Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO Bubble — Part VII — A Multifaceted Man of Letters

Overview: [Teaser] The EPO's Deflating Patent Bubble and Pursuit of Illegal Software Patents (With Kangaroo Courts, UPC, and Bullied Examiners)

Series parts:

  1. The EPO Bubble — Part I — An “Unprecedented Surge”
  2. The EPO Bubble — Part II — Signs of a Deflating Bubble?
  3. The EPO Bubble — Part III — Dividing Up the Spoils...
  4. The EPO Bubble — Part IV — A Cashflow Problem Looming on the Horizon?
  5. The EPO Bubble — Part V — Propping Up the Bubble?
  6. The EPO Bubble — Part VI — From Humble Examiner to CO€³
  7. YOU ARE HERE ☞ A Multifaceted Man of Letters


razik-baby-sitter
In his spare time Razik Menidjel is something of a "man of letters". He has published a number of books including poetry, drama and a novel co-authored with his brother Méki Menidjel.



Summary: The Benoît Battistelli- and António Campinos-elevated Frenchman, who insiders believe will push illegal software patents to make anther bubble, has a parallel 'career'

A casual observer could be forgiven for assuming that Razik’s Menidjel’s written output is limited to dry-as-dust technical subject-matter, patent search and examination reports, articles about patent searching in the area of biomaterials and polymers, and scientific tracts such as his doctoral dissertation "Novel Syntheses for Precursors of Unusual Nitrogen-Heterocycles and Polyketides".



However, if one takes the trouble to scratch below the surface a more multifaceted individual emerges.

It soon becomes clear that, in his spare time, Razik is something of a "man of letters", an aspiring belletrist in fact.

"The book is full of extravagant and inflated assertions about the military exploits of the "Turcos", in particular their contribution to Allied efforts during World War II."Over the course of the last three decades, despite his busy schedule at the European Patent Office Razik has managed to churn out several volumes of poetry, along with an occasional theatre play and a novel for good measure.

As far as can be determined, his literary début was a now out-of-print volume of poetry entitled "Plein Couer" published in 1991 by the Parisian publishing house Éditions Saint-Germain-des-Prés which folded up in 1997.

His recent literary oeuvres have been distributed by Publibook, a small publishing house founded in June 2000. Publibook is located in Saint-Denis, a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, and is reportedly one of the leaders in the French Internet publishing market.

Razik’s most recent literary undertaking is a racy criminal thriller entitled "Baby-Sitter" which he co-authored with his brother Méki in 2018. In his day job Méki is a French civil servant, a senior administrator with the Regional Health Agency of ÃŽle-de-France.

Meki Menidjel
Razik’s brother and sometime literary "collaborateur", Méki Menidjel, a French civil servant and senior administrator with the Regional Health Agency of ÃŽle-de-France.



The following promotional blurb gives a taste of what the reader can expect:

"Cindy's scream catches the leader's attention. His eyes meet the children's. Cindy and Bruce rush to their room, frightened by the stranger. Julio, hiding by the door, grabs his knife and slashes the arm of the chief, who, wounded, retreats outside, cutting off the entrance to his three henchmen who accompany him. Julio violently closes the door and pushes the chest of drawers to the side in front of it before rushing towards Juliana."

Written by two brothers who show their taste for muscular films, "Baby-Sitter" pits Julio, a man with a dark past and two children whose lives he is trying to save, against a murderous commando ready for anything... and the worst. A confrontation that hides even greater stakes, since the father of the children is none other than the assistant of a senator himself in danger.

Manipulations and blackmail, fights and chases, tensions and notes of humour...

The Menidjel brothers brilliantly arrange and choreograph these elements throughout this text that ignores dead time and hides nothing of its references. Catchy and intense, a script-tribute to action cinema.


In 2007 Razik made his first and only venture into the realms of amateur military historiography with a publication entitled "Les Tirailleurs algériens".

Les Tirailleurs algeriens
"Les Tirailleurs algériens" is a bombastic tribalistic rant dedicated to the French colonial troops recruited from the Arab and Berber communities of Algeria.



This is a book dedicated to the "Algerian Skirmishers", French colonial troops of Algerian extraction who acquired the nickname "Les Turcos" during the Crimean War.

