Bonum Certa Men Certa

Leaked Financial 'Study' Document Shows EPO Management and Mercer Engaging in an Elaborate “Hoax”

Purveyors of 'fake news' inside what's supposed to be a scientific institution

How One Family’s Deep Pockets Helped Reshape Donald Trump’s Campaign



Summary: How the European Patent Office (EPO) lies to its own staff to harm that staff; thankfully, the staff isn't easily fooled and this whole affair will merely obliterate any remnants of "benefit of the doubt" the President thus far enjoyed

THE EPO has been under a (soon) decade-long attack from Campinos and Battistelli, who not only integrated European software patents into their agenda (in defiance of courts and Parliament) but have also attacked the staff and misused EPO money (Campinos might soon give a lot of EPO money to Third Reich goons).



"SUEPO has been too patient with Campinos (strike postponed) in spite of him repeatedly showing that nothing will change, except for the worse."As we recently mentioned here on several occasions, there's a fake 'crisis' being manufactured/claimed (not the real crisis) to push so-called 'solutions'. "The delicious propaganda by EPO top managers to middle managers," a source tells us, can be seen in this Manager Toolkit (English) [PDF].

As it turns out, there's already a response to it. "The aim is here disseminate false information and make the deteriorations -- sorry, the "reforms" to soon come -- more acceptable to joe-average EPO staff although these are new unjustified thus unfair cuts," the source adds. Here is the position of the Central Staff Committee (CSC) on the same financial study.

Zentraler Personalausschuss Central Staff Committee Le Comité Central du Personnel

Munich, 07.06.2019 sc19081cp – 0.2.1/1.3.2

The Financial Study: Yet Another Hoax (part 4)



At the EPO financial studies tend to be a pretext for cuts in staff benefits. The latest study by Mercer and Wyman is no exception. Our previous publications showed that the study deliberately underestimates expected income from fees as well as the return on cash reserves, and overestimates staff costs. The present publication lists these misrepresentations and adds some more.

Recapitulation

The 2019 EPO Financial Study by Mercer and Oliver Wyman assumes1 that:

- between 2018 and 2038 the EPO will not raise its procedural and renewal fees except once, by 4%, in 2020. For the remaining period the fees are assumed to remain constant (page 115). A correction for inflation is not foreseen.

- between 2018 and 2038 the national renewal fees on patents granted by the Office will remain constant (page 116). A correction for inflation is not foreseen.

in sharp contrast during the same period EPO salaries are assumed to increase at a rate of 2.24% above inflation (page 119).

- without providing any underlying data, the study assumes that the costs of pensions and other post-employment benefits (incl. tax compensation) will almost triple over the next 20 years (pages 66-67, page 123).

- The study foresees no further transfer of operational surpluses to the RFPSS, although with a 4.8% return above inflation over the last 20 years (6.3% over the last 5 years) the money would be well placed (RFPSS/SB 41/19, page 2, Fig. 3).

the study assumes that operational surpluses will not be transferred to the EPOTIF either (page 63). The EPOTIF was recently created with the very purpose of shielding EPO capital from inflation and is expected to deliver a return of 4% above inflation (CA/F 10/18 para.10).

- instead expected operational surpluses are assumed to be parked as “other financial assets” with an average annual return of between - 0.03% and 0.78%, i.e. well below the level of inflation2.

- as indicated above, over the last 20 years the RFPSS had a real return of 4.8%. The actuaries who evaluate the RFPSS assume a long-term return of 3.5%. The Financial Study assumes a return above inflation of only 2.1% (FAQs). This transforms today’s 104% coverage (CA/61/17 point 79) into a 2 billion euro gap in 2038.

This is a long list of extremely unlikely assumptions. There may be more, e.g. in the assumptions for the patent processes which we have not checked in detail. We also have doubts about the assumed 2 years increase in longevity (page 122) and the constant 53.87% non-examining staff “as percentage of job groups 1-4” (page 112). At present examiners make up about 64% of our total staff.

___ 1 Unless otherwise indicated, the page numbers in the list refer to the Financial Study. 2 Financial Study pages 120 and 122; the return is not explicitly mentioned but can be calculated from the data in the tables.




What about an effort by the Office?

The EPO’s financial situation is excellent – maybe even too good3 - and this despite the recent high costs of the “New Main” building in The Hague and significant losses in IT. The Financial Study nevertheless wants us to believe that the EPO faces a significant financial gap and that now is the time to do something about it by cutting costs, staff costs. But what about other costs? Is Mercer pointing at possible savings elsewhere? Are the Member States contributing to the effort? Is Mr Campinos leading by example – even if only symbolically? It doesn’t seem so.

The Mercer study assumes 600 million euro in building costs. The real sum may be as much as 1.14 billion euro (CA/43/19, Figure on page 32). Some building maintenance is indeed necessary. But part of the money is for one of Mr Campinos’ pet projects: creating glass-walled offices. Mercer does not comment on these costs.

