"Does nobody in the mainstream media see the problem with that? It's not only against the rules (for public servants in international institutions); putting aside the passage of EPO money to Saint-Germain-en-Laye..."The remark is in the fifth comment by the way, responding to "MaxDrei" (mentioned/quoted here in relation to its context).
But this post is not about the scandal of Battistelli's 'alleged' misuse of budget or even the award to a literal fraud (whom the EPO now tries to distance itself from -- very, very belatedly). This post relates to our first part, which spoke about Morocco, a former French colony which Battistelli seems to be oftentimes leveraging for political agenda. This post is about award for EP1879655B1 ("Advanced [sic] Scientific [sic] Developments" [sic] led by Mr. Remmal).
How much of an invention was it really? Someone who is familiar with this scientific domain looked more closely at it. I should disclose that it's well outside my field of specialty, so I mostly rely on others for this assessment, which was carried out anonymously.
"How much of an invention was it really?""It is about the mentioned patent granted to Remmal," told us a source, "who got the EPO inventor award last year.
"In my opinion there was a lot ado about nothing in the Gazette."
There was an article about it the Gazette, in French even! [Page 1, Page 2]
"In the present case I am not questioning the probity of Mr. Remmal," our source said, "but he is definitely NOT the genius that the EPO makes out of him.
"Clinical phytotherapy is a research field since the early 70s. Synergistic effects were investigated with antibiotics alone, and are the basis of aromatherapy. Yet the combination of essential oils and antibiotics and corresponding synergistic effects have been disclosed in 2003 already. See this publication: Bacterial resistance modifying agents from Lycopus europaeus."
From the Abstract: "As part of an ongoing project to identify plant natural products which modulate bacterial multidrug resistance (MDR), bioassay-guided isolation of an extract of Lycopus europaeus yielded two new isopimarane diterpenes, namely methyl-1alpha-acetoxy-7alpha 14alpha-dihydroxy-8,15-isopimaradien-18-oate (1) and methyl-1alpha,14alpha-diacetoxy-7alpha-hydroxy-8,15-isopimaradien-18-oate (2). The structures were established by spectroscopic methods. These compounds and several known diterpenes were tested for in vitro antibacterial and resistance modifying activity against strains of Staphylococcus aureus possessing the Tet(K), Msr(A), and Nor(A) multidrug resistance efflux mechanisms. At 512 microg/ml none of the compounds displayed any antibacterial activity but individually in combination with tetracycline and erythromycin, a two-fold potentiation of the activities of these antibiotics was observed against two strains of S. aureus that were highly resistant to these agents due to the presence of the multidrug efflux mechanisms Tet(K) (tetracycline resistance) and Msr(A) (macrolide resistance)."
Our source continued to stress "that predates the priority date. (2005). Note that this document wasn't cited - unfortunately - in the search report. This document does not quote carvacrol, carveol or alpha-ionone as constituents of essential oils. But carvacrol and carveol were already known at that time for their antibiotic effect . I see no inventive step there. In my opinion the inventor of the year 2017 was awarded a prize on the basis of an unduly granted patent."
Research into this has gone on for at least a week. It's not a rushed judgment. As our source put it, having consulted others as well, "the more I look into the Remmal case, the more I believe we have explosive material. I had the document I referred to double-checked by a specialist and yes I can say that the granted claims do not have the required inventive step.
"But there is more than that. The company owned by Mr.Remmal, Advanced Scientific Developments, is an asset management firm (gestion de valeur mobilere)."
On the day of the priority date (13/5/2005) Mr. Remmal filed 4 applications, namely:
