Bonum Certa Men Certa

Report From Yesterday's Debate About the European Patent Office (EPO) at the Bavarian Landtag

Report from an anonymous contributor

Bavarian Landtag EPO debate



Summary: A report of the EPO debate which took place at the Bavarian Landtag yesterday (21/2/2017)

The motion concerning the situation at the EPO which was proposed by the Freie Wähler group in the Bavarian Landtag was debated at the 54th session of the the European and Regional Affair Committee which took place on Tuesday, the 21st of February, 2017.



The session which was open to the public was chaired by Dr. Franz Rieger (CSU) and co-chaired by Georg Rosenthal (SPD).

"The session which was open to the public was chaired by Dr. Franz Rieger (CSU) and co-chaired by Georg Rosenthal (SPD)."The debate on the EPO motion was preceded by an informal briefing ("Informationsgespräch") about EU matters by two representatives of the EU, Richard Kühnel and Tobias Winkler which kicked off at 12:30. Kühnel is a former Austrian diplomat and the EU Commission's Head of Representation in Germany.

Winkler is head of the Information Office of the European Parliament in Munich which by a curious coincidence is housed on the ground floor of the EPO's Isar Building at Bob-van-Benthem-Platz.

During the information briefing with the EU officials, EPO problems already started to rear their ugly head when one of the Freie Wähler group, Dr. Hans Jürgen Fahn, referred to the EPO motion which was scheduled for discussion later in the afternoon.

"Winkler is head of the Information Office of the European Parliament in Munich which by a curious coincidence is housed on the ground floor of the EPO's Isar Building at Bob-van-Benthem-Platz."Dr. Fahn asked Mr. Kühnel to explain the position of the EU Commission in relation to the situation at the EPO. He noted that the EU Commission had observer status on the Administrative Council. He also referred to the fact that an MEP from the Freie Wähler, Ms. Ulrike Müller, had submitted a question to the EU Commission and had received a rather vague answer which left nobody any the wiser about where the Commission stood and what, if anything, it intended to do about the problems at the EPO.

When grappling with Dr. Fahn's question, the normally eloquent Mr. Kühnel appeared to be stuck for words and seemed visibly uncomfortable. He attempted to wriggle his way out of the awkward situation by referring to the fact that EU Commission only had observer status on the Administrative Council and didn't have any vote. Although technically correct, his answer is disingenuous because if the EU member states (27 or 28 depending on whether the UK is included ...) agreed to take a common line on EPO matters then they would command almost 75% of the votes on the Administrative Council.

"When grappling with Dr. Fahn's question, the normally eloquent Mr. Kühnel appeared to be stuck for words and seemed visibly uncomfortable."After the information briefing on EU matters concluded there was a brief discussion about a number of other items on the agenda relating to local Bavarian issues.

Shortly after 14:00 the debate on the EPO motion was opened. The motion was introduced by Gabi Schmidt (Freie Wähler) who noted that nothing had really changed since the last time the Landtag had discussed the situation at the EPO in June 2016.

The Freie Wähler were ably supported by the Green Party represented by Christine Kamm.

"Some observers had the impression that he was just parroting off a script that had been drafted for him by Battistelli's legal wizards and witches in the DG5 propaganda department."The motion was opposed by Mr. Walter Taubeneder, the rapporteur for the majority CSU. Mr. Taubeneder went through a list of points including the recent judgment from the Dutch Supreme Court and recent decisions from the ILOAT and somehow managed to conclude from all this that everything was rosy at the EPO and that Mr. Battistelli was doing a fine job and that EPO staff had no valid reasons for complaining about anything. Some observers had the impression that he was just parroting off a script that had been drafted for him by Battistelli's legal wizards and witches in the DG5 propaganda department.

The second largest party in the Landtag, the SPD, was strangely quiet during the debate and did not attempt to make any contribution.

Susann Biedefeld who had made a spirited speech during the previous debate in June 2016 seemed to be absent and was sadly missed.