Mr Campinos strategy document points to another – potentially significant – sink for EPO money: cooperation with the Member States4. The most recent figure that we have seen for cooperation costs is about 25 million euros per year (CA/19/15). Mr Campinos now proposes to “maximize the impact of cooperation” with a new model that will be “all-inclusive and equally open to all member states”. The Council delegates as heads of the national patent offices are all potential beneficiaries of these cooperation activities. For the President the cooperation budget is an efficient tool to reward member states that support him in the Council and punish those that don’t. So we expect the cooperation budget to increase considerably despite the allegedly bad financial situation of the Office.

Finally there is the annual Inventor of the Year event. The sums concerned are relatively modest by EPO standards – a few million euro at most. But is promoting one inventor over the other (with a possible impact on the value of the invention) compatible with the EPO remaining neutral in the exercise of its functions? And is it (to use Mr Campinos’ words) “handling significant amounts of taxpayer’s money with due diligence, due process and careful legal assessment”? We do not think so.

Conclusion

The 2019 Financial Study is a very plump attempt to justify a further reduction of staff benefits while the Office continues its spending. Staff is not fooled.

The Central Staff Committee

____ 3 Art. 40(1) EPC stipulates that the EPO’s budget should be balanced. We question whether with an operating surplus of about 20% the EPO budget qualifies as €« balanced €». 4 Read: cooperation with the national patent offices (NPOs).



"Make your own opinion," the reader concludes, "who do you think lies here?"

Mercer (sponsor of sites like Breitbart) and professional liars like Campinos, who only a couple of years ago attacked staff at the EUIPO in the name of 'cost savings'...

SUEPO has been too patient with Campinos (strike postponed) in spite of him repeatedly showing that nothing will change, except for the worse.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Rumour: After FSF Abandons Office in Boston LibrePlanet Will Also Leave Boston
In the past, Libreplanet (or LibrePlanet) was 'branched' out of MIT to "lesser" universities in the same city
linuxsecurity.com is 100% Slopfarm, Nonstop Fake 'Articles' About Security and "Linux"
More than one fake 'author' participates in this, so it deserves condemnation
Social Control Media as a Rapid Race to the Bottom - Part III - Foreign Interference and Chaff/Flare
Why would you trust alleged 'communication' (platforms) controlled by the same people who cut your undersea cables?
[Video] Richard Stallman Explains What Intelligence in Computing Really Means and How Old That Is (Story About 1975, 50 Years Ago)
Uploaded 11 hours ago by Manuel Cuda News
 
