Bonum Certa Men Certa

Guest Post: EPO, an Idyllic Place to Work

With heavily-used stock imagery (as below), this is the image of the EPO which they try to spread... (tweet from 3 days ago)

EPO image



Summary: The true face of the EPO as explained by an insider, recalling the history that led to the negative image and toxic work atmosphere

THE EPO is not an idyllic place. The title (nor ours) is therefore sarcastic. Workers of the EPO may find the following anonymous message, sent to us by a longtime insider, informative.

I would like to bring to your attention some facts in the history of the EPO. Some of these passed facts also account for the present situation. A novice reading your blog may derive that the catastrophic social situation of the EPO nowadays is uniquely the consequence of the mismanagement by the monkey team, Battistelli and his goons. One may also derive that the Office was a nice place to work, a kind of Heaven, before the present management team arrived. This is absolutely wrong.

I could write a book about the subject, but I will make it short. I've known the EPO for decades and all places of employment, unfortunately I cannot tell you more without fearing immediate retaliation from the EPO.

Anyone having a legal background and accurately reading the Codex that was sent to each newcomer would realise to which extent the legal protection was poor and to which extent the legal environment was weak. Notwithstanding, many decided to go for it because besides the legal framework there was an appetising corporate culture. I mean, not just an excellent financial package but also "sexy" practical working conditions. This kind of blindness happens when you are freshly in love with the wrong partner, you see one side [but] not the other.

The dark side of the Office was always present even before it was created, I mean at times of the IIB (Institut International des Brevets) located in the Hague. The staff of the IIB enjoyed a full immunity and tax-free conditions that unfortunately led to misuse of their advantages. Decades ago the newcomer staff in the Hague benefited of a limited right to buy once a tax-free car. Could you imagine how this "tax-free right" was misused? Some newcomers were invited to sell their right to the benefit of older staff (most of the ex-IIB staff). But that was illegal. What choice was left for those "elected" newcomers? They still were in the probation period. That was for many the first disillusionment.

You would then quickly realise how many rivalries were at play among staff. The ex-IIB group, the ex-Oktrooiburo (the Dutch patent office), the Brits, the French, the ex-DPA (German patent office). And on the top of that the insane rivalry between sites of employment. All the groups were acting like a Mafia, defending and positioning their bosses across the office.

At first you had time enough to do your job decently. With "decently" I mean according to the examination rules that were considered the Holy Grail of patenting. But rapidly came production increases, some of them were justified, for instance by acknowledging a learning curve. However, more and more increases in production were justified with arguments like new computer system, BEST (bringing examination and search together) effect, splitting a department, your colleagues does better etc....

The consequence of constant production increases over decades to attain unrealistic targets was double: decrease in quality and examiners searching another activity than the core (chore?) task of "patenting" that was anyway disregarded by the management. And that was the great deal: working in any other side activity alleviated your production pressure. Your productivity (days/file) was far more important when your reporting officer had to write a notation report. Of course there were "artists" misusing the system: the best "producers in a department with far the best productivity had done as little as 4 files/dossiers in a.....year! These persons were particularly well noted as they contributed in one or more resources-hungry "projects" .

Many were aware of the breach and the usual career-seeking staff with lower morale saw an efficient way of rocketing, boosting a career. The first step was to be very friendly and get close to one of the Mafia bosses usually by drinking liters of beer during after-work parties. Then presenting and making accepted a "project". At this stage you already were team leader in a project and partially freed from examination duties. The second step was to make your baby grow by recruiting friends among the elected Mafia then creating a sub-Mafia of your own.

In the mean time, staff that recruited for doing the "dirty" work were pressured even more because the global production of the office was sinking.

Even today the staff working in the patent production line (administrative officers and examiners) are misconsidered at a point that "management" calls them the "TOQUARDS". If you don't know this French word look at:

http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-synonyms/toquard

That is all the respect the managers of the Office give to their staff.

Team Battistelli is at war with its staff or better said with part of the staff, at least the 4000 union members and certainly all the toquards that do the "dirty work" compared to the the nice and far most useful job of bullying staff.

I have been very affected by the testimonials provided in two of your recent posts:

http://techrights.org/2017/02/07/epo-antipathy/ [Insensitivity at the EPO’s Management – Part VI: Fear Climate and Antipathy Now the ‘Norm’]

The quote "The Office has been sowing evil and bad acts all over,.....They have their own inconsistent convenience of career interests to preserve: truly it’s nothing, but to an emotionally and morally semi-blind creature that has lost any professional profile and moral sense, that’s all that matters."

This statement is so poignantly true ....

http://techrights.org/2017/02/09/epo-depression-and-suicides/ [This is Why Many People at the EPO Commit Suicide]

To quote : "“Right now the friends of my friends are being ‘disappeared’ Soon it will be my friends’ turn, and then mine (…) ” (text from Professor Salman Haider)....Soon the EPO will look like a psychiatric hospital with a lot of people in great psychological distress granting patents for Europe. Just missing the doctors to help."

This is again the day by day life in the Office. The EPO has become a criminal organisation killing people among its staff. There are many ways to kill someone, using weapons is certainly the last recourse. The EPO offers you all the tools to commit suicide. I know that, I have seen that with my own eyes.

Yet Battistelli has won all the line .. or did he?