Some people were wondering whether or not the local Bavarian SPD had received orders from the party headquarters in Berlin to keep out of the debate.

"Some people were wondering whether or not the local Bavarian SPD had received orders from the party headquarters in Berlin to keep out of the debate."Despite the lack of any contribution from the SPD, towards the end of the debate, the SPD vice-chairman of the committee Georg Rosenthal made a short statement indicating that his party would support the motion.

The chairman of the committee, Dr. Franz Rieger (CSU), closed the debate by noting that the majority CSU did not support the motion resulting in its rejection.

Although the motion failed to secure majority backing at the committee stage, the story doesn't end here because the matter will now go forward for discussion in a plenary session of the Landtag estimated to take place in about six to eight weeks time.

"But whatever the final outcome may be, Gabi Schmidt and her parliamentary colleages from the Freie Wähler and Christine Kamm from the Green Party deserve praise for their persistence in refusing to let the matter rest."Unless the CSU decides to change course in the meantime, it is very likely that the motion will be defeated when it is put to a vote in front of the Landtag as already happened once before in June last year.

But whatever the final outcome may be, Gabi Schmidt and her parliamentary colleages from the Freie Wähler and Christine Kamm from the Green Party deserve praise for their persistence in refusing to let the matter rest.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
 
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Slopwatch: Fake Articles, Fake Text, Fake Images, Negative Slant on "Linux"
Google News has lost its value; the signal-to-noise ratio has fallen off a cliff
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Relax-and-Recover on Proxmox and New Smolweb File Transfer Service
Links for the day
Fact: EFF Got Corrupted by Corporate Money. Microsoft Lunduke (Political Noise): The Issue With EFF is, It Kills Babies.
Microsoft Lunduke - as usual - finds a way to make it about abortions
Pacing Publication Up a Bit
The news cycles have gotten rather light and slow
Links 17/09/2025: Power Outages, Digital Controls, and Attacks on the Mainstream Media (by Insecure and Corrupt Dictators)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Flashing LineageOS and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Long COVID Study, "Exposing Pegasus", and Chatbots Exposing Sensitive Data
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Secret Settlement for Internet Archive and Google’s LLM Slop Summaries Attracting Lawsuits
Links for the day
The True Cost of 'Generative Models'
Funded and promoted by the companies that profit from the waste
'Big Slop' Attacks Contemporary Information/Knowledge and Creative Works, 'Big Copyright' (Cartel) Attacks the Old
Someone at IA will hopefully "blow the whistle" on what they actually agreed
Why We Find It Difficult to Trust Rust
A comparison between C/C++ and Rust
Slop Nihilism is Funded by Big Oil
Eventually human civilisation will destroy itself
Watching the OSI: Our Series Will Carry on Irrespective of the Chief's 'Resignation'
the OSI isn't even the real guardian of the term "Open Source"
Professor Eben Moglen Recovering From Open Heart Surgery
From his public pages (this is not secret)
Just What LibreOffice Needs? Another Language? (Rust)
what's all this concern about memory safety?
Many Microsoft Managers Are Leaving
"Hey hi" chaff or chaff about "hey hi" cannot eternally distract from the difficulties inside the company
There Are Red Hat (IBM) Layoffs, But Google News is Infested With Slopfarms
It contributes a lot to misinformation and it encourages plagiarism
Tomorrow, Microsoft's Tim Anderson's 'The Register MS' Offshoot Will Have Been Inactive for 2 Months (There's Also a Slop Problem)
We've already caught The Register MS using LLM slop for articles
Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Leaves Microsoft After Nearly 30 Years
And not retiring
Even Windows Users Are Having Problems With "Secure Boot"
When it comes to security - Microsoft strives for the very opposite
Another Competition Crime of Microsoft, Long Facilitated and Advocated by a Bad Actor, Who is Funded by a Third Party to Commit Extortion Against People Who Have Correctly and Repeatedly Warned About It for Over 13 Year
