Bonum Certa Men Certa

European Patent Office: Administrative Council gives the President a bollocking

European Patent Office: Administrative Council gives the President a bollocking



The Administrative Council of the European Patent Office shows its displeasure with the President of the institution, but does not oblige him to reverse or review decisions.

Before the latest meeting of the Administrative Council (AC) of the European Patent Office (EPO), the AC's chairman Jesper Kongstad had expressed annoyance at€ the way EPO President Benoît Battistelli dealt with the staff. He demanded that the recent dismissals and disciplinary measures against leaders of the EPO union SUEPO€ be subjected to independent review.

Such interventions are now off the table, following the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the AC. While€ the Administrative Council makes clear that it does not endorse Battistelli's actions, it nevertheless does not intend to review his decisions. The AC asks the EPO President to ensure in future that his disciplinary measures are seen to be fair, and "to consider" submitting them to external assessors or mediation tribunals for review.

Battistelli to reach agreement with the unions

According to the AC resolution, the staff regulations should be amended, in particular concerning the internal Investigation Unit (IU). Battistelli based his controversial suspension of a patent judge and dismissal of union leaders on work carried out by the Investigation Unit, which had installed keyloggers in publicly-accessible computers at the EPO to track down a person allegedly defaming the Office.

Battistelli must also agree rules for cooperation with both EPO unions. At the beginning of March 2016, the President made a great song and dance of€ reaching such an agreement, while forgetting to mention that the union in question represented fewer than€ 100 of the more than 6000 EPO employees. SUEPO, with 3400 members, has so far refused to sign the document, which stipulates inter alia that the union must submit to the internal rules of the EPO - rules which can be unilaterally amended by the Office.

Criticism of efficiency measures and working conditions

A dispute has long been bubbling under at the EPO regarding Battistelli's drive for efficiency gains, and the related working conditions. Patent examiners are critical of the project, because quickly-granted patents may not have been examined thoroughly, and may therefore be vulnerable to legal challenge. Since 2012, the patent examiners have been resisting€ plans to pay bonuses out of the Office's revenue surplus€ on the grounds that this gives a false motivation for granting patents. The Office's surplus at that time was 89 Million Euros; this had almost doubled by 2015.

According€ to EPO rules, employees who are ill must be at their home address from 10am to 12am and 2pm to 4pm every day of their sickness leave. The EPO reserves the right to check on the employee by sending a doctor to visit. An employee who is summoned to a meeting with the internal Investigation Unit is permitted neither to remain silent nor to be accompanied by a legal representative.

The European Patent Office has 38 member countries, including non-EU members such as Turkey and Switzerland. As a supranational organisation, it is not bound by any national law. Its employees therefore do not have the option of taking the EPO to a tribunal in the country where they work, or in their country of origin. In the first instance they must rely on internal procedures, and their only route for filing a formal complaint is at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva. The procedure at the ILO can last up to ten years, and€ the ILO complained in 2015 that it has been flooded with EPO complaints.€ (ck)






Update (30/3/2016): another translation of this article was published by SUEPO later on [PDF].

Recent Techrights' Posts

Weaponisation of For-Profit Dockets - Part I: Hiding Behind Lawyers (or Guns for Hire) After Abusing Many People and Even Strangling Women While Microsoft Paid Salaries
This whole thing is very typical of the Microsoft and Bill Gates mindset
From EPO to "MAGA Regime": A Shift Away From Reality to Fake News and False Metrics
Disbelief in itself isn't a bad thing; but the problem is that people are taught to believe rich people in suits more than they believe others
Skype is Officially Dead Today and This is Why People Should Use Free Software Instead (Goodbye, Microsoft)
It's also a good reminder of why people should move to GNU/Linux
'Simple Articles' in MyGemini Just One of Many New 'Sites' in Geminispace
Geminispace has grown fast lately; it's turning 6 next month
 
Links 06/05/2025: LLMs/Chatbots Attract More Scrutiny (Getting Worse Over Time), PwC Has Many Layoffs
Links for the day
Thanks for listening. How can this Morse feed be further improved?
Right now any and all feedback on the audio would be helpful
statCounter: Bing's Market Share Lower Right Now Than It Was When LLM Hype Began (With "Bing Chat")
If anybody gains at Google's expense in search, it is BRICS' alternatives such as Yandex
Gemini Links 06/05/2025: Failure and Proxmox Cluster
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 05, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, May 05, 2025
Links 05/05/2025: TikTok Still a Romanian Woe/Foe, Signal Perils Showing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/05/2025: Debian and GNOME and a "Welcome to Simple Articles"
Links for the day
Links 05/05/2025: US Economy Shrinks, US Presidency Spreading Deepfakes
Links for the day
Links 05/05/2025: Breaches, Environment, and Conflicts
Links for the day
SUSE the Company Now Uses LLM Slop to 'Write' Its Blog, What Does That Tell Us About SUSE?
There are many giveaways
Richard Stallman is in Alicante Today to Give a Talk, Czech Republic in Two Days (Wednesday)
Of course he can deliver the talk in Spanish
Gemini Links 05/05/2025: XL Bullies and Luddites
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 04, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, May 04, 2025
Links 04/05/2025: Science, Conflicts, and Monopolies
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Above 7% in Bulgaria, Rising Just Like in Most of Europe
Up to 7%, not counting Chromebooks
Data Shows Largest EU Economies Shifting to GNU/Linux
all-time highs
statCounter Says Only One in 6 Web-Connected Clients in Hungary Are Using Windows, iOS Almost Bigger Than Windows Now
Hungary is a cautionary tale in the world of European (or Russian) politics
Many Reports About Microsoft's Financial Report/Performance Are False, Fake News, Churnalism/Parroting, and LLM Slop (Machine-Generated Lies)
Even if you see a thousand sites saying that Microsoft is performing well ask yourself why the company is rushing to fire tens of thousands of workers and cancelling datacentres
Links 04/05/2025: FCC Turning Into MAGA’s Censoring Machine, SEC Pressured to Delist Chinese Companies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/05/2025: Historical Artifacts and Date Calculations in POSIX Shell
Links for the day
In the First 3 Months of 2025 GAFAM Debt Rose by More Than $14.4 Billion
That's based on their official statements
10-Step Strategy to Get BRETT WILSON LLP ("Gun for Hire"), Microsoft's Serial Strangler, and the Serial Defamer to Compensate Techrights and Tux Machines for Years of SLAPPs and Abusive Litigation
There's no room or capacity for forgiveness here; enablers and protectors of crime need to be scuttled and pay up in full
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 03, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 03, 2025