Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Looney Tunes – Part 4: G 2/19 - Faites Vos Jeux…

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.”

--Martin Luther King Jr.



Carl Josefsson

The Chairman of the Enlarged Board, Carl Josefsson



Part 1: EPO Looney Tunes - Part 1: Is D-Day Approaching for Battistelli’s “Difficult Legacy”? Part 2: EPO Looney Tunes - Part 2: The “Difficult Legacy” and Its Dark Historical Shadow Part 3: EPO Looney Tunes – Part 3: The Legal Line-up for G 2/19

Summary: "Josefsson needs to bring in the “desired result” for his political masters in the Administrative Council if he wants to be in with a chance of reappointment."

The Chairman of the Enlarged Board, Carl Josefsson, is generally reckoned to be a “safe pair of hands” who does his best to please his political masters.



Most insiders are of the opinion that he is unlikely to advocate or support any course of action which might risk upsetting the apple cart (António Campinos has partial control over his position).

"The decisive question seems to be whether or not Josefsson can persuade a majority of the Board to row in behind him or whether the “contrarians” will carry the day."So it seems like a safe bet that he will do his best to guide the proceedings in a direction that will enable the Board to dodge the awkward third and final “Haar question”.

Failing that, he can be expected to do his best to secure a decision confirming that the holding of oral proceedings in Haar is in compliance with the EPC.

The decisive question seems to be whether or not Josefsson can persuade a majority of the Board to row in behind him or whether the “contrarians” will carry the day.

EBA of EPO

The internal members of the Enlarged Board.
Top row: Legally qualified members, Ingo Beckedorf and Gérard Weiss
Bottom row: Technically qualified members, Gunnar Eliasson (no photo) and Pascal Gryczka



As far as the internal members are concerned, Josefsson can probably safely count on the support of his fellow Swede, the elusive Gunnar Eliasson.

"Eliasson is the Chairman of the Technical Board of Appeal 3.4.03 which is reputed to take a relatively “soft” and “customer-friendly” line on software and business method patenting."Eliasson acted as ad interim Chairman of the Enlarged Board (warning: epo.org link) during the interregnum following the departure of the former Vice-President of DG3, the Dutchman Wim “the Wimp” van der Eijk, who had is reported to have fallen out of grace with Battistelli. In this role Eliasson liased closely with Josefsson during the “handover” period when the latter assumed office as “President of the Boards of Appeal”.

Eliasson is the Chairman of the Technical Board of Appeal 3.4.03 which is reputed to take a relatively “soft” and “customer-friendly” line on software and business method patenting. By all accounts he seems like another managerially compliant “safe pair of hands” who can be depended on to dance to the Chairman’s tune.

The support of the other internal members for Josefsson’s line is less certain because at least some of them are known to have taken management-critical stances in the past.

"As far as the external members are concerned, they are “dark horses” and it is difficult to make any reliable prediction about the position which they might take."Ingo Beckedorf joined the EPO in 2007 and has been a regular legally qualified member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal since 2012. Before joining the Boards of Appeal, he was an attaché de presse and deputy head of the Office of the European Parliament in Germany (2001-2003) and a judge at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg (1997-2006).

Gérard Weiss, from Alsace, joined the EPO in 1982 as a legal advisor in the Patent Law Department. From 1990 to 2000 he was head of the Administrative Council Secretariat. He moved to the Boards of Appeal in 2001 and has been a legal member of the Enlarged Board since 2010.

Pascal Gryczka, who comes from Freyming-Merlebach in the Moselle region of France close to the German border, is a graduate of the University of Strasbourg (Battistelli works at CEIPI in Strasbourg now) and has been a Chairman of a Technical Board of Appeal since 2011.

EPO external

The external members of the Board.
Jochem Gröning (Germany) and Michael Sachs (Austria)



As far as the external members are concerned, they are “dark horses” and it is difficult to make any reliable prediction about the position which they might take.

These “external members” are members of a national judiciary of an EPO contracting state who are appointed to a panel for a (renewable) term of three years.

