Bonum Certa Men Certa

Growing Rift Between EPO Stakeholders and the Office, Due to Battistelli's Appalling Leadership

Thin-skinned Battistelli has turned the EPO into an autocracy almost nobody wants to serve

U.S.-Australia Rift Is Possible After Trump Ends Call With Prime Minister
Reference: U.S.-Australia Rift Is Possible After Trump Ends Call With Prime Minister (today)



Summary: The toxic relationship between the European Patent Office and those who are subsidising it (with fees to the monopoly) is bound to explode sooner or later, as stakeholders are growing tired of the tyrannical leadership and its negative effect on the quality of service, quality of patents, etc.

Turnbull, the Australian Prime Minister, is in the headlines today. It was being reported by Australian media and the Washington Post that Trump had hung up on Turnbull, having not managed to accept any criticism. Sounds familiar? Well, the EPO's President ragequit his meeting with Martijn van Dam. The Dutch media reported on that at the time.



The autocracy which developed under Battistelli is not entirely unique. As one reader told us, "I have come across the below quote in a comment" on The Register's recent report:

What is it with Patent Organisations around the World and their bloody leaders???

The European Patent Office has Battistelli acting like a complete d%&k and needing to be removed by the EU. With the EU naturally failing to do that.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation has Gurry acting like a complete d%&k and needing to be removed by the UN. With the UN naturally failing to do that.

The US Patent Office is broken (although that cant be blamed on the guy at the top this time), and needs for the US Government to sort it out. With the US Government naturally failing to do that.

I'm seeing a pattern here, and I dont like it very much!


Looking at some new comments in IP Kat, we find similarly strong criticisms of Battistelli:



The complete text of the JUVE PATENT POLL in the german language can be seen here:http://www.juve.de/nachrichten/namenundnachrichten/2017/01/industrie-umfrage-zum-europaeischen-patentamt-mehrheit-fuer-ruecktritt-von-amtschef-battistelli . With the Google translater you can get very good understandable translations in french dutch and english. Some small things like: The ۬Verwaltungsrat۬(AC) is translated as ۬board of directors۬ It is clear that the EPO clients do not like to continue with Battistelli. I am afraid that Battistelli will say, just like President Trump, that these are all lies and JUVE is a dishonest press. Battistelli has much better information and all the examiners love him. Everything is okee in EPONIA and with King Benoit.


Somebody wrote in response that Europeans deserve to "get European Patents which are not taint by Human rights' abuses, don't they?"

As we noted here a couple of years ago, repeatedly in fact, the EPO enjoys a monopoly, so the idea of taking one's business elsewhere is not quite applicable. The EPO has special duties and it fails to fulfill these. Here is the full comment:



"It is clear that the EPO clients do not like to continue with Battistelli

Oh, is it? And maybe now they will finally vote with their feet and go somewhere else where they can get European Patents which are not taint by Human rights' abuses, don't they?


Another person says that "many many other articles and reactions say Benoit Battistelli has to go."

There is no good and economic alternative for the EPO. From the JUVE PATENT POLL is clear what the EPO clients like and not like from the EPO under Benoit Battistelli. They not like less quality and a from Battistelli dependent board of appeal. Not only JUVE but many many other articles and reactions say Benoit Battistelli has to go. The Human rights' abuses and violation of the EPC have to stop now.


"I suspect the real response [of EPO to the aforementioned Juve survey] will be to ignore it," said another person. "Or to shout at a minion to get an investigation about who these traitors are so that they can be taught where they are not understanding right."

The latest article from The Register is then mentioned as follows:

Well, of course the abuses will stop just after the Dutch High Court has given free hand to Mr. Battistelli to continue do as he pleases him by upholding the "immunity" of the Office - and it appears that Mr. Battistelli got the message clear and loud, as reported by The Register:

King Battistelli tries again to break Euro Patent Office union



The stakeholders need to (re)group and do the right thing. They ought to work together and sanction in order to remove Battistelli. EPO staff would be grateful, no doubt about it. Nobody wants Battistelli; neither insiders nor outsiders.

The following latest comment speaks of avoiding the EPO altogether, even for applicants:

Regarding alternatives to European Patent Office,

In case you look from the customer perspective, German patent office is as good as European patent office. There are only very few products, which you can develop economically, in case you are excluded from German market. We have unified market in European Union and if such product cannot be sold in Germany, typically such product is not economically feasible. Think about cars, semiconductors, industrial equipments, trucks,...


What if all the law firms and applicants made it clear to the Organisation that unless or until Battistelli is removed they refuse to pay a dime? That would actually work, but only if all of them agree to do this at the same time (like a strike).

Recent Techrights' Posts

GAFAM and "MATA"
The use of dark humour there hopefully helps illuminate what a lot of "modern" technology became like and how it interacts with human civilisation (to what ends and whose gain)
Flying in 2025
worse than ever before
The UEFI 9/11 - Part III - Chaos is Scheduled to Happen Second Thursday of September (No Matter What the Microsofters Tell You)
The clock is ticking
Downplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
 
How Not to Build Software
code forges that need a Web browser perhaps fill some 'niche' demand
Birds Are Not "Pests and Vermin", Privacy is Not a Crime, and GNU/Linux is Not 'Hacking Platform'
I could not help but think of Free software analogies
The Sites Should Be Very Fast Again
That issue is now resolved
Activists, Including Technical Activists, Need Not Pursue Affirmation
Techrights doesn't play or participate in a "popularity contest"
Government Sites Should Run Free Software
Not proprietary bloatware with buzzwords
LLM Slopfarms Take No Breaks
When people run sites by bots they don't need to worry about "breaks"
GNOME Having a Meltdown Again
Thanks and farewell to Steven Deobald
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Low Tech and Hunchbin 1.0.6
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 29, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 29, 2025
Financiers and Sponsors of the Slop Hype (Pyramid Scheme Waiting to End, Bubble That Will Inevitably Implode)
It's also burning the planet
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Google Helps Ponzi Schemes and Slopfarms in Google News
Slopfarms are a real pain
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Retiring at 62 and URL Filtering HTTP(S) Proxy on Qubes OS
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day
Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
Links for the day
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
Links for the day
A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms