Bonum Certa Men Certa

Inside the EPO During Corona: António Campinos Running Europe's Monopolies-Granting Monopoly Like a Shop With Essentials While Crushing Those Who 'Stock the Shelves'

He didn't come from a patents background; he doesn't know what the heck he's doing

António Campinos patents cash



Summary: The EPO's very own 'Orange Dictator' (who isn't leaving the helm in January 2021) has been weaponising the deadly virus to undermine the election process and crush not only constituents (staff) but also their local representatives

THE patients in Europe rapidly grow in number, but who cares, right? More patents. MOAR and MOAR patents, everybody!



Patents are like food and medicine. If EPO staff dies in the process of granting them, so be it! It's the cost of war. Nurses and doctors only treat patients, they don't grant patents, do they?

When did a patent last save a life? No, not a drug with a patent on it but the patent itself...

"Let them eat patents!"As it turns out, neither Benoît Battistelli nor António Campinos ever cared to understand patents. Battistelli was only introduced to that domain some time in his fifties. Campinos used to do trademarks, but somehow he's a patenting expert now (never mind if patent law and trademark law are inherently different). No wonder he's advocating software patents in Europe even if European software developers say "No!" to such patents. Who cares... MOAR food! More patents. Let them eat patents!

"Campinos was apparently exploiting COVID-19 as an excuse for curtailing activity of staff representatives..."This kind of misguided attitude is what led to the collapse of quality and morale at the EPO. Examiners who are actually scientists (unlike Battistelli and Campinos) cannot stand the ignorance of their bosses, who surround themselves with old colleagues and friends rather than competent people.

Half a year ago the people who actually do all the work at the EPO (examiners, scientists) sought to alert their so-called 'president' (who was 'elected' by nepotism through his old friend and compatriot Battistelli) about a growing issue.

Campinos was apparently exploiting COVID-19 as an excuse for curtailing activity of staff representatives:

Campinos letter to CSC 2020, page 1

Campinos letter to CSC 2020, page 2

A week later a response was sent:

re20076cl

From: Joachim Michels On Behalf Of centralstcom Sent: 28 April 2020 17:27 To: PRESIDENT <president@epo.org>

Subject: RE: Future means of communication for the Staff Committee and organisation of the Staff Committee election

Dear Mr President, dear António,

Thank you for your letter of 22 April 2020. We understand the concerns you express about the forthcoming elections of the Staff Committee under the current exceptional circumstances. Indeed, candidates and staff would ideally expect adequate campaign and election processes.

At this time a postponement would imply the extension of our mandate. We feel it is not within our remit to request such an extension beyond the term laid down in the Service Regulations.

Thank you for your kind understanding,

Joachim Michels On behalf of all Staff Committees


The following polite (if not almost cordial) letter was sent:

Letter Campinos election

On the surface it may seem harmless and amicable, but privately the staff representatives (the Central Staff Committee) explained the ramifications as follows:

Forthcoming Staff Committee elections



Mr Campinos maintains the elections in June despite current pandemic

On 22 April, Mr Campinos wrote a letter to the CSC where he stated the following: “In light of the above, please send me your position in writing by 28 April at latest, on whether you are in favour of holding the election in June, or if you prefer to request a postponement. If this written indication does not reach my secretariat by this date, please be aware that it will be understood you are in favour of holding the Staff Committee election in June 2020, as foreseen.”

The local and central Staff Committees replied to Mr Campinos by email on 28 April, stating: “At this time a postponement would imply the extension of our mandate. We feel it is not within our remit to request such an extension beyond the term laid down in the Service Regulations.”

The President sent another letter to the CSC on 30 April where he stated: “I would like to confirm that I have received your reply on 28 April. As you know, your reply did not request a postponement of the staff elections and it is therefore understood that you wish the elections to take place in June.”

We are strongly disappointed that Mr Campinos tries to present his own decision as being ours, and that he took his decision without consulting EPO staff. We recall that, before the “social democracy” framework was imposed on EPO Staff in 2014, it was the Electoral Committee composed exclusively of staff members directly elected by staff, which was in charge of organising the Staff Committee elections.


So here again we see a public health crisis being 'weaponised' against EPO staff. The 'nice' and 'polite' (ignore all the shouting) new President is proving to be no better than his predecessor.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Un-cancelled the Best People, Just in Time for the Big 4-0
Mr. Oliva should have been there all along (since 2019)
Most "Modern" Technology Makes You Slower and Dumber
Because proprietary software makes you worse off
"What Comes After Free Software?" Wrongly Insinuates We've Reached the Goal (Prison is Not the Goal)
The oil tycoons use similar tactics against environmentalists, giving them fake "wins"
Making More Work Space
I learned the hard way that less is more in circumstances where more means distraction
MAHA is a Lie, Public Officials Never Valued Citizens' Health (They Still Value Private Businesses, Their Sponsors)
Reject demagogues
 
Links 24/09/2025: Qt Creator 18 Beta, Microsoft Cannot Bail Out "ChatGPT" Anymore, China and US Intensify Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/09/2025: Gemlogs and Politics
Links for the day
Links 23/09/2025: Japan Limits Uses of Skinnerboxes ('Smartphones') With Toxic "Apps", Fentanylware (TikTok) Tapped by "MAGAts"
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Been Sued (by Their Own Clients!)
Vladimir and Alla Yanpolsky sued Brett Wilson LLP in BL-2025-001167 at the end of last week
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part II - UK SLAPPs for Americans, SLAPPs for Profit
Brett Wilson LLP has a track record of this kind
Mayday: Optus emergency calling crisis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/09/2025: Massive Data Breach, Slop Versus Productivity, and Vista 11 Update Breaks Things Again
Links for the day
Code of Censorship
Extortion is peace
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Press Kit for the Weekend After Next Weekend (40th Anniversary)
miles better than social [sic] media [sic] quips, moderated by narcissists and oil tycoons.
Microsoft Had Two Waves of Mass Layoffs This Month (That We Know of) and It'll Get Worse for Microsoft Soon
Will the axe fall again by month's end?
Gemini Links 23/09/2025: Happy Equinox, Photronic Arts, and Perception Cognition
Links for the day
Lessons We've Learned After 17 Years of American Hosting
GAFAM is "all-in" with the "Trump agenda"
Back to Normal Now, We Plan to Do More In-Depth Series (or Multi-part Stories)
Articles (or series thereof) that contain philosophy are important to us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 22, 2025
Microsoft Media is Panicking Amid Mass Layoffs Every Month, H-1B Fees, and "Seattle’s Tech Scene in Trouble"
In "late stage Microsoft", copyleft becomes proprietary
The Next Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs Being Discussed Already
Red Hat is sort of disappearing the way Tivoli did
New Techrights Turns 2
Today starts the third year of the SSG-based Techrights
What Scares Them the Most is Independent News Sites That They Cannot Control and Censor
Wikileaks was a good example of this
If You Don't Control Your Online Platform, Then Someone Else is Controlling You
be (or become) independent
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025