Bonum Certa Men Certa

On the EPO's Premises, Investigation After a Small Fall But Not After Suicide of Staff

King of his domain; any challenge (even to narrative) is out of the question

ErdoÄŸan and EPO



Summary: The sharp contrast between the attitude of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SWZ) when premises are occupied by King Battistelli and when they're not

THE EPO drives a lot of its own employees to disability and death. Ask the employees. They will openly speak about it. The EPO is an atrocious employer.



"The EPO is an atrocious employer."Quite a few EPO deaths are caused by suicide. The latest one happened weeks ago, but EPO management does not want to call it a suicide and it is preventing the authorities from investigating. It refuses to look into this itself, so basically there's no accountability, inquest etc.

Regarding at least some of the suicides, Bavarian TV found the EPO's management (with its controversial Stasi-like department [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) to be culpable. The EPO's management was very rattled by these findings and wanted them suppressed.

"Regarding at least some of the suicides, Bavarian TV found the EPO's management (with its controversial Stasi-like department) to be culpable."That helps demonstrate the sort of attitude adopted by the management and embraced by Team Battistelli.

The other day we wrote about an incident in the new building -- a subject we revisited a couple of days ago because several Dutch-speaking people corrected us by clarifying that the fall was about 3 meters only (one floor) and thus extremely unlikely to be fatal. Well, this is why we typically prefer to wait for coherent translations rather than automated garbage (like that which clueless Battistelli believes can shoulder the UPC* and help replace examiners).

There is finally an English translation from SUEPO [PDF]. It translated one of the reports as follows (highlight is ours):

Person falls metres at new patent office building



RIJSWIJK - According to a police statement, someone fell onto a roof from a higher floor at the European Patent Office (EPO) in Rijswijk on Wednesday morning. A trauma helicopter was called with a mobile medical team on board. The victim has now been stabilised and brought to the hospital.

It is not known exactly what happened. The victim is believed to have fallen a couple of metres. The identity of the victim is not clear. And nor is his or her current condition. The victim is thought to be communicating, however.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SWZ) inspectorate, the former Labour Inspectorate, will investigate the accident. The result is expected in three months.

New building

At the location of the accident, Patentlaan in Rijswijk, work is being carried out on the patent office's new building. This office, the outline of which can already be seen clearly from the A4 motorway, will be 107 metres high and features a lot of glass.


"Unaccountable lobbying. That's what the EPO has become."So a fall is treated more seriously by the Dutch authorities than a person jumping out the window during office hours.

And they still grant the EPO immunity?! And pretend that the EPO deserves to be above the law while ramming the UPC down politicians' throats, effectively trying to change the law? Unaccountable lobbying. That's what the EPO has become. ____ * The UPC is thankfully stuck, but Team UPC is pressing on with "alternative facts". Lies that were published yesterday were not exactly lies but half-truths from Bristows LLP. Everybody knows that the British government absolutely cannot proceed with UPC amid Brexit (inherent incompatibility), but be sure Bristows will spin that somehow, framing it as a sign of progress.

Moreover, published on the same day was this latest piece of lobbying; without even knowing the nature of the complaint at all (mere speculations about it) they tell us that the "German UPC challenge [is] statistically likely to fail" (because who needs higher German courts anyway...? Bristows staff knows better than German judges, without knowing anything about the nature of this case).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) Won't Work
American companies don't follow laws, they work around them
Net Gain of 50 Gemini Capsules in Just One Month
a big jump in just one month
Keeping Linux Reliable
If Linux becomes a lot more reliable in the future, it'll be an "hey hi" miracle. If Linux becomes a lot less reliable in the future, we'll know why and who is responsible for it.
Cyber Show on the Fallacy of Salary/Ego as a Function of Wisdom in the Era of Pyramid Schemes (Cheating People Using Buzzwords and Complicit Media)
"the remuneration fallacy and the role of reluctance as a negative feedback force."
EPO's Local Staff Committee Munich Organises General Assembly Next Week, the Goal is to Oust the Corrupt President and Derail His Unlawful Agenda
They're aiming to show Campinos the door
 