"Sachs has a reputation as a bon viveur and is a well known figure among the “champagne set” of Viennese High Society."Jochem Gröning is a judge at the German Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe with a solid reputation in legal circles in his home country. He gives the impression that he can be relied upon to weigh up matters in a neutral manner and that he is unlikely to allow himself to be swayed too much by purely political considerations.

Michael Sachs is the Vice-President of the Austrian Federal Administrative Court in Vienna. Sachs has a reputation as a bon viveur and is a well known figure among the “champagne set” of Viennese High Society.

Michael Sachs

Judge Michael Sachs enjoying the good life at a champagne-tasting reception in Vienna



Austrian judicial appointments are notoriously political and the Federal Administrative Court which was established in 2014 is no exception to this general rule.

Michael Sachs is politically connected to the conservative Austrian Peoples’ Party (ÖVP) currently led by the “Wunderknabe” Sebastian Kurz. His colleague Harald Perl, the President of the Federal Administrative Court, is an appointee of the other main political party in Austria, the Socialist Party (SPÖ).

SPO VPO

Tweedledum and Tweedledee?
President of the Federal Administrative Court, Harald Perl (SPÖ)
and Vice-President Michael Sachs (VPÖ)



Since its inception in 2014, the Federal Administrative Court has been dogged by allegations of endemic cronyism and questionable appointments.

"In at least one case, it was confirmed that the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Vienna had opened a formal investigation into allegations of official misconduct."Some disgruntled staff, including judges and lawyers, were sufficiently irritated to set up an “Association against Cronyism” (“Verein gegen Freunderlwirtschaft”) and even went so far as to file a number of criminal complaints about various goings-on which upset them.

In at least one case, it was confirmed that the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Vienna had opened a formal investigation into allegations of official misconduct.

In another case, allegations of abuse of office were raised against members of the Presidium of the Court who had proposed the judicial appointment of Hubert Keyl, a member of the far-right populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) founded by the controversial Jörg Haider and currently led by the equally controversial Heinz-Christian Strache. In that case, allegations were made against both Sachs and Perl who are members of the Presidium.

Coming from an environment where cronyism, intrigue and machination seem to be on the daily menu, Sachs gives the impression of being a much more “political animal” than Gröning who seems to be more of the “legal scholar” type.

"Coming from an environment where cronyism, intrigue and machination seem to be on the daily menu, Sachs gives the impression of being a much more “political animal” than Gröning who seems to be more of the “legal scholar” type."If this impression is correct, then there is a greater probability that Sachs - in contrast to Gröning - might be more susceptible to the influence of political as opposed to strictly legal considerations.

All in all, it would seem to be an easier task to persuade Sachs to row in behind the Chairman and to refrain from supporting any “contrarian” course of action.

Assuming that Josefsson can get the internal member Eliasson and the external member Sachs on his side, then all that he would need for a majority would be to “flip” one of the undecided internal members.

Internal sources suggest that Beckedorf is very much his own man so in the end it all seems to come down to what position Weiss and Gryczka are going to take and whether or not Josefsson can persuade one or both of them to row in behind him.

"Internal sources suggest that Beckedorf is very much his own man so in the end it all seems to come down to what position Weiss and Gryczka are going to take and whether or not Josefsson can persuade one or both of them to row in behind him."If he can, then he will have it in the bag and the “Haar question” can at least be avoided for the time being or - in the best case scenario for Josefsson - if he plays his cards right he might even manage to bury it entirely.

As he is about half-way through his current five-year term of office, it’s clear that Josefsson needs to bring in the “desired result” for his political masters in the Administrative Council if he wants to be in with a chance of reappointment.

