Welcome to the new and 'reformed' EPO...

Airport-grade security checks have arrived at the EPO

Summary: A week after the Administrative Council's historic meeting the EPO only gets more militaristic (shades of Martial Law), not the opposite, as if terrorists dressed in suits are soon going to take over the EPO

THE President of the EPO (for now), Mr. Benoît Battistelli, has no idealogical rivals. He can't, he's from Ecole nationale d’administration. No opposition is allowed or tolerated. In Battistelli's eyes, his opposition is just Nazis and criminals. In his own little mind he keeps pretending he's fighting terror and he is milking terror attacks for personal sympathy (a politician's tactic).

"There is more hiring of people from the military (also Belgian) and promotion of such people."Battistelli has already been warned, but he is not changing anything for the better. There is more hiring of people from the military (also Belgian) and promotion of such people.

"I see that following the President's allegations that members of the BoA are plotting to overthrow him through violent activity, he now believes that authorized representatives may seek to smuggle illicit material into the office," wrote one new comment this morning, citing this little nugget (epo.org link) which says:

Visitors to the EPO are advised that, as from now, their bags and luggage will be subject to a visual inspection by security.

This measure will be applied in all EPO buildings at all sites.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Does anyone think that patent lawyers, for example, would bring in a bomb or something like that? This isn't a plane and it's not even public transportation. Now, consider Battistelli's bodyguards addiction and general paranoia. Why does the EPO need to assume a state of heightened security? There have been no incidents of violence at the EPO, except by the management (institutional violence).

"No way," told me one person, "they have had minutes of training in what to look for and what to do if they find it."

USB keys perhaps? The latest attempt to catch/silence whistleblowers (deterrence at the very least)? We don't know for sure, but we can only speculate.

what next? Strip searches? Groping? Colonoscopy? Welcome to the European Patent Office, where visitors are subjected to keyloggers and hidden cameras in public terminals. And now also airport-grade security theatre. Where is this going to end? ⬆