Bonum Certa Men Certa

The European Patent Office (EPO) Wastes a Lot of Money on External PR Agencies for Battistelli's 'Heist'

Saint-Germain-en-Laye event



Summary: The EPO's management is once again scattering/throwing EPO budget at PR agencies and media companies (publishers/broadcasters) to disseminate a bunch of puff pieces and virtually ignore the very obvious conflict of interest, which should be a scandal on par with that of FIFA (resulting in the arrest of its boss, Mr. Blatter)

THE staff of the EPO is really upset. We can see that. We hear about that. It's like no matter how abusive the boss is, nothing ever happens to him. He's above the law.

"The staff of the EPO is really upset.""I was surprised to see that the administrator of the Theatre Alexandre Dumas (TAD) in St Germain en Laye is not anyone else than the mayor, Arnaud Péricard, himself," told us one reader, "seconded by, you guess it, Benoît Battistelli . As such the TAD is a part of the administration in St Germain en Laye. Here a link with the TAD team (L’équipe du TAD | Théâtre Alexandre-Dumas de Saint-Germain-en-Laye) who are themselves getting involved in a scandal without being aware of it. With the inventor of the year show taking place in the town where Benoit Battistelli is deputy mayor, there is a MAJOR conflict of interest, and a MAJOR scandal in perspective for which M. Battistelli and the accomplices will be held accountable."

Here is the list of the people involved/implicated:

TAD team

Arnaud Péricard Maire-adjoint chargé de la Culture (deputy mayor in charge of culture)

Benoît Battistelli Conseiller municipal délégué au Théâtre (town counsellor in charge of the Thatre)

Guillaume Estienne Directeur général adjoint des Services (deputy general director for services)

Francine Chassepot Directrice de la Vie culturelle (director in charge of cultural life)

Theatre team

Directrice déléguée (deputy director) Sophie Bauer

Directeur artistique (artistic director) Benoît Dissaux

Directeur technique (technical director) Joël Haton

Gestionnaire administrative, accueil des équipes artistiques (administrative management, reception of artistic teams) Cathy Alexandre-Skrzypczak

Chargé de la billetterie et de l'accueil (in charge of ticketing and welcome) Jérémie Dufour

Régisseur des recettes (proceeds management) Mercedes Figuereo

Chargée de la communication et des relations publiques (public relations and communication) Johanna Julien

Régisseur général (stage manager) Emmanuel Monnet

Régisseur lumière (lighting designer) Franck Mérel

Régisseurs plateau (stage technicians) Christian Laurent David Costerg

Régisseur son et vidéo (sound and image technician) Thomas Weyant

Agent de sécurité - Affichage (security officer - display) Rudy Vasseur


We are hoping to have contact details soon. A day ago we (re)published contact details for various key people in the administration (not just of the threatre). We urge readers to write to these people, preferably but not necessarily in French (most of them are fluent in English, too). It's not a campaign of harassment but merely an act of accountability -- a concept that Battistelli seems incapable of grasping.

"It's like no matter how abusive the boss is, nothing ever happens to him. He's above the law.""The time has come! These are the European Inventor Award 2018 finalists," the EPO wrote some hours ago. They neglect to mention the likely corruption which everyone at the EPO seems to have whispered about for months. How can he get away with it? As we put it a few weeks ago, what we have here is "One Last Battistelli Heist: Millions of Euros for Saint-Germain-en-Laye" (his town where he works).

Here's today's fluff from the EPO: (warning: epo.org link)

The Award winners will be announced on 7 June in Paris, Saint-Germain-en-Laye...

[...]

"The 2018 Award finalists demonstrate that Europe continues to be a world leader in innovation," said EPO President Benoît Battistelli.


He makes it a world leader in corruption.

"It's not a campaign of harassment but merely an act of accountability -- a concept that Battistelli seems incapable of grasping.""EPO corruption continues," Benjamin Henrion wrote about it today, as "Saint-Germain-en-Laye is Batistelli's commune."

