IRC: #techbytes @ Techrights IRC Network: Thursday, February 15, 2024

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Last week was the week of work-related stress[1]. It was an opportunity for Your Local Staff Committee to once again reflect on this topic and connect with colleagues on the premises of EPO in The Hague.

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We invite you to look back on it as an opportunity to take a step back and reflect on what really matters to you! And what you can do about it for yourself and your colleagues.

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Here are some questions to help you with this reflection:

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Do you experience stress due to your day-to-day work? Are you in survival mode at work? Do you talk to a healthcare professional if you are experiencing health issues?

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This year the theme of the work stress week is “connection”, referring to relations at work:

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Are your colleagues doing fine? Do you check if you are not sure? How can you be supportive and helpful to your colleagues?

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Stress often appears to originate from external factors that are beyond our control such as heavy workload, tight deadlines, challenging management style or colleagues. But there are many strategies available to help cope with stress, some of which can be found on the “week van de werkstress” toolkit. Maybe you could engage in open discussions and share these methods with your colleagues.

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And be vigilant about how you are doing:

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if your work is affecting your health (trouble sleeping, headaches, exhaustion…), please contact your general practitioner and/or OHS[2] and consider taking sick leave; and

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if you feel that you are being targeted by your line management, you are not the only one and we invite you to contact your staff representation[3] as soon as possible.

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Here is some relevant supplementary information:

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According to the DG4 – HR sickness statistics dashboard, the average sickness absence days per full time employee equivalent is 12,4 days/year;

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It is preferable to take short duration sick leave early rather than needing to take more days off at a later stage due to burn out or exhaustion;

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If you do not meet your production target due to having been on sick leave, you should not have problems for your performance appraisal as the productivity should also be taken into account – if you do experience negative feedback due to reduced production because of periods of sick leave, contact your staff representation immediately: this should not happen;

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We observe that a lot of colleagues are exhausted yet do not go on sick leave. The administration can therefore easily claim that the data does not show an overall increase in work related stress issues in the EPO;

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Articles 44b[4] and 59 (3)[5] of the codex specifies the possibilities of taking family leave and special leave for illness of relatives. You can request this via q/myfips.

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And some wise words from the World Health Organisation (WHO)[6]:

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Decent work is good for mental health.

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Poor working environments – including discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity – pose a risk to mental health.

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More details in the full paper here.

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Kind regards,

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Your Local Staff Representation The Hague - LSCTH"

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[1] https://www.wvdws.nl/

[2] https://intranet.epo.org/services/health-and-safety

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[3] https://intranet.epo.org/the-office/staff-representation

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[4] Family leave of up to 180 days can be requested for taking care of medically certified serious illness or disability of an employee's spouse or relatives, see more details below. Family leave involves reduced pay.

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[5] Special leave is particularly relevant for parents and is often requested for cases when their children are off school with illnesses under Art 59 (3)(h).

[6] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work

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-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.who.int | Mental health at work

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schestowitz

Re: "Also - I seem to no longer appear on "Planet Debian". Weird. A problem for another day."

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>> "Also - I seem to no longer appear on "Planet Debian". Weird. A problem

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>> for another day."

>> https://blog.steve.fi/falsehoods_i_used_to_believe_about_shoes.html

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> His name and feed URL are still in the list on the right hand side of

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> planet.debian.org so he is still in the configuration file.

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> There are some glitches in the Planet software. Sometimes it is because

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> of certificates and sometimes there is something in the RSS that makes

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> it choke.

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> In a case like this, he can log in to the planet server and read the log

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> file to see why it rejects his feed.

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> It is more interesting to see when they make a change in the Git

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> repository or nm.debian.org then we know they really censored somebody.

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> How are your inquiries progressing with the police? Would you be

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> interested in filing a Gross Negligence Manslaughter complaint? Then

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> they will be obliged to tell you if they will investigate or refuse to

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> investigate.

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My plate is already full of other cases we filed.

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-blog.steve.fi | Falsehoods I used to believe about shoes

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Feb 15 12:33

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<li>

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<h5><a href="https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/14/damn_small_linux_returns/">Damn Small Linux returns after damn large release gap</a></h5>

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Seventeen years after its last major version, an old favorite, Damn Small Linux, is back with a new 2024 release.

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An alpha-test version of a new release of Damn Small Linux appeared at the start of the month. The last major release, DSL 4, appeared in 2007, and the last point release, a development preview of DSL 4.11, was in 2012.

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</blockquote>

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</li>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.theregister.com | Damn Small Linux returns after damn large release gap • The Register

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<li>

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<h5><a href="https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/slimbook-titan-report-2.html">Slimbook Titan report 2 - Shaping up nicely</a></h5>

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If you recall, I had problems with the laptop's suspend & resume sequence. The laptop wouldn't wake the second time around, which kind of makes it hard to use as an actual portable computer. I tried my best to fix this, without success. I figured, one of the future firmware or kernel updates ought to resolve it.

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And resolve it, they did. Whatever package brought in the goodies, roughly two months ago, the bug was removed. My Titan can now go to sleep and wake as many times as needed, without any fear the session may just freeze. Now, that does not mean there won't be any future regressions, or that the problem may not come around in a different guise. But for now, it's working as expected.

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</blockquote>

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</li>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.dedoimedo.com | Slimbook Titan report 2 - Shaping up nicely

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<li>

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<h5><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/investigative-journalism-impact-democracy">Why ProPublica Focuses on Issues You May Not See on Cable News</a></h5>

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The idea of shining a spotlight on the crumbling schools was proposed by the state’s biggest newspaper, the Idaho Statesman, as a project for our Local Reporting Network. Working in partnership with Statesman reporter Becca Savransky, ProPublica engagement reporter Asia Fields recruited students, teachers, parents and more than 90% of the state’s superintendents to collect the undeniable evidence.

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</blockquote>

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</li>

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.propublica.org | Why ProPublica Focuses on Issues You May Not See on Cable News — ProPublica

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/02/european-parliament-votes-to-exclude.html?showComment=1707858581264#c6635083928447608980

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-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-ipkitten.blogspot.com | European Parliament votes to exclude gene edited plants from patentability - The IPKat

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"You carefully avoided to reply to the question abo...</a></h5><blockquote>You carefully avoided to reply to the question about the information of the public about plants which are genetically modified. If every type of gene engineering would be as inocuitous as you claim, there should be no harm in making this clear. Why the constant plea not to inform the public? There must be reasons. The problem is societal and its solu

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tion should not be dictated by private interests. One way for lobbies to push their ideas through is to claim that what is good for them is good for society at large. There are enough examples in recent history to show that the contrary is true. The blackmail with jobs and investments has to stop. The seed breeder also gets its reward for disclosing its improvements to plants by selection. In the absence of patents on geneti

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cally modified plants why should it be more difficult for Europe to adapt to climate change? I claim the contrary is true. It might not be allowed to export plants protected elsewhere by patents, but as far as agriculture is concerned, Europe is anyway a net importer of agricultural goods. To reassure you, I am not a dangerous leftist wanting to bereave inventors and their employers from the benefits of the patent monopoly system.

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I simply want to have the assurance that what ends up in my plate is not dangerous for my health. Could you explain what is different between G 1/98 and G 3/19. They both deal with Art 53(b)"

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"It would have been surprising that you would not have commented on the adaptation of the description. You are really playing on words, and the situation is perfectly clear. Your position is against better knowledge and you know it. It is only once the wording of the claims has been finalised, that the description can, and has to be, adapted to the claims. In another blog, I have reminded you that if

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the applicant or the proprietor files AR which are allowable, but does not file an adapted description and is absent from the OP, then the application is refused or the patent monopoly is revoked. I have never been told off by a board for adopting this position as member of an ED or an OD. If the applicant or the proprietor is present at the OP, it gets enough time to present an adapted description. In opposition it is impo

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rtant that the opponent is informed of the adaptation of the description. If the OD adapts the description without communicationg the adaptation to the opponent it commits a SPV. The opponent might not agree, and sometimes wants to see more adaptation. However, the last word stays with the OD. I do not remember seeing an opponent only filing an appeal if he is dissatisfied with the adaptation of the description. An ED or an

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OD can only take a decision of grant or of maintenance in amended form with a complete set of documents. Such a decision is not possible if the description has not been adapted. This is standard practice. Nearly everyday boards remit to the first instance with the order to grant or maintain a patent monopoly with a defined set of claims and a description to be adapted. "

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"I would not read anything into my silence on the question about the information of the public about plants which are genetically modified. This is because my reason for not saying anything is that I feel that I do not (yet) know enough about that topic to make any kind of informed comment. Perhaps you could help me here by explaining the main arguments for and against providing information to the public? The difference bet

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ween the two EBA decisions is that they interpret two different exclusions that are both covered by Article 53(b) EPC. That is: - G 1/98 interprets the meaning of "plant or animal varieties"; whereas - G 3/19 interprets the meaning of "essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals", in the light of new Rule 28(2) EPC, which states that "Under Article 53(b), E

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uropean patents shall not be granted in respect of plants or animals exclusively obtained by means of an essentially biological process". Thus, the ruling in G 3/19 does not affect all of the "plant or animal varieties" that were the subject of G 1/98, but instead only those plants or animals that are "exclusively obtained by means of an essentially biological process". <

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br />For a more complete explanation of the different roles of UPOV and patent monopoly protection, I would recommend reading the position paper produced by AIPPI: https://www.aippi.org/news/aippi-position-paper-on-new-genomic-technique-ngt-plant-patenting-proposal-of-the-european-parliament/ I have to admit that I do not understand the relevance of your comment that "Europe is anyway a net importer of agricultur

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al goods". This suggests to me that you did not understand the point that I was trying to make, which is that the absence of patent monopoly protection is likely to disincentivise the production of gene-edited plants in Europe and/or for the European market. It is unclear whether the absence of patent monopoly protection will incentivise (the marketing of) plants obtained by "traditional" bre

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eding. There is simply no evidence to suggest that this would happen. In any event, any gain in plants obtained by "traditional" breeding will not make up for the loss of NGT plants. This is because, combined with research into the roles of various plant genes, gene editing can be a very powerful (and fast) technique for identifying plants having advantageous characteristics. Perhaps you are happy with European

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agriculture moving into the slow lane, i.e. sticking with traditional breeding only. Personally, I think that our response to the climate emergency should be to use our most powerful (and fastest) techniques to help our agriculture to adapt."

-TechBytesBot/#techbytes-www.aippi.org | AIPPI - Home - AIPPI – International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property