THE lives ruined by the EPO's management extend well beyond EPO staff and stakeholders; spouses, children, friends and peers are impacted as well. The whole European economy is negatively affected. This is why we believe that everyone in Europe (if not well beyond Europe) should pay closer attention to scandals which the media seems unwilling to cover (like it covered FIFA scandals, for instance, if not Volkswagen too, especially amid Dieselgate).

"The EPO has become a sociopathic institution which takes orders from one single person as though he is a monarch in a palace."In part VII and part VIII of this series we wrote about whistleblowing at the EPO and absolutely zero tolerance of criticism. The EPO has become a sociopathic institution which takes orders from one single person as though he is a monarch in a palace. Nothing like this ever happened at the USPTO or any other patent office (as far as we are aware). European autocracy up on display? Certainly a reputational issue for the EU, even if the EPO isn't an EU entity (unlike the distant 'fantasy' -- or contrariwise nightmare -- which is UPC).

"In any healthy (or functional) institution, none of this would be required and there would be an ombudsman to turn to. But not the EPO under Battistelli..."The EPO's whistleblowers are scared; they are not always confident and occasionally they feel the need to forge details not about the story but about themselves. "We were thinking also of changing some terms and details of the story," one person once told us regarding "nationalities, countries, disease details, sex and ages etc. -- [just] enough to make sure that if they [are] still going [to point] the finger on me, it would be an open admission that they did what we relate."

In any healthy (or functional) institution, none of this would be required and there would be an ombudsman to turn to. But not the EPO under Battistelli... ⬆