People are noticing this, but the media refuses to cover or even mention this in passing. The truth of the matter is, the EPO has been bribing the media for a long time (we are covering many examples) and EPO management has once again hired Echolot Public Relations (Barbara Geier) to spam British media about this event. Guess at whose expense...

"People are noticing this, but the media refuses to cover or even mention this in passing."We can see it based on this press release from today. How many PR agencies is the EPO hiring? We've lost count. In the UK alone it has got contracts with at least 3 PR agencies. Some contracts are 'weighed' at over a million euros! Talk about money down the drain. EPO management misuses stakeholders' money for puff pieces such as these in the Irish media [1, 2, 3]. Did they literally pay for these? Indirectly perhaps? Earlier today (and it's only the start of this week!) the EPO played the media, then linked to (retweeted) the outcome, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9].

How many PR agencies in how many countries is the EPO hiring this time around? Maybe someone can leak to us documents that may shed light...

Our jaw was on the floor seeing how the EPO even retweeted extremists like Watchtroll and its "bucket of deplorables" several hours ago. Bad optics? No tact? Maybe they don't understand what they just did...

"Are there any major publishers/broadcasters that Battistelli has not yet corrupted using EPO budget? Or threatened for 'daring' to speak of EPO abuses?"Looking at the underlying 'article' with all the Battistelli quotes embedded throughout, it looks like a puff piece for the EPO; maybe it was partially ghostwritten by a PR agency. Gene Quinn certainly lacks ethics, so writing this rubbish could/might as well be an EPO partnership. Remember that the EPO already passed money to IAM through one of its PR agencies.

Roger Highfield, judging for Battistelli's very 'special' event (money passage), was retweeted by the EPO after he had posted this puff piece in the site of the Science Museum. It says this:

Roger Highfield, Director of External Affairs, Science Museum Group and judge of the European Inventor Award introduces this year’s finalists and explains how to vote for your favourite.


This isn't the first time we see Roger Highfield pushing the EPO's agenda and being retweeted by the EPO; as we showed last year, it's no longer a secret that the EPO pays travel expenses (flights) for so-called 'journalists' who cover these events. This, in our view, is a sort of bribery. But such is the moral level of the EPO these days. We still wait to see which large publisher -- if any -- will mention the huge scandal in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Are there any major publishers/broadcasters that Battistelli has not yet corrupted using EPO budget? Or threatened for 'daring' to speak of EPO abuses?

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why the EPO Never Managed to Silence Us (After Over a Decade of Trying)
Firms like Mishcon de Reya and Brett Wilson LLP contribute to a bad stigma, staining the entire occupation
Names Are Not Unique IDs and the UK Government's "Digital ID System" Would be a Nightmare
Digital surveillance, "apps", and worse (all the time)
It Feels Like Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Tacitly Admitted That It Defamed Me
It arguably admitted many other things by refusing to deny or address them (altogether)
 
