Bonum Certa Men Certa

Conflict at the European Patent Office: Battistelli gets away with a slap on the wrist

Original: "Konflikt im Europäischen Patentamt: Blaues Auge für Battistelli"




Conflict at the European Patent Office: Battistelli gets away with a slap on the wrist

Benoît Battistelli remains in office for now. However, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Office [sic] has set the President clear guidelines for his future management of the office. This is according to a communiqué which was published yesterday. The supervisory body admitted publicly for the first time that there is deep conflict between President Battistelli and the unions, and it called on both sides to seek an amicable solution.



Battistelli_Benoît

Benoît Battistelli



Battistelli is in bitter conflict with the trade union SUEPO. He is responsible for four controversial disciplinary proceedings against three trade unionists and one Irish judge. The Office is also grappling with structural reform for greater independence of its legal tribunals, the Boards of Appeal.

The two-day meeting of the 38 members states of the European Patent Organisation ended yesterday. In the run-up to the meeting it had been publicly speculated that Battistelli would resign, after the executive committee of the Administrative Council had internally stepped up the pressure on Battstelli. German and Dutch newspapers reported that it was only a matter of deciding the size of his golden handshake. By contrast, JUVE had learned from influential delegates that the Administrative Council intended to make one more attempt at finding a peaceful solution, but under clearly-defined conditions, as has now been confirmed.

Both sides put on notice

"The resolution places an obligation on the President and makes clear that he is responsible for restoring a climate of peace in the EPO" said Dr. Philip Scholz, Speaker of the Federal Ministry of Justice and for Consumer Protection, referring to these events. However, according to the resolution, it was not only Battistelli who was under such an obligation, but also his arch-enemy, the main union SUEPO. There had been no real dialogue between the parties in recent times. The conflict had come to a head when Battistelli suspended three union leaders, including Elisabeth Hardon, who is from the Netherlands.

Now the EPO States demand that the President reach an agreement with the unions, without preconditions or exclusions. The unions have consistently demanded that the investigations against the union leaders be called off before they would enter into any agreement. The Administrative Council addressed the public criticism of these proceedings, and in particular the criticism of the methods employed by the internal Investigation Unit, and it required Battistelli to "ensure that the disciplinary measures and proceedings are not only fair, but are also seen to be fair". JUVE understands that the President was told to submit the procedures, arbitration and mediation to external review. This proposal then appeared in a rather watered-down form in the Administrative Council's communiqué.

The Administrative Council explicitly asked the President to come up with proposals for improving the procedures and for keeping the Administrative Council appropriately informed of disciplinary cases. This includes revising the Staff Regulations and Investigation Guidelines.

Battistelli said to JUVE: "On the Office's side, we will start with the requested revision of the internal Investigation Guidelines and disciplinary procedure. In parallel, a consultancy firm will launch a study, with the participation of the Staff Representation, of the reforms which have been introduced in recent years. We would like to discuss the results of this study at a conference in autumn, together with the Staff Representation, the EPO unions, the member states and other interested groups."

The Administrative Council also gave a clear message to the unions. They should work constructively and quickly with the Office management, without preconditions, towards an agreement. SUEPO is still discussing its response to the latest events, and was not available to give an official statement. However, sources close to SUEPO were suggesting that the proposal to engage an external mediator in disciplinary proceedings may provide an opportunity for progress.

Reform of the Boards of Appeal should be accelerated

The structural reform of the Boards of Appeal should now also be pushed forwards quickly. The EPO's internal tribunal decides on the legality of patent grants. However, it has recently been demonstrated that it is not sufficiently independent from the Office. Battistelli must now present the Administrative Council with new reform proposals by June, taking into account five guiding requirements which the Administrative Council set out in December, as well as the results of a legal appraisal carried out by Prof. Dan Sarooshis. The reform should then be implemented quickly.

The Administrative Council meeting also resulted in the nomination of two new Boards of Appeal Chairmen and four further members of the Boards of Appeal, as well as an external member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal. These positions had been vacant for sometime. In addition, Jesper Kongstad was confirmed as Chairman of the Administrative Council for a further three years from July 2016. (Christina Schulze, Mathieu Klos)

 

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Under the Guise of "MIT Technology Review Insights" the Site MIT Technology Review Posts Corporate Spam as 'Articles'
Some of the articles aren't even articles but 'hit pieces' against Free software and some are paid advertisements
Brett Wilson LLP Has Track Record in Scam Coin Cases (e.g. Craig Wright and More), Now It Works for 'Crypto' Scam Purveyors
But wait, it gets worse
Will Brett Wilson LLP Handle Its Own Winding Up Petition or be Struck Off for Overt Abuse of Process?
Today we sue not only the first Microsofter
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Sharing Code and Recipes
It helps explain the triviality of software freedom
How Many Women Has Microsoft's Alex Balabhadra Graveley Already Strangled and Where Does That End?
If you too are a victim of this man and wish to share information, contact us
"We Might Save Somebody's Life"
I follow the example of my father
 
Links 17/07/2025: Science, Hardware, and Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: Staying in the "Small Web" and Back on ICQ
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Exclusive: corruption in Tribunals, Greffiers, from protection rackets to cat whisperers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/07/2025: Chip Bans and Microsoft’s “Digital Escort” Program
Links for the day
Revolving Doors: One Day You're a Judge, the Next Day You're an Attorney Paying Public Officials and Working for Violent and Dangerous Microsoft Employees
how the US justice system works
Slopwatch: Noise, Plagiarism and Even Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
What are we meant to do to prevent a false association or misleading connotations? Game the LLMs? No. Boycott slopfarms.
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Simple Web Browsing with TLS
Links for the day
Links 16/07/2025: Fascist Slop Takes "Intelligence" Clothing, New Criminal Case Against MElon
Links for the day
Why I am Suing the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, in the UK High Court This Week
Out of respect to the process and to the Court, I shall not share any pertinent details about the case
Links 16/07/2025: China’s Economy Grows Steadily, France Takes Action Regarding Harm to Children by GAFAM and Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
It is Not About Politics
Beware the people who try to make this about politics
Good Journalism Saves Lives
a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner
Recognition of Women's Contributions to Free Software
Being passive is not an option when bad things are happening
Slopfarms Are Going to Perish Because Public Opinion is Changing
Many slopfarms will simply go offline
19 Years of Standing Up for Justice, Equality, and Truth
This week we shall take it up a notch
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: Tmux and OCC25 Working TLS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Links 15/07/2025: LLM Pollution and Pushback in Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: xkcd, New Cert, and Alhena Gemlog
Links for the day
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders
Links for the day
Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day