These soldiers were regiments of indigenous infantry recruited from the Arab and Berber communities of Algeria who were used as cannon-fodder to serve French imperial interests during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Les Turcos
The "Tirailleurs algériens", nicknamed "Les Turcos" were regiments of indigenous infantry recruited from the Arab and Berber communities of Algeria and were used as cannon-fodder to serve French imperial interests during the 19th and 20th centuries.



The "Turcos" were deployed under French command in both World Wars and also during the interwar period to assist Spanish forces in the brutal suppression of the Abd-el-Krim insurgency between 1921 and 1926 (known as the "Rif War"). After World War II they were used during the 1950s and 1960s to prop up the remnants of France’s colonial empire in Africa (including Algeria itself) and in "Indochina" (Vietnam).

"Les Tirailleurs algériens" may be described as a 451-page tribalistic rant in which the author begins by paying his respects to family members who "died for France".

The list starts with Bou Menidjel el Amara who died at sea on 4 November 1915 (presumably on board the military transport ship "Le Calvados" sunk by a German submarine in the vicinity of Gibraltar) and ending with Bouguerra ben Ain Bouati who died in action on 13 March 1954 at Điện Biên Phá»§ (Vietnam) defending the last vestiges of European imperialism in "French Indochina".

"In the next part, our focus will shift back to EPO affairs and we shall see how the intrepid "Algerian Skirmisher" made further advances in his primary career when he replaced the "British Grenadier" Grant Philpott as Chief Operating Office in charge of ICT towards the end of 2019."The book is full of extravagant and inflated assertions about the military exploits of the "Turcos", in particular their contribution to Allied efforts during World War II.

Amongst other things, the author boldly claims that the losses inflicted on the Axis armies by these French colonial troops during the North African campaign were more decisive for the outcome of the war than the losses inflicted on the Wehrmacht by the Soviet Red Army on the Eastern Front.

It’s difficult to believe that the purveyor of such bombastic and jingoistic "ballyhoo" could rise to occupy a prominent position in an international organisation like the EPO. But given the levels of Francophone cronyism prevailing during the Battistelli era perhaps it’s not altogether surprising.

Before concluding this part, it seems appropriate to give a brief mention to Razik’s wife Nicola Kipper, another student of chemistry with artistic inclinations.

Nicola acquired a Ph.D. in natural substances chemistry ("Naturstoffchemie") from the University of Göttingen in 1997 with a dissertation about the structure and synthesis of dioxolides entitled "Struktur und Biosynthese der Dioxolide: Ein neuer Abzweig des Shikimisäureweges".

Nicola comes from Varel in Northern Germany and is more an aficionado of the visual beaux-arts rather than belles lettres. She exhibits her artworks regularly in the South-Holland region, including at the EPO’s annual Artists’ Exhibition "ArtEx", and won second place in the "Groene Hart" Art Awards in 2015.

Nicola Kipper
Nicola Kipper won second place in the "Groene Hart" Art Awards in 2015 (l.).
Relaxing on the beach at Scheveningen near Rijswijk (r.).



As we shall see in a later part of the series, when Razik and Nicola feel like escaping the windy and rainy maritime climate of Leidschendam in South-Holland, they enjoy travelling to sunnier spots, such as the island of Crete where they obtained planning permission for constructing a holiday home in 2018.

That concludes our exploration of Razik Menidjel’s parallel career as a "man of letters".

In the next part, our focus will shift back to EPO affairs and we shall see how the intrepid "Algerian Skirmisher" made further advances in his primary career when he replaced the "British Grenadier" Grant Philpott as Chief Operating Office in charge of ICT towards the end of 2019.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Coming Soon: Microsoft Fake Results, Mass Layoffs, and Silence About All the People Microsoft Pressured to "Quit" (So That They Don't Get Counted as Layoffs)
there will be more mass layoffs
Speed of GNU/Linux
The media seldom speaks of the dangers of "proprietary software"
Proprietary Windows Versus "Linux" News (Trying to Keep People on Windows, Never Exploring GNU/Linux)
Good editors know better how to recognise threats and not give them lip service
Ensuring That Every Computer User Anywhere in the World Can Take Control of All His or Her Computers
We must fight the people who attack general-purpose computing, in particular those who push this agenda very aggressively inside Linux
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: Autism and Structural Navigation
Links for the day
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: The Purge, the Cover-up, and the Witch-hunts
OSI has gone "full Microsoft"
 