Microsoft Laid Off Several Thousands of Workers (Not Counting Those Driven Out) in 3+ Waves of Layoffs in 2 Months in 2025
About a thousand workers laid off per month
Microsoft Reduced to Almost Nothing in the Congos
Even worse for Microsoft in DRC (Democratic Republic Of The Congo)
Why We No Longer Hear About "Red Hat Layoffs"
Sometimes they don't call them "layoffs" are all; it's just PIPs, RTO, and "relocation" offers. They try to compel people to resign/retire
Reputation is Not a Human Right, It's Something One Earns
One can also lose one's reputation for harming women
FreeBSD Foundation is Trying to Improve "Laptop Support", But It Has Outsourced Everything to Microsoft Proprietary Software
Despite many valid alternatives existing and fast maturing
Links 06/03/2025: Discord Wants the Public to Pay for Losses, MongoDB Shares Collapse
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/03/2025: Remaking Sites, Gemini Capsule Turns 5
Links for the day
Links 06/03/2025: Trade Wars, Trademarks, Attacks on (and by) the Media, Digg to Relaunch
Links for the day
The Fall of the Open Source Initiative (OSI): The Problems Are Much Bigger Than the Rigged Elections
It's not only about elections
Dr. Andy Farnell on Brutality and (or of) Brute-Force Computing
"Understandably, the ecological cost of compute was never really on the minds of pure computer scientists"
IBM Absorbs More of Red Hat and There Are Several Layoff Rumours
Those are just rumours for now
Gemini Links 06/03/2025: Digg, Project Failure, and More
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 05, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 05, 2025
Links 05/03/2025: Prioritising Science, Patents Squashed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/03/2025: News Processing, Misbehaving, and Git
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Cracking Past the 4% Barrier in Hungary
There are still quite a few very famous developers and Free software projects from Hungary
Meanwhile in the Matrix Room #dei:fedoraproject.org
Remember that IBM does a lot of perception manipulation
Rumour About Red Hat Layoffs Yesterday
Can somebody from Red Hat or someone who knows someone there (impacted or not) confirm that there are layoffs this week at Red Hat?
New Short Clip of Richard Stallman's Thoughts on the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype, Courtesy of Manuel Cuda News
about 6 hrs ago
What is fixated behavior? Stalker or just a fan of Emma Raducanu?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
In Iran, GNU/Linux Reaches New Highs, According to statCounter
Does that make sense? In light of geopolitics? Probably.
Always Safety First
We have some reasons to suspect that one of several parties (possibly not in the UK but having connections here), having suffered major and very expensive setbacks, may look to harm the messenger one way or another
Links 05/03/2025: Starbucks Debt Soars and CFO Changed, Apple Pretends to Value Privacy, "Cloudflare Blocking Privacy Focused Users From Accessing Third-Party Websites"
Links for the day
Canonical's Latest Love Letter to Microsoft (Ubuntu Promoting Proprietary Spyware With Back Doors)
Typical Canonical, promoting Microsoft (and sometimes Windows) instead of competing against them
What Microsoft and GitHub Really, Really, REALLY Do Not Want You to See or Know About
They're trying to misuse law in a completely different continent or to allege that reporting important facts is in breach of privacy law
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com and Other 'Linux' Sites With LLM Slop
SEO spam with machine-generated fodder, plus a person to whom English isn't a first language
GNU/Linux Climbs to Record Levels in Switzerland. Can the EU, Norway, the UK, and Switzerland Divorce GAFAM?
Germany openly speaks about becoming independent from the US. How about Switzerland?
Gemini Links 05/03/2025: Living in Interesting Times, Font, and Social Control Media with Gos v1.0.0
Links for the day
Just Because Common Currencies (Including the US Dollar) Are Considered Uncertain Doesn't Mean People Should Adopt Volatile Multi-Level (Pyramid) Schemes
the scammers are trying to "go mainstream"
Use RSS Readers Instead of Social Control Media
RSS readers were designed to save time. Social Control Media was designed to waste time.
The 'Windows Era' Already Came to an End
Microsoft said to shareholders everything would be alright because of "clown computing" and then "hey hi"
The Fall of the Open Source Initiative (OSI): Microsoft Committing the Largest GPL Violation in Human History, Then OSI Covering That Up on Microsoft's Payroll
LLMs don't make GPL violations any more noble or acceptable; it's not hard to see what OSI was paid by Microsoft for
Social Control Media as a Rapid Race to the Bottom - Part II - Think Before You Talk
The 'socmed' nonsense does not exist in our home
Links 04/03/2025: Hardware, Health, Data Breaches, Politics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 04, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 04, 2025
Luxembourg: GNU/Linux at 8% Based on Estimates
steady increases this year
Gemini Links 04/03/2025: Bicycle, Photos, and Motorola 6809 Assemblers
Links for the day
Crossbow tragedy, bigger than Kyle Clifford, social media culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Microsoft OSI Apparently Still Reading Techrights Closely, Trying to Make Face-Saving PR Moves
They have long had this reactionary rhythm, wherein it feels like we can 'control' what they publish and when by merely highlighting facts about them
Links 04/03/2025: Microsoft/Korea Game Industry Association Workforce Cuts, Outlook and 365 Outage Affects Very Many
Links for the day
Transcript of Richard Stallman's Interview With Manuel Cuda News in Italy (Debunking Fake "AI")
A rough draft, but checked by two people
Chad: All-Time Lows for Windows, According to statCounter
According to statCounter, many in Chad moved to Android
Links 04/03/2025: Universities Are Under Attack, Windows Attracts Ransom Against Ministry of Health
Links for the day
Microsoft Collapses While GNU/Linux Rises in Bulgaria, According to statCounter
Microsoft is losing across all sectors
The Fall of the Open Source Initiative (OSI): An Introduction
In a nutshell: there's a massive conflict inside the OSI and the OSI stooges (staff serving Big Sponsors like Microsoft) try to hide it
Paraguay: GNU/Linux Surging to New Usage Levels (7%), According to statCounter
Notice that the gains are at Microsoft Windows' expense
Social Control Media as a Rapid Race to the Bottom - Part I - That Sinking Feeling
When you realise you made an error and things you adopted more than 15 years ago became utterly bad
Microsoft's Entryism as Mortal Risk/Danger: The Example of the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
Microsoft is a cult
Links 04/03/2025: Microsoft Issues Policy Instructions to the Cheeto Mussolini Administration, Cloudflare Engages in Mass Censorship Again
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/03/2025: Athens, Fedora 41, and Yelling at Clouds
Links for the day
FSF Amicus Brief: Aspose.PDF for .NET 24.2.0, OOXML (.docx), and Microsoft Word (Proprietary)
Could the FSF not find any law firm that, in addition to talking about or for Free software, does not use .NET, OOXML, and almost everything Microsoft?
New Interview With Richard Stallman in Italy (Manuel Cuda News)
Due to Google's growing aggression against Free software and proper APIs, this cannot be downloaded and converted to a free format
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Belatedly Comments on Case That Tests Copyleft in the United States
"The Free Software Foundation (FSF) announced today it has submitted an amicus brief in the case entitled Neo4j"
If They Try to Censor You on Some Topic, Then You Should Cover This Topic Even More
OSI is only a small part of it
The UEFI hype and Microsoft's lies
By Sami Tikkanen
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 03, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 03, 2025
Thorsten Glaser & Open Source Initiative (OSI) resignations due to AI whitewashing
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock