Bonum Certa Men Certa
← [Meme] EPO Rewarding Corruption Instead of Upholding the Law and Protecting the European Patent Convention (EPC) | Microsoft Windows Market Share in Russia in 2022: Down From 55% to 50% in 5 Months →

European Patent Office is a Kakistocracy Illustrated

American poet James Russell Lowell used the term in 1876, in a letter to Joel Benton, writing, 'What fills me with doubt and dismay is the degradation of the moral tone. Is it or is it not a result of Democracy? Is ours a 'government of the people by the people for the people,' or a Kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?'
Reference: Wikipedia



it’s an open secret for those who know the backstage of the EPO but the only time the EPO hired HR consultancy to run a selection procedure for VPs years ago, the one candidate who was not selected as he was clearly identified as unfit for the position due to his profile, is the very same man who was hired as president of the EPO a few years later and who will lead this beautiful organisation into social chaos as well as the IP community into despair. Nothing could stop him to act erratically as he and his minions did, not even the courts, the dozens of EU MPs questioning the EU Commission or the Council of Europe which passed a motion signed by dozens of MPs, and not even the bad press throughout Europe which recurrently reminded the society of the deleterious things that occurred at EPO. So hoping to find competency at the highest level of the EPO is illusory since contrary to the EU institutions in Brussels, the EPO does not dispose upon check and balances and can exercise without any true public scrutiny and transparency, into what is now very much looking like unethical governance. I remember a striking parallel done between the EPO and the FIFA in an article which years ago tried to alert the public on the situation to no avail. Not even Germany, Switzerland, the NL or the Scandinavian countries which are always prone to give the world lessons in Ethics and the Rule of Law did act to restore the situation
A new comment among many more



Summary: Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos aren't just a "dark era" for the EPO; they might in fact be the end of the EPO, having made corruption the "new normal" or "new ways of working"

← [Meme] EPO Rewarding Corruption Instead of Upholding the Law and Protecting the European Patent Convention (EPC) | Microsoft Windows Market Share in Russia in 2022: Down From 55% to 50% in 5 Months →

Recent Techrights' Posts

Corporate Media: Blame the People Who Enter the Abandoned IBM Buildings, Not IBM for Abandoning Workers in Pursuit of IT Sweatshops
When the media spreads falsehoods stocks can go up (a lot higher), but at whose expense and how long for?
SUEPO Munich Report on the Recent EPO Demonstration and Rolling Strikes That Continue to Grow
"increasing registrations for the 'rolling strikes' running until autumn"
Gemini Links 11/07/2026: Old Computer challenge, Poems, Antenna, and More
Links for the day
 
Blogs May be Making a Comeback (They're Not Fediverse, They Are Joined by RSS Feeds)
Don't fake expansion where none existed
ChromeOS and GNU/Linux in the United Kingdom Reach 11%
the UK shows signs of digital maturity
Canonical is Selling Microsoft, It Pays The Register MS to Sell Microsoft
It's all about money to them. And they call this journalism.
When Red Hat's HR Becomes the Same as IBM's HR (Bluewashing)
Red Hat keeps sacking very experienced engineers and adding temporary interns
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia
Assuming this is more or less accurate, we could use a plausible explanation
Over a Week After Microsoft Discontinued Some XBox Models It Apparently Exits Some Markets Altogether
We seem to be witnessing the end of XBox
Links 11/07/2026: "Trademark wars of Influencer Culture", Xinuos Uses Copyrights Versus UNIX
Links for the day
North America: GNU/Linux Measured at 10%
To better understand what contributes to the gains
Following Corrections and Adjustments statCounter Sees GNU/Linux at 7.1%, an All-Time High
There is a lot of layoffs at Microsoft this month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 10, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, July 10, 2026
Links 11/07/2026: Wednesday-Saturday News Catch-up
Links for the day
Prioritising High-Importance News
In order to fully catch up with news we'll not publish many new articles until next week
The Register MS: "AI" More Than 80 Times in One Article. But It's Not an Article, It's Sponsored Keyword-stuffed Page.
The Register MS is being paid to actively promoted this scheme
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 09, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, July 09, 2026
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 08, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 08, 2026