China is Already Culling GAFAM (Not Just Microsoft Windows)
OS monoculture or "OS hegemony" may be coming to an end
The "Telephone Operating System in the Vatican" is 95 Years Old, Vatican Moved to GNU/Linux
Maybe Microsoft is down to zero already
If Tesla Shares (and Alleged Value) Fell 55% (From $489 to $222) in a Few Months Maybe It's Not Worth Anything At All (It's Just Gambling)
Tesla swasticars have turned from a "status symbol" into a "public embarrassment" and cause for casual humiliation
Chromebooks' Adoption in Sweden No Longer Depends on Schools
School breaks are when classrooms are shut
No, IBM is Not Investing $150 Billion in the US and It Doesn't Even Have That Kind of Money
Here we go again... media as a vehicle of lobbying and misinformation
Leak: The EPO's General Consultative Committee (GCC) Does Not Consult Staff on Crucial Matters and Bypasses the Administrative Council (AC) to Do Illegal Things
violations against the EPO's very staff
New Leaks Coming Soon, We Maintain 100% Record of Successful Resistance to Censorship
We won't be told what we can and cannot say (especially when it's true)
Central African Republic (CAR): Vista 11 is Only ~0.2% Market Share
99.8% to go!
BSD and GNU/Linux Replaced Microsoft in Secure Servers, All Microsoft Has Left is LLM Slop for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD)
the FUD machine never rests
Gemini Links 28/04/2025: A Simple Task Tracking and Auto-Prioritization Tool and Other Programs
Links for the day
Links 28/04/2025: Canada's Election, Pakistan-India Conflict
Links for the day
Glue Inside Your Pizza (or Why People Will Get Fed Up With Slop)
People are given "answers" from non-intelligence word dumpsters
Links 28/04/2025: Cyberattacks Happening, Chatbots Disappointing, and "Free Speech Under Fire"
Links for the day
Phone Adoption Very Low in Vatican, Windows Usage Fell Nonetheless
Even in places where people still use desktops/laptops most of the time (and have access to these) Windows is gradually losing ground
GNU/Linux 9% in Cuba, Vista 11 Waning, Android Dominant
Microsoft has pretty much lost Cuba
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, April 27, 2025
In 24 Countries Observed by statCounter Vista 11 is Still Less Than a Quarter of Windows Users Despite All Other Versions Being 'Expired'
They ought to move to GNU/Linux
Links 27/04/2025: Pope Goodbyes, "Politics of Fear", Slop Redux and More Google Shutdowns (Google Debt Had Grown This Year)
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Serenity Dialectics, Hockey Jersey Ethics, and More
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Death of Nest Thermostats, Death of Metaverse
Links for the day
Links 27/04/2025: Projects Workflow and Discovering Technology
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 26, 2025
Microsoft Isn't on the Map in USSR
To them, it's either Google or Yandex
In Central America Windows Became a Small Force
These are countries where Windows used to have well over 95% of the "market"
What's Very Vexing to GAFAM, EPO and Others Is That It's Incredibly Hard to Censor Us (and Nobody Ever Successfully Did That Before)
resist, do not capitulate
Site May be Even Faster Now
It basically takes less than a tenth of a second to serve the page
Receiving SLAPPs and Collecting Them Like Trophies (the SLAPPs Always Fail)
People who file lawsuits bring even more attention to themselves (or to embarrassing statements about them)
Year of GNU/Linux on the Laptop?
It's not happening only in Lenovo
What People Must Understand About the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
some facts about the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
Many of the Scandals Are Interconnected (Overlapping People and Corporations)
We're only getting started
More Copyright Lawsuits Against LLM Slop Providers and Suppliers of LLM Slopfarms Would Benefit Society
It's not just bad for the Web and for society; it's also legally dangerous
Links 26/04/2025: General Assassinated in the Town of Balashikha, US Promoting Seafloor Mining
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025