FOR QUITE some time we have been attempting to get information or retrieve some proof pertaining to the ousting of Jesper Kongstad, the head of the EPO (Organisation, not Office).
"Maybe someone from Denmark can also petition for transparency about this.""New vacancy at the Danish Patent and Trademark Office," one person wrote the other day, linking to http://www.altinget.dk/digitalvelfaerd/jobannoncer/erhvervsministeriet-soeger-direktoer-til-patent-og-varemaerkestyrelsen [in Danish]
If someone can translate this for us, we would really appreciate it. We don't rely on automated translations. Maybe someone from Denmark can also petition for transparency about this. It is, after all, not a private business and transparency in Denmark is often tolerated.
Another comment then said: "The question is how BB [Battistelli] will manage to exploit the unexpected departure of the Chairman of the Administrative Council to his advantage. For example by arguing that "stability" can only be ensured by prolonging his (BB's) tenure."
We thought about that as well as the possibility that UPC limbo will be used as some sort of excuse by Battistelli.
"More of the same," the next comment said, "Battistelli latest abusive proposals to the June Admin Council : sanctions, more sanctions, harsher sanctions against staff... https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/23/euro_patent_office_internal_rule_changes/" (covered here before).
"In interviews with the media Kongstad stated that he had not been paid for these duties."News from Administrative Council, sent to us while I was away on holiday, shed more light on what had happened. To quote: "J. Kongstad would have had to resign from his position of head of DK IPO (for personal reasons you bet) since Denmark Government would have found out that he was in receipt of EPO funds (quite a lot of money altogether) for a position (Chairman of the Council) that was supposed to be an unpaid one (only travel costs foreseen). If this is true (which would not be surprising) this would explain JK's support to Battistelli during all these years..."
In interviews with the media Kongstad stated that he had not been paid for these duties. We wrote about that last year. Did Battistelli quietly change this while also rewarding himself with pay rise (for himself and his cronies)? Remember that it's Kongstad who approves Battistelli's secret contracts...
To put it quite bluntly, it seems plausible that EPO money is flying off the shelves and all those who pocket this money blindly protect one another. At whose expense? ⬆