This brings the current mini-series of EPO Looney Tunes to a close but we hope to be back with an update in the not too distant future after the Enlarged Board of Appeal has delivered its decision on referral G 2/19.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia, Shutdown in Pakistan, What Next?
It seems possible that in 2025 alone Microsoft will have laid off over 50,000 workers
What Matters More Than "Market Share"
The goal is freedom, not "market share"
Credit Suisse collapse obfuscated Parreaux, Thiébaud & Partners scandal
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
UK Media Under Threat: Cannot Report on Data Breach, Cannot Report on Microsoft Staff Strangling Women
The story of super injunction (in the British media this week, years late)
Under the Guise of "MIT Technology Review Insights" the Site MIT Technology Review Posts Corporate Spam as 'Articles'
Some of the articles aren't even articles but 'hit pieces' against Free software and some are paid advertisements
Brett Wilson LLP Has Track Record in Scam Coin Cases (e.g. Craig Wright and More), Now It Works for 'Crypto' Scam Purveyors
But wait, it gets worse
Will Brett Wilson LLP Handle Its Own Winding Up Petition or be Struck Off for Overt Abuse of Process?
Today we sue not only the first Microsofter
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Sharing Code and Recipes
It helps explain the triviality of software freedom
 
Not My Problem, I Don't Care
Context/inspiration: Martin Niemöller
Honest Journalism About the European Patent Office Ceased to Exist After SLAPPs and Bribes to the Media
The EPO is basically a Mafia
Life Became Simpler When I Stopped Driving and I Don't Miss Driving When I See "Modern" Cars
Gee, wonder why car sales have plummeted...
Why I Believe Brett Wilson LLP and Its Microsoft Clients Are All Toast
So far our legal strategy has worked perfectly
EPO Jobs Are Very Toxic and Bad for One's Health
Health first, not monopolies
Response to Ryo Suwito Regarding the Four Freedoms
the point of life isn't to make more money
Microsoft's Morale Circling Down the Drain
Or gutter, toilet etc.
Tech Used to be Fun. To Many of Us It's Still Fun.
You can just watch it from afar and make fun of it all
Links 17/07/2025: "Blog Identity Crisis" and Openwashing by Nvidia
Links for the day
Greffiers and the US Attorney of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
The lawsuit can help expose extensive corruption in the American court system as well
The People Who Promoted systemd in Debian Also Promote Wayland
This is not politics
Victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, Wanted to Sue Him But Lacked the Funds (He Attacked Their Finances)
Having spoken to victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
Links 17/07/2025: Science, Hardware, and Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: Staying in the "Small Web" and Back on ICQ
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Exclusive: corruption in Tribunals, Greffiers, from protection rackets to cat whisperers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/07/2025: Chip Bans and Microsoft’s “Digital Escort” Program
Links for the day
Revolving Doors: One Day You're a Judge, the Next Day You're an Attorney Paying Public Officials and Working for Violent and Dangerous Microsoft Employees
how the US justice system works
Slopwatch: Noise, Plagiarism and Even Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
What are we meant to do to prevent a false association or misleading connotations? Game the LLMs? No. Boycott slopfarms.
How Many Women Has Microsoft's Alex Balabhadra Graveley Already Strangled and Where Does That End?
If you too are a victim of this man and wish to share information, contact us
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Simple Web Browsing with TLS
Links for the day
Links 16/07/2025: Fascist Slop Takes "Intelligence" Clothing, New Criminal Case Against MElon
Links for the day
"We Might Save Somebody's Life"
I follow the example of my father
Why I am Suing the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, in the UK High Court This Week
Out of respect to the process and to the Court, I shall not share any pertinent details about the case
Links 16/07/2025: China’s Economy Grows Steadily, France Takes Action Regarding Harm to Children by GAFAM and Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
It is Not About Politics
Beware the people who try to make this about politics
Good Journalism Saves Lives
a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner
Recognition of Women's Contributions to Free Software
Being passive is not an option when bad things are happening
Slopfarms Are Going to Perish Because Public Opinion is Changing
Many slopfarms will simply go offline
19 Years of Standing Up for Justice, Equality, and Truth
This week we shall take it up a notch
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: Tmux and OCC25 Working TLS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Links 15/07/2025: LLM Pollution and Pushback in Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: xkcd, New Cert, and Alhena Gemlog
Links for the day
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders
Links for the day
Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day