If I were the guy (which I am fortunately not) I would be extremely worried. The staff is now left in a legal desert as confirmed by the latest NL judgement. The staff had "nothing and some hopes". They are left with "nothing" at all in front of a mocking dictator . No law, no tribunal, no union, no friends, no humanity.

Once you realise you are left alone in Hell without any possibility of return, some may be tempted to join the Mafia to soothe the pain ("join them if you cannot fight them"), other may turn their violence against themselves and commit suicides, other may want to blast the whole system. Battistelli shouldn't forget what the primary task of an "engineer" was. So I wish you good look Mr Battistelli, you have set up all the conditions for a big disaster but you'll be a hero.....


Much of the above isn't new to us; nor was it ignored. Prior to Battistelli's reign we had already written about EPO protests and other issues, going back to the dawn of Techrights in 2006. But one can not deny the fact that Battistelli's tactics are what led to stuff hitting the fan and the inherent issues at the Office becoming more widely understood.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Two Risks to Companies: The Microsoft Culture and the Microsoft Tools
Novell was killed by a form of "social engineering" by Microsoft
It's Hard to Trust People Who Worked - Not Only Those Who Still Work - at Microsoft
Bryan Lunduke is just what people would call an "arsehole of a person"
Links 06/07/2025: Climate Change and "The Right to Criticise"
Links for the day
The Mainstream Media Took 4 Days to Realise Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan and Fired Everybody
We estimate that Microsoft has had about 29,000 layoffs since January
“Twibel” Actions Against Comedians (and Why It's a Truly Low Blow)
they try to make up in quantities for a lack of merit or quality
 
[Video] "Copyleft Isn't a Bug."
"Copyleft isn’t a bug. It’s a feature. GNU GPL forced the world to treat code like a public good."
Being in Social Control Media Means Exposing Oneself to Heckling
Richard Stallman does not (either himself or directly) post to any social control media
Links 06/07/2025: Airlines Perils, Scams, and Breaches
Links for the day
For the Second Time, Bryan Lunduke From Microsoft is Siccing Racist Trolls and Vandals at Me
You're only reinforcing the point we made yesterday
Links 06/07/2025: End to End Encryption at Risk, Reuters Twitter ("X") Account Withheld in India
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/07/2025: Tinylog and Certification Rotation
Links for the day
PCLinuxOS Sites Coming Back, Gradually
let's just be patient
Social Control Media, Even If Based on Free Software, Still Has Many Problems
a distraction from what actually mattered and still matters
IBM is Not Your Master
IBM makes friends with people who exclude the majority of the population: women
Help Fund the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
If you have some dollars to spare, go support the FSF
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 05, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 05, 2025
A Short History of Attacks on Techrights (and Boycott Novell Before That)
good opportunity to tell again the story of several (not all) attempts to silence us
Leadership in Free Software
Don't let IBM lead. It's a terrible flag bearer.
Linux Foundation Apparently Flirting With Slop (Marketing by LLM-Generated SPAM)
The Web is in a really bad state!
COVID-19 Sped Up Site Improvements in Techrights
A few months later we created our very own IRC network
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: Negative Questions and 'Touching Grass' (Going Outside)
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Dalai Lama Succession as 90th Birthday Approaches, 40 deg C in China
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Hungary and US Defecting to Russia, "Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: 4th of July 2025 and "Zig Roadmap 2026"
Links for the day
How to Combat the Exploitation and Abuse by Microsoft GitHub
Not to mention corruption and crimes against women
Bryan Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People
"[Lunduke] is actually sending his audience to attack people."
Even The Right Wing is Rejecting Bryan Lunduke
no wonder he became so irrelevant and marginal
Microsoft's MSN Helps Microsoft Spread Lies About the Layoffs' Scale (Well Over 25,000 People Laid Off This Year)
There seem to be monopolies on lies and on truth
The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
X.Org Server is alive and well
Rewriting Things in Rust
How far would you go?
In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
Monopolies and Scalping
Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
"August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
LLM slop disguised as news
Links 04/07/2025: Google Replaces the Web With Slop, "AI Might Kill Us All"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: Mindfulness and F1
Links for the day
Weeks After Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia the Company Shuts Down in Pakistan, Too
Last month Windows' share in Pakistan fell to an all-time low
Rob Musial's June 2025 Additions of Malware in Proprietary Software
Via the GNU Web site this week
Links 04/07/2025: Microsoft's H-1B Visa Applications Show Another Crisis Unfolding, Many More Deep Cuts and Shutdowns Revealed, Complete Microsoft Exits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: A Day To Remember and "Stop Killing Games"
Links for the day
Crime and Corruption at Microsoft GitHub Cannot be Covered Up by SLAPPs in Another Continent
We'll write about this for a long time to come
Slop Videos Are Disappointing Garbage, Nothing New, Just Brute Force up on Display or a Pedestal of Slop
Slop videos aren't a new thing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 03, 2025
The War on Local Storage (People Hosting Their Files Locally and Privately)
There's nothing wrong with controlling one's computing
What Digital Independence Means
Independence in the digital realms means abandoning platforms like GitHub, not just rejecting proprietary software
NVidia is a Bubble
they temporarily see fortunes and wrongly assume perpetuity thereof
Fedora Does Not Care About Diversity and Inclusion, It's About Optics (Corporate Image)
any notion of inclusion is superficial and misleading
Don't Buy the Excuses for Microsoft's Mass Layoffs
Back in the 90s, Microsoft bought a lot of companies to get and stay ahead