Earlier This Year Microsoft's Chief Liar Frank Shaw Lied About the Layoffs. Now He's Leaving.
he's nowhere near retirement age
Gemini Links 11/09/2026: Small Things and "Hitching Your Wagon"
Links for the day
Links 11/09/2026: Tristan Buckmaster Ripped Off by Slop, Social Control Media Spreads Hatred for Profit
Links for the day
Animals Smarter Than Chatbots
Quack quack goes the chatbot
IBM Isn't Reporting Layoffs, But It Removes Tens of Thousands of People From Its Workforce
Red Hat and IBM already mark people for removal
"A Tale of Two Antónios" Will Resume Soon
In November the site turns 20
Links 11/09/2026: Cyberattack in Berlin (Windows/Microsoft TCO) and Hype About Slop as 'Existential' Something; Scam Altman et al Caught Stealing/Plagiarising "Mathematical Breakthrough"
Links for the day
Microsoft/GNOME 9/11
Garrett and Graveley (Microsoft/GNOME) will have a lot to explain
9/11 Was a National Event, Not an International Event
They insist that back doors will "save lives"
Very Sloppy PR From a Dying IBM, Company in Disarray and in Need of Distractions
IBM could really use distractions right now
What a Price-Fixing Cartel Can Look Like
If your prices increase five-fold or ten-fold and so do your revenues/income, what does that tell us?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 178 Out of 200: Explaining to Your American Clients That Spending 130,000+ United States Dollars on a Single Hearing in Another Continent Means the UK's National Archives Will Retain in Perpetuity What Your Spouse or Girlfriend Said
Balabhadra (Alex) Graveley should ask Garrett how much money he has lost so far
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 10, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, September 10, 2026
Latest IBM Gossip is, Over 25,000 People to be PIPed (by Year's End)
That figure, 10%, is different from 15% (what we saw a lot). 10% is over 25,000 staff.
Solidarity at EPO
"Many colleagues have made personal and professional sacrifices by participating in the ongoing strike and work-to-rule action"
Gemini Links 11/09/2026: Culture Stuck, Robot Symphony, and Back to Geminispace
Links for the day
Links 10/09/2026: Facebook Unsafe for Kids, Fake Songs (Against Right of Publicity, CG Forgeries Basically) a Growing Problem
Links for the day
Rust is Financially and Technically Controlled by Microsoft. Rust Foundation is a Front for Microsoft's Proprietary Software.
Rust is not and has never been about security
Gemini Links 10/09/2026: "I Don’t Want to Interact With Stochastic Parrots" and "ROOPHLOCH 2026!"
Links for the day
What the British School Closure (BSN Senior School Leidschenveen) Means to EPO Staff
The only European thing about the EPO is the staff
Standing in Solidarity With Matt Mullenweg
I don't trust the people and companies that want Mullenweg out. Neither should you.
Links 10/09/2026: "Smear Campaign Says Anti-Flock Movement Is Chinese Propaganda" and "Flock Employee Calls Cops on Reporter Filming Them"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 09, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 09, 2026
IBM's Senior VP of Infrastructure is Out, Silent Layoffs Still Going On
Some people imagine the CEO will also "retire" very soon (and "ahead of time")
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: Mechanical Cameras, "Super App", and Prusa Issues
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 177 Out of 200: Manosphere Without Financial Transparency
It has moreover replaced a female worker with a male
Deadline Tomorrow (10th of September) to Appeal the EPO's Fleecing of Staff (Union to Make Legal Challenges)
Join them. Fight the good fight.
linuxstans.com Died, Then Came Back as Slop (LLM Junk)
Don't make the mistake or the assumption that merely 'dabbling in' or 'experimenting with' LLMs can be forgivable as it is a trust destroyer
Links 09/09/2026: GAFAM Fatalities in Miami International Airport, "Britain’s Health Crisis Is Becoming a Political Crisis"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: "Adjective Is Subjective" and Walled Gardens
Links for the day
Plagiarism is Hardly a New Problem, It Predates Mainstream Media Getting Paid to Whitewash It as "Training" or "Hey Hi", Then Conflate Plagiarism With "Intelligence" or Deferred "Value"
"Quantum" isn't new either; it's a 'circle-jerk' for companies without direction, only hype
Links 09/09/2026: Airport 'Down' (Glasgow and Edinburgh), 'Open' 'AI' Losses Rise to Pace of 50 Billion Dollars in Losses Per Year
Links for the day
Unsafe at Any Speed, "Modern" Appliances
Appliances have gotten worse
SLAPP Censorship - Part 176 Out of 200: The Sex-Obsessed Non-Experts
We heard some sexual stories
European Patent Office (EPO): No Transparency and No Paper Trail
The incompetence is that of the management, i.e. sheer incompetence of people who never examined a patent in their entire lifetime
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: Going Out, Smartphone Addiction, Mapping the Geminispace
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 08, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 08, 2026