We must always go back to the core issues
3 More Reasons to Replace Mozilla Firefox With LibreWolf
Thankfully there are de-enshittified versions of Firefox
USA Not a Place for Free Speech
In America, as in the US, the attacks seem more enhanced or advanced these days
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Links 17/09/2025: Google Layoffs in "Hey Hi" (AI), Perplexity Hit With More "Hey Hi" (Plagiarism) Lawsuits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Reclaiming Things in a Digital Age and Moon Phases in CGI
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News is Slop, Google News is Plagiarism, Google News is Dying
Google is off the rails
Links 16/09/2025: "The Censorship Alarm Is Ringing in the Wrong Direction" and ASRock Does Microsoft E.E.E. on GNU/Linux
Links for the day
Serious "Breach of Confidentiality of Personal Data" in Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the EPO
Yes, the same EPO that routinely uses "data protection" and "GDPR" as a pretext for hiding or covering up its corruption and white-collar crimes (it even uses that as an excuse for refusing to obey courts' orders)
Adrienne Rockenhaus Says Her Husband Was Arrested for Running Tor and Denied Basic Rights in the United States
the US seems to be getting "russified" in its approach towards Tor
This is What Happens When Microsoft Canonical Lets Decisions on Ubuntu be Made by a Youngster From the British Army (Where He Did Mass Surveillance)
"Is Ubuntu Compromised?"
Back Doored Windows Giving GNU/Linux a Hard Time (Under the Guise of 'Security')
Is this complication intentional? Most likely, yes
Links 16/09/2025: Science, Security, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/09/2025: Command-line Options in POSIX Shell and Introducing Acre 0.9
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Secure' Boot Versus Dual Boot With GNU/Linux
they're meant to assume everything is OK
Links 16/09/2025: While Oracle Pretends to be Rich It's Firing About 70 MySQL Workers, "Oracle's Revenge" (Faking Demand With "AI")
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Published a New Web Page About "Secure Boot Update Process" (Microsoft Also Admits Issues; PCs Can Stop Booting)
Why was this page issued and published only hours ago?
Microsoft Lunduke: I Spread Hate and Then I Receive Hate
Cry us a river, Microsoft Lunduke
"Use Wayland" Isn't a Bugfix for X (X11 is Still Necessary)
They tell us X is "dead" and we must all be herded into Wayland ASAP
"Disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Wipe and Start Over."
At least they didn't say, buy a new computer...
The Oracle Ponzi Scheme
Oracle isn't doing well, but it's nowadays fashionable to say "clown" and "hey hi" to prop up one's stock, even based on nothing at all
The New Head of OSI is an "Hey Hi" (AI) Obsessed Person
when Bryant says "AI" that doesn't mean AI
Taking Out the Battery, Opening Up Your Computer, Just Like a "Normie" Would
At this stage, any person who still says "enable Secure Boot" is misguided or persuaded by companies that sell rootkits
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News (Fake 'Articles' About "Linux" Spreading FUD)
searching for "Linux" today yields a lot of FUD
"Governments, local authorities, schools and hospitals can lead by example by procuring only Free Software"
Crossposted from Tux Machines
Cindy Cohn Leaving the Electronic Frontier Foundation While Its Co-founder John Gilmore, Whom She Apparently Helped Oust, Will Celebrate 40 Years of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
EFF has been busy hoarding GAFAM money, whereas the latter is where all the real activism is done
The Reach of Techrights Has Broadened
We nowadays cover a broader range of issues
"Google is Googlebombing KDE's Project Banana"
So is Google googlebombing KDE's Project Banana? You decide.
Complicating Things for No Actual Benefit, Just Added Risk and More Difficulties Adding GNU/Linux and BSDs
Watch what it's like for people who wish to use BSDs
Some Very Large IRC Networks Are Growing
IRC will turn 38 next year
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 15, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 15, 2025
Links 16/09/2025: Autumn Party, RPG Planet, and Optical ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day