Bonum Certa Men Certa

SUEPO (EPO Staff Union) Appears to Have Launched a New and Improved Web Site After Attempts to Crush ('Decapitate') SUEPO

Team Battistelli looks frail as SUEPO's new Web site appears (public debut apparently earlier today)

SUEPO's new site



Summary: SUEPO, the largest staff union of the European Patent Office, shows signs of strength rather than signs of weakness amidst attacks on the staff and a lot of media coverage, political interventions, and much more

EARLIER today we noticed some changes over at suepo.org. We don't have contacts at SUEPO, so we have been asking for help figuring out what exactly is happening. "If anyone can shed light on what's going on with SUEPO Web site," I wrote this evening in Twitter, "please contact me securely/anonymously." Well, nobody seems to know anything based on the responses received so far. We can, however, speculate quite safely based on recent and historical information.

"It's quite clear to see what Team Battistelli is trying to achieve here."As we have been saying for a number of months, based on numerous different sources, more people join SUEPO and contribute money to SUEPO, even to fired representatives based on reliably information that we have. The EPO's management, in the mean time, tries to starve SUEPO (with financial sanctions) by attacking strategically those who are signing up new member and build up collective protection (legal shield), dealing with functions like treasury. The treasurer of SUEPO, Malika Weaver, was downgraded. That's quite a warning shot sent her way. It's quite clear to see what Team Battistelli is trying to achieve here.

Now, on to the site. Today, when making a routine visit to suepo.org we were greeted by an unfamiliar face and various error messages whenever attempting to access material that SUEPO had published. It's almost as if the site now links to a different physical machine with another filesystem, or another home directory. Yet another incarnation (there were several with different content over the years) appears to have been launched without prior notice/announcement. SUEPO, by far the largest staff union of the EPO (with several decades of history), changed a lot over the years (mergers included); in its Web site a lot of content was deleted/gone from sight but can still be found using the Internet Archive.

"Yet another incarnation (there were several with different content over the years) appears to have been launched without prior notice/announcement."Whatever the site is serving at this moment is still work in progress and some links are broken, documents are missing, some text cannot be located, and based on some searches there's an improved structure but still a lot of missing content. We made backup of what used to exist just in case. It's a good thing, especially in retrospect, that we had also made backups of many (not all) SUEPO documents (like PDFs) just in case of cessation or takedown (either voluntary or enforced/imposed). Given the bad experience with DDOS attack on SUEPO's Web site we can't help wondering if SUEPO is implementing a site redesign or Team Battistelli is now attacking the site's administrators/maintainers/authors, who now have disclaimers everywhere*.

The final statement from SUEPO (before the change/overhaul) provided a good overview of recent articles on the staff dispute. As it's no longer visible, here it is copied in full below:



A demonstration took place on Thursday 28 January 2016 in The Hague. About 900 colleagues gathered in front of the Peace Palace — the seat of the International Court of Justice — and walked peacefully from the nearby French Embassy to the German Embassy.

The mobilisation was very strong.  The demonstrators were joined by Dutch Members of Parliament Ms Sharon Gesthuizen and Mr John Kerstens, French Member of Parliament Mr Philip Cordery, and a delegation of FNV, the largest Dutch union.

The aim of the demo was:



  1. To express our support :
    • to the SUEPO-Munich officials whom Mr Battistelli has dismissed (Els Hardon and Ion Brumme) and severely downgraded (Malika Weaver);
    • to the SUEPO-The Hague officials Jesús Areso and Laurent Prunier who are targeted despite their health conditions.
  2. To remind Gemany, The Netherlands and France that they bear a particular responsibility. They are among the most influential EPO Member States. Benoît Battistelli and his closest associates are French officials. Germany and the Netherlands are host states, where the violations of Fundamental Rights are taking place.


Dutch Media have given extensive coverage. Among the various TV programs, NOS nieuwsuur stands out for the interview with Vice-President (DG 1) Willy Minnoye, who stated that the fact that only personnel guilty of misconduct is targeted, and that the fact that five (5) of the latest targets are all SUEPO officials is a pure coincidence.  He also announced that the EPO does not agree with learned judges of the Dutch Court of Appeal that violations of fundamental rights trump the Organisation’s immunity, and that if in cassation the Dutch Supreme Court (who held a hearing on 29 January 2016) were to agree with the Court of Appeal, the EPO would not obey the Supreme Court, either. See the whole reportage on nos.nl by clicking here

Further TV reportages:



Web/Newspaper articles:





If someone knows for sure what is going on or what has been going on at the Web site of SUEPO, please let us know (either in the comments below or private message, IRC, and so on).

One person wrote this afternoon: "Board 28 meeting in Munich today. Did anybody hear any news?"

Has anybody got any information about this or about SUEPO's site? We are still pursuing information about both (no connection implied) and will update readers when details become available. Due to crackdowns on dissent on the EPO, the flow of information has been made very limited, at least in public sites. People inside the EPO are afraid of hesitant to talk, sometimes even to their colleagues. _____ * Here, just in case, is the latest snapshot of SUEPO's static Web site, which either undergoes maintenance/redesign (unless it is in some way being gagged right now, as was the case before, necessitating the disclaimer at the bottom of all the pages).

Postscript: As of the time of publishing (this article was drafted several hours ago), the site appears to have reverted back to the previous form, so maybe there's still some testing underway. It's unlikely to have been just an accident.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
 
Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like
What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False
Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals
Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
Links for the day
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025