02.04.22
Gemini version available ♊︎ILO Tribunal Once Again Rules That the European Patent Office (EPO) Violates Fundamental Rights
Video download link | md5sum 21732b1739fa562b0095d4c81484c82d
EPO Anti-social and Undemocratic
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0
Summary: The EPO‘s management, namely António Campinos and his mates (it’s all about nepotism rather than democracy), will need to deal with Benoît Battistelli‘s “reforms” having been ruled as breaching fundamental rights of staff (for the second time in a year!); one can expect Campinos, whose own “reforms” are extremely controversial and unjustified, to cover up for his mate, Battistelli, just as he did the last time, as there’s practically no accountability in the EPO and judges are treated with utter disdain
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) of the European Patent Office (EPO) has just circulated an open letter among staff. “In this open letter,” it said, “the Staff Committee requests an in-depth review of all parts of the Service Regulations dealing with Staff Representation, following Judgment 4482.”
Here’s the letter as PDF and as HTML, along with the decision it cites: [PDF]
Reference: sc22006cl
Date: 03/02/2022European Patent Office | 80298 MUNICH | GERMANY
Mr António Campinos
President of the EPOBy email
OPEN LETTER
Staff Representation – Review of “Social Democracy”
Dear Mr President,
With Judgment 44821, the Tribunal recently quashed several provisions of the Service Regulations introduced with the Social Democracy reform (CA/4/14 and CA/D 2/14), particularly relevant to the way that Staff Representation may organise its elections and constitute itself. After the Judgments on the strike regulations, it is the second time the Tribunal rules that a reform breached the fundamental right of freedom of association.
Through this Judgment, it appears evident that the entire Title II – Chapter 3 (and associated Circulars) in the codex, dealing with Staff Representation, should be reviewed thoroughly. This should be done before the future round of staff representation elections, due mid-20232.
We believe it is in the common interest of the Office, the Staff and its Representation to review these regulations, such that we can agree upon the necessary amendments and present these to the Council in due time. Looking at the stance that the Tribunal has taken on violations of freedom of association by the EPOrg, we are convinced that the Office shall only present the Council with amendments to the Service Regulations which find support with the Staff Representation and put an end to the hindrance to its functioning since 2014.
We therefore request to extend the mandate of the existing Working Group “StaffRep Resources”, such as to carry out a proper review and reach agreement on appropriate amendments to all parts of the Service Regulations dealing with Staff Representation.
_______
1 See also Judgment 4482 – Extracts
2 See consideration 15 in the Judgment.
Given that the next round of elections is due mid-2023, we look forward to receiving an invitation to this effect on short notice.
Yours sincerely,
Thomas Czogalla
Chairman LSC BerlinMichael Kemény
Chairman LSC MunichMartin Schaller
Chairman LSC ViennaJorge Raposo
Chairman LSC The HagueAlain Dumont
Chairman Central Staff Committee
We’ll probably publish more on this topic quite soon. We’ve meanwhile made a local copy of the decision (also shown in the recording made ‘on the spot’).
“We’ve meanwhile made a local copy of the decision (also shown in the recording made ‘on the spot’).”In the video above I mention the other case of breach of fundamental rights (The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — parts XXXXI and XXXXII are still planned for release) and quote a portion of input received from an EPO insider. That speaks of corruption inside and around the EPO. “The way the pandemic is managed reminds me the managerial success story of the EPO,” the insider told us. “Do you remember that judge that was publicly defamed as nazi? The least we can say is that the actual situation lacks transparency. Believing is fine, double-checking is better. What do I know about Pfizer? Fines amounting [to] billions of dollars. Am I supposed to trust them? Perhaps not entirely.”
This isn’t about opposing vaccination in general but about patents and profit motives. We’ve long written and spoken about this subject, sometimes in relation to the EPO specifically.
There’s also this anecdote: “A long time ago I received a phonecall from professional representatives from the UK. They wanted to see me and discuss a file with representatives from the US company. For obvious reasons I will not give the name. But I remember the file, the case was clear-cut and I had planned to grant. Why did they want to see me? Well, the meeting was surreal. The Americans started to talk about, [let's] say the weather, and other similar commonplace [stuff]. And then they started to ask me if I wanted to have one of their products. They insisted in a way [to the point] that the face of the British professional representative turned green. I politely replied that this wasn’t the expect behaviour from the applicants, [and] that examiners do not accepts bribes!”
“Calling “nazis” every group you do not agree with is far too easy; in some cases, like IBM, it wouldn’t even be metaphorical.”“In summary,” the insider said, “corruption also exists at the EPO. US companies use bribes to acquire marketshare. I have read that the Green Party in Germany wants the jab to be compulsory. It is their opinion and they are of course free to think so. But what disturbs me is that they demonstrate with banners [like] “FCK NZS” (fuck nazis). This is the level of political acceptance for people that ask questions, [as] did P.C. the defamed judge.”
Calling “nazis” every group you do not agree with is far too easy; in some cases, like IBM, it wouldn't even be metaphorical. In the case of the EPO, there are some roots (the institution before it was known as EPO) in Nazi Germany and Battistelli himself has an acute case of Vichy Syndrome. At one point Battistelli tried to accuse staff representatives and/or union leaders (even accusing them in front of his government) of being “nazis” and doing nazi salutes. Judging by the track record of Battistelli and Campinos, we know this is not only defamatory but a clear case of projection. █
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