Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO's War on Justice and Assault on the Law -- Part 15: The EBA Letter of 8 December 2014

Previously in this series:



EPO IU Surveillance
Internal documents show that the EPO's Investigative Unit was active in monitoring "TechRights" and its IRC Channels in the hope of identifying "leakers".



Summary: The illegal surveillance by Europe's second-largest institution was a culmination of dictatorial despotism by the institution entrusted to grant patents correctly while respecting the independence of judges

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…



"In the middle of an ongoing social conflict that had been festering since at least 2012, the suspension of a Board of Appeal member by the EPO President, under the guise of a "house ban", generated enormous disquiet, not only among bloggers, attorneys and EPO staff union officials, but also within the Enlarged Board of Appeal itself."Readers may recall that back in December 2014 the EPO was in a dreadful state of turmoil.

In the middle of an ongoing social conflict that had been festering since at least 2012, the suspension of a Board of Appeal member by the EPO President, under the guise of a "house ban", generated enormous disquiet, not only among bloggers, attorneys and EPO staff union officials, but also within the Enlarged Board of Appeal itself.

As a matter of fact, the members of the Enlarged Board were so incensed by Benoît Battistelli's actions that they sent a letter of complaint to the governing body of the EPO, the Administrative Council.

"Never before had an internal dispute of this kind spilled out into the public domain with such vehemence."As IPKat correctly noted, this was an extraordinary event which was unprecedented in the 40 year history of the EPO. Never before had an internal dispute of this kind spilled out into the public domain with such vehemence.

The letter of 8 December 2014 from the Enlarged Board protested that Battistelli's "house ban" amounted to a suspension which was not lawfully imposed.

According to the Enlarged Board, neither the President nor his Investigative Unit had the required authority to suspend a Board member. It was also noted that the computer belonging to the Board member was confiscated, thereby potentially giving office staff unauthorised access to confidential information about ongoing appeal cases.

"It was also noted that the computer belonging to the Board member was confiscated, thereby potentially giving office staff unauthorised access to confidential information about ongoing appeal cases."The Enlarged Board summarised its concerns in the following terms:

"The actions of the investigation unit on the orders of the President also appear to be a clear challenge to the judicial independence of the Boards of Appeal."

The Administrative Council was urged to take action to bring Mr Battistelli into line:

"What is needed is a clear limitation on the executive power, as far as the Boards of Appeal are concerned, in situations like the present, so as to avoid any impression of undue influence on their judicial work, contrary to the independence requirements of Article 6 of the European Convention on human rights."

Shortly afterwards, the Enlarged Board's letter of protest was endorsed by no less than eight external members from the national judiciaries of the EPO's contracting states.



The dramatic and unprecedented events of December 2014 were widely covered on various IP news channels.

"The dramatic and unprecedented events of December 2014 were widely covered on various IP news channels."In the midst of this turmoil, some members of the Enlarged Board leaked copies of the letter of 8 December 2014 to IP Kat and Techrights in an attempt to gain publicity for their protest and draw attention to Battistelli's outrageous and unprecedented encroachment on judicial independence at the EPO.

Shortly afterwards - presumably under pressure from "Team Battistelli" - IPKat removed the link on its website to the copy of the letter which it had received

However, the original document can still be viewed online on Techrights.

The leaking of this document was not without risk for the Enlarged Board members involved.

It was subsequently revealed in June 2015 that, at the time in question, the EPO's Investigative Unit had been unlawfully using covert surveillance measures against perceived "internal enemies" of the Battistelli régime.

In fact, it is known that Battistelli's IU invested a significant amount of effort into monitoring "TechRights" and its IRC channels in the hope of gathering information that would assist in identifying the so-called "leakers".

Internal documents indicate that EPO management was in a state of "blue funk" when it realised that "[P]eople appear to be flocking to Schestowitz' cause".

According to the EPO's internal "Stasi": "People that were clearly not in contact with him [i.e. Schestowitz] before appear to be mailing him now."

"As far as the letter itself is concerned, it can be seen that there are 35 signatures appended at the end."As it turns out, none of the Enlarged Board members involved in leaking the letter of 8 December 2014 were ever apprehended by Battistelli and his goons.

As far as the letter itself is concerned, it can be seen that there are 35 signatures appended at the end.

At first glance it might appear that the letter was unanimously approved and signed by all members of the Enlarged Board.

However, the fact of the matter is that two members did not sign the letter.

In the next part we shall consider the potential implications of these "missing signatures" for case no. G 1 /21.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Someone Should Remind Microsoft Lunduke That Microsoft Hires Many Sexual Criminals and Pedophiles as Well
Microsoft Lunduke on an "expedition" to find one or more perverts, then generalise to everyone in the "community"
Cash Machines (ATMs) Make Mistakes and They're Proprietary Software
Correcting mistakes is a colossal challenge
Yes, Microsoft is the Problem
"I am no MS shill."
Another Failed Use Case for Chatbots (LLM): Legal Advice and Analysis
They're just some self-discrediting toy that costs way too much to operate
Nonfree Software in My Bank, by Richard Stallman
Updated 8 hours ago
 
Links 29/07/2025: Data Brokers Gone Wrong/Rogue and "Copyright Thicket"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linuxconfig.org, Linuxsecurity.com, Fagioli, The Register
Today's "Slopwatch" isn't the first article about LLM slop
We Cover Topics Other Sites Are Too Afraid to Cover (Even When They Know the Facts)
It's not that they doubt the truth, they just realise there may be consequences for talking about it
They Try to Tell Us the Free Software Foundation Inc is Dying, But Its Revenue Doubled Since the Dot-Com Bubble Burst
Being in "Activism" is never easy; but it does positive things for society
It's About the Cost of Workers, Not the Fictional Skills Shortage (That Does Not Exist, the Media Spreads False and Sometimes Self-Fulfilling Narratives)
This issue isn't limited to computing, some dub it "globalism"
Links 29/07/2025: More Pushbacks Against Slop and More Praises of Tom Lehrer
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/07/2025: Purple Yarrow and Understanding Op Amps
Links for the day
This Monday WebProNews Absolutely Flooded the Web With Fake (LLM Slop) 'Articles' About "Linux", Google News Promoted Them as Legitimate
All of the following are fake articles attributed to pseudonyms or authors that don't exist; the images are also slop. Why does Google promote these?
Linuxiac is Not a Slopfarm, But at Least Some of Its Articles Are Machine-Generated Fakes
what we said about it was correct
Expect More Microsoft Layoffs
"Are more job cuts coming?"
Microsoft Behaving Like It's Running Out of Money to Pay Salaries
Does that seem like the behaviour expected from a company which claims it is "worth" trillions?
LWN Downtime Due to Linode, Not LLM Bots
"I’ve received an email letting me know that there is a potential for data loss."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 28, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 28, 2025
Links 28/07/2025: Science, Health, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Healthy Self-Image With Autism and a "New Life"
Links for the day
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles