THERE HAS not been much public output regarding the EPO as of late. EPO accounts (Web site, Twitter etc.) are barely active, SUEPO administrators are away, and "EPO President, Mr. Battistelli," told me one person today, "will be in South America-Colombia on January 29, talking about Unitary Patents." Here we have evidence that UPC lobbying carries on. Thou shalt not interfere with Battistelli's Grand Plan.

"The EPO's management made a grave mistake when it attempted to silence dissent rather than quell is by mutual understanding, concessions, recognition, etc."A staff protest is just a week and a half away (support for the EPO staff unions is seemingly at an all-time high), coinciding with some decisions regarding the fate of staff representatives.

The EPO's management made a grave mistake when it attempted to silence dissent rather than quell is by mutual understanding, concessions, recognition, etc. Various members of staff now pass around fliers, the SUEPO's bulletin, links to news sites, links to the Web site of SUEPO and so on. The more people read, the most they support the unions and resent their management. The staff is now overwhelmingly in support of SUEPO and it follows what SUEPO is saying, be it in the SUEPO Web site or even the occasional bulletins. "It used to be called "SUEPO inform"," one reader told us, "and was essentially a local affair of The Hague. There was more or less four incarnations of SUEPO, one for each main sites [DH, BE, MN, VI], in addition to the staff representations, with different, sometimes non-converging, agendas and personalities. Battistelli seems to manage the unthinkable: unite the sites in one force."

“Battistelli seems to manage the unthinkable: unite the sites in one force.”
      --AnonymousThe accusations against SUEPO figureheads are shocking not because they're severe but because they're indicative of a desperate effect by EPO management to crush all unions (starting with the biggest one, SUEPO). If all goes as planned, within just a few days staff of the EPO will be notified of these ludicrous allegations. There is no legal process, as there is no separation between the accuser, the judge, the executioner etc. It's quite a circus! It's theatre rather. It's designed to only give the impression of due process, but it's done in secret because it follows North Korean standards. It would embarrass any European country, even those formerly part of the Soviet Union. ⬆