the summary of this EPO "news" (warning: epo.org link), promoted in Twitter under the title "Joint EPO-EUIPO study finds strong link between growth of SMEs and their use of IP" [sic] (mixing two totally different things, patents and trademarks).

"Campinos brought Battistelli back to the EPO. Just less than a year after he had left."Can one even tell the difference between those two anymore? Except one being EU-tied and the other predating the EU?

What has Campinos brought to the EPO? Nothing. A delusion or a false hope of change.

Have a look at Barney Dixon's article, which was cited by SUEPO this week. The author rightly notes that it took Campinos 'only' a year to merely speak about MoU with SUEPO chiefs (it took him 5 months to merely face them) and staff representatives remain punished after union-busting activities. From the article:

The Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) met with the office’s president, António Campinos, last Thursday (16 May) to discuss a framework for a memorandum of understanding between the office and SUEPO.

While details from the meeting have not yet emerged, in an open letter ahead of the meeting, SUEPO said it was not prepared to prioritise a discussion on a memorandum of understanding over the issue of the unlawful sanctions against European Patent Office (EPO) staff.

It said that these negotiations could only go hand in hand with progress achieved in the other topics, including the settlement of sanctions.

SUEPO claims that, despite many statements from Campinos outlining his intention to restore social dialogue at the office, it was only in December, five months after he took office, that he first met with SUEPO Central.

The union also claims that Campinos failed to organise a follow-up meeting in January 2019.

SUEPO is the largest union at the EPO, representing more than half of staff office-wide.

[...]

It was carried out in order to establish a baseline to measure progress as the new EPO strategy is rolled out from summer 2019 onwards; give EPO staff a chance to have their say at an important time for the office and compare results with relevant external benchmarks.

The EPO’s Central Staff Committee said the results are “neither a surprise nor a statistical anomaly … Instead, they are a dangerous continuation of a long-standing trend, that of a sinking ship.”

So the EPO is still going down the drain, based on the employees of the EPO. Notice this new comment responding to this: “It also shows the responsibility of the Administrative Council. They simply cannot trust anything even the new President, Campinos, puts on the table.”

The response: "Does that mean that they will be employing food-tasters at the upcoming Inventor of the Year Sommerfest in Vienna?"

"They're hijacked by few corrupt individuals who assign (gift) top posts to friends and colleagues, not people best qualified for the job; they become exceedingly rich at the expense of Europe and if the institutions collapse in the process, so be it (the way they see it)."Remember that they've added Battistelli as a jurist. On technical matters (Battistelli has no background in science). Campinos brought Battistelli back to the EPO. Just less than a year after he had left.

Here's another new comment: "The Office issued a new financial study. Märpel should try to get it. The study concludes that the EPO equity will be negative, but omits all planned fee increases while keeping regular increases in costs. Hence, it seems that Campinos, just like Battistelli, will not hesitate to publish bogus studies to serve his plans."

These institutions are victims of corruption at the higher/highest level. They're hijacked by few corrupt individuals who assign (gift) top posts to friends and colleagues, not people best qualified for the job; they become exceedingly rich at the expense of Europe and if the institutions collapse in the process, so be it (the way they see it). ⬆