Bonum Certa Men Certa

Report on the (Mal)Functioning of the ILOAT From the 332nd Session of the ILO Governing Body

Guest article

ILOAT Governing Body Original: March report [PDF]



Summary: Although the non-EPO backlog had been reduced to 84 cases at the end of December 2017, there was an EPO backlog of 155 cases representing 64 per cent of the total backlog

At the 332nd Session of the ILO Governing Body held in Geneva on 8 to 22 March 2018 an update was provided on "the situation regarding the impact that the number of complaints filed against the European Patent Organisation (EPO) has on the functioning of the Tribunal" and related matters.

According to the report (document ref no. GB.332/PFA/INF/9): "[T]he ILO has, over the past few years, devoted considerable attention to addressing the situation arising from the disproportionate number of complaints persistently filed against one single organization", namely the EPO.

In 2015 the Tribunal itself pointed out that the large number of complaints filed against the EPO represented the main challenge to its effective functioning.

The excessively large number of complaints filed against the EPO has been the subject of discussions between the Director-General and the EPO President in one direct meeting and numerous exchanges of letters, and has been regularly followed up by the relevant services of the ILO and the EPO.

The Director-General offered ILO expertise on social dialogue to assist the EPO in the dialogue between the administration and staff union but this was not taken up. (!)

The EPO President claimed that reform efforts have already led to a significant drop in the number of internal appeals, and are expected to result, in due course, in a decrease in the number of complaints lodged with the Tribunal.

The Tribunal confirmed a declining trend in the number of new complaints filed against the EPO whose share of the total number of new complaints filed dropped from 74 per cent at the beginning of 2016 to 39 per cent in 2017.

However, the drop in the number of new complaints is mainly due to the procedural consequences of Judgments 3694, 3785 and 3796 which dealt with the composition of the internal appeals body of the EPO and related matters. The flawed composition of the internal appeals body and other procedural irregularities resulted in the withdrawal of several hundred final decisions taken by the EPO President and the EPO’s Administrative Council.

This in turn led to the related internal appeals being re-submitted to the EPO’s newly composed internal appeals body where they are currently pending. Consequently, fewer final decisions had been taken by the EPO President, and fewer new complaints were therefore filed with the Tribunal.

The Tribunal also noted that several new complaints challenge the legality of the new composition of the Appeals Committee with respect to the members appointed by the staff and it is committed to examining this issue shortly.

Thus, although decreased, the proportion of EPO-related complaints remains high.

The report notes that the large volume of complaints filed against the EPO cannot be solely attributed to weaknesses in the EPO's internal appeal mechanism but may also be symptomatic of the industrial relations climate within the organization. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recognizing trade unions present at the EPO as social partners and creating a collective bargaining framework was signed in March 2016 with one of the staff unions, the European Civil Service Federation (FFPE). However the MoU has not yet been signed by the most representative staff union, the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO).

Concerning the Tribunal's backlog of cases, it was noted that although the non-EPO backlog had been reduced to 84 cases at the end of December 2017, there was an EPO backlog of 155 cases representing 64 per cent of the total backlog. Many of the EPO cases are linked and require consideration at the same Tribunal session.

"In order to reduce the EPO backlog more rapidly it would be necessary for entire Tribunal sessions to be devoted exclusively to the EPO."The report states that it is clear that the statistics of the Tribunal are distorted by the EPO cases, either as the “backlog cases” or newly filed cases (for example, one former EPO official filed 97 complaints against the EPO; in October 2015 some 660 complaints were filed against a single decision of the EPO).

In order to reduce the EPO backlog more rapidly it would be necessary for entire Tribunal sessions to be devoted exclusively to the EPO.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
 
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Seem to Have Had Only One Litigation Client in 2025, He Was Previously Charged, Just Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (Whom They Now Represent)
Karma is superstition, regulators are not
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025