He works in the private sector now

Summary: Recalling the time Battistelli was considered unfit for the job of Vice-President (let alone President)

WE HAVE FINALLY received an answer to a question published here a couple of days ago. The name Lionel Baranes was mentioned here before (a source said that he had been "somehow exceptionally courageous Vice President, especially by the standards of EPO, who got so much in conflict with this boiling underground of “creative managers” that his term had to be curtailed by using the reason that he was of the same nationality of the President"; see the rest of these remarks about him, it's mostly positive).

Here is the explanation we received about the assessment centre for the VP1:

I have just read the story about the assessment centre for the VP1. I had nearly forgotten it. That was at the time when a successor was needed for VP1 J. Michel. At the end of the assessment Lionel Baranes was the winner and the loser was, yes indeed, a certain Benoit Battistelli. Therefore with the "system Battistelli", call it "social democracy" no more assessments just nepotism. Actually nepotism is a much better system because results are predictable, isn't it? I have also read a comment about Battistelli being a "prolo". Allow me to disagree, calling Battistelli a "prolo" is an insult to all proletarians. Consider that after all the EPO staff are the proletarians in the patent world even if, in denial, they still believe to be" la creme de la creme". Actually, there is a far better French word to summarize Battistelli and it is" beauf". Look at the definition on this page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauf "a man perceived as vulgar, unintelligent, arrogant, uncaring, misogynist and chauvinistic, without any taste for etiquette or good manners. A "beauf" will typically be prompt to jump to conclusions and have strong views on complex social issues, based on an insufficient analysis of the facts, but presented as being plain common sense." The definition looks tailored for Battistelli....

We will all remember Battistelli as a "beauf", and as an irascible person without any personal or professional achievement or any kind of competence or qualities. Actually the kind of substance you try to avoid on the pavement. If there is one thing I can tell you is that the French are not happy to have him back....He will join his friends Sarkozy (criminal charges) and Balkany (also criminal charges). But this is another topic!

Lionel Baranes was apparently a much better person, but he only stayed at the EPO for a couple of years, based on his LinkedIn profile. "He left with an open letter to the Office," a person once told us, "with statements along the lines of “the human resources are in a disastrous state”. Didn’t he know enough?"

It's worth noting that we would know absolutely nothing about it had it not been for comments published (and soon thereafter censored) in IP Kat.

I have a strong suspicion (but not yet any concrete proof) that the EPO uses PR people to pretend to be pro-Battistelli/EPO and subvert commenting threads. We have seen similarly provocative comments in IP Kat, The Register and even Kluwer Patent Blog. A lot of it is staff-shaming tripe.

IP Kat's latest act of censorship, which several people told us about yesterday, means that the "lead" which reminded us of Baranes and Michel is now gone. It's gone for good. It was deleted. The reason we asked about the assessment centre, which had been brought up by an anonymous comment, is that it indicates there were early warning signs about Battistelli and, according to later comments, it was Sarkozy who helped propel him to the very top of the EPO.

The EPO is not about as crooked as Sarkozy's party (which Battistelli is a member of). And speaking of crooked political parties, recall how Kongstad is alleged to have gotten his job/s. How about this comment from yesterday regarding Campinos and his former employer (Caixa)?

If I understand this story correctly, Caixa invested into some start-ups. These were chosen as “inventors of the year”, saw their value increase because of the publicity and Caixa made lots of money. As is customary practice for these kind of market manipulation, the gains were shared back to whomever chose these particular firms as inventors of the year.

This is consistent with some other scandals which you published some time ago, like one of the inventor of the year not having a workable product at all (I don’t remember the name, a medical firm in California, I think).

Look what the EPO has turned into. It actively promoted frauds that have been put on trial by now. It helped pump up their claims and market valuations. ⬆