Links 29/09/2025: Opposition to Surveillance Giant Google and Conflicts Worldwide (Moldova Sides With EU)
Links for the day
Links 29/09/2025: Datacenter Fires and "Too Much Internet Use Is Changing Teenage Brains"
Links for the day
Almost a Couple of Years After Microsoft Hijacked the Name 'Sudo' (to Describe Unrelated Windows Stuff) Microsoft Canonical Breaks Sudo in Ubuntu
These are vandals in "goodwill" or "security" clothing
Does the Good Law Project (GLP) Know the Director of Brett Wilson LLP Deems It OK to Endorse Violent Actions Against Trans People?
We were miffed to see this morning's report
What is Roy and Rianne's Righteously Royalty-free RSS Reader?
A news reader that uses OPML files and parses RSS feeds
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in 5 Days
We should be talking about software freedom, not "Open Source"
Stefano Maffulli's Front Page Mentions "AI" 11 Times
They're more focused on slop (plagiarism) than sharing or Software Freedom
CMS Rot
With "modern" (bloated) content management systems (CMSs) there is a long chain of dependencies
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 28, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 28, 2025
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About Linux 6.17 and Microsoft Meddling in Linux Development
today's Slopwatch is short because the picks are from Sunday
Gemini Links 29/09/2025: The Labor Wars and Retro
Links for the day
Links 28/09/2025: Windows TCO, Security Breaches, and Deutsche Bahn Woes
Links for the day
Datacentres Aren't Reliable for Backups
bad practices cause immeasurable levels of permanent data losses each and every day
Links 28/09/2025: Science, Censorship, and Security Incidents/Advisories
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/09/2025: Golem and Cybertrucks
Links for the day
Links 28/09/2025: Moldova Elections, LLM Slop Failing Again to Accomplish Anything
Links for the day
Links 28/09/2025: Slop Does More Harm, Newly Released Epstein Estate Documents
Links for the day
Links 28/09/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Going Private' (the Dictator's Media Allies) and UK Mirror Lays Off More Journalists
Links for the day
A Year Ago, Only a Few Weeks After We Countersued the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI', Our Webhost Came Under Attack
At the end of September 2024 our webhost received several threats
If Only Someone Warned Us About This...
Ubuntu is committing suicide with Rusty code
The Register - Kissing the hand that feeds it
hired to manage the publication several people connected to Microsoft, including the new Editor in Chief
The Myths of "Linux" and of "Intelligence"
As noted this morning
People Remembered GNU's Birthday (Which Helps Remind People It All Started in 1983, Not 1991)
Have the FSF and GNU earned the respect they deserve?
Slopwatch: Ponzi Schemes Promoted by Media Companies, Linux Journal Turning Its 30-Year Reputation to Dust, and Serial Slopper Brian Fagioli Plagiarising, As Usual
This bubble will end up very badly
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 27, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 27, 2025
Links 27/09/2025: Squashing Software Patents and When Hospitals Become For-Profit
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/09/2025: Young Feet and Online Bots
Links for the day
GNU Project Turns 42
In 2033 it'll be 50
Next Step: Find Out Who's Funding the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' to SLAPP Us
We now have the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' working alongside a strangler of women, who as a Microsoft employee spent time in prison for it
Web Sites That Are Independent Are Also Like Software Projects (Sometimes Literally So)
Roll out your own 'stack'
Pieter Hintjens on Codes of Misconduct a Decade Ago
original is still online
Links 27/09/2025: Australia Might Ban Microsoft GitHub for Young People, Likely Illegal Executive Order Turns TikTok Into Cheeto Propaganda
Links for the day
Repeating the Lies to Promote a Ponzi Scheme is Not OK Because "Many Other Sites Do This" (Including Slopfarms)
They already work on the next Ponzi scheme
The Register MS (Situation Publishing) is Participating in a Ponzi Scheme
The market in "tech" seems awful when a lot of it sells a fraud and journalism about this market is part of the fraud
Glimmer of Hope: More People Realise and Come to Accept "AI" is Just a Giant, Elaborate Ponzi/Pyramid Scheme That Will Leave Everyone Worse Off (Except the "Top of the Pyramid")
quoting Einhorn and some comments
Mass Layoffs in Starbucks... and Society Loses Nothing of Value
Society might even be better off if Starbucks shuts down entirely
Do Your Job and Demand Your Compensation - But in That Order.
We'll do our best to convince the Judge to award all costs to us (lawyers, barrister, LIP bills etc.) plus judgements against them, for abusive litigation and needless suffering associated with that abuse
Matthew J. Garrett Behaved in a Similar Fashion to 4Chan and Kiwi Farms
Opposites attract? Are they opposites at all?
Drew DeVault Suggests "CoC Enhancement", Starts Trolling Projects in Microsoft GitHub
And it backfires immediately
Like Nazi Germany and Volkswagen
Tell us all about "freedom" when your government runs a Ponzi scheme
Microsoft Sponsored This Man, Microsoft Sponsored His Behaviour (and He Controls Microsoft)
They get what they paid for
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 26, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 26, 2025
He Talks Too Much, He Says Dumb Things
only British when that suits him
Slopwatch: FUD and Plagiarism (Working Against Linux) Promoted and Rewarded by Google News
Shame on Google News