Bonum Certa Men Certa

Election of New Vice-Presidents at EPO Seems Rigged, Say Insiders and Former Insiders

Election of António Campinos himself was highly controversial, too

EPO replacing VPs



Summary: Christoph Ernst, Nelly Simon and more controversial associates are being put around António Campinos -- a move that has the hallmark of Battistelli's notorious 8-year regime

A COUPLE of months ago we learned that Vice-Presidents at the EPO were being replaced. But with the mask of António Campinos slipping this week (first week after the summer vacation) we're not at all surprised to have just received the following message:



Honorable members of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Office,

The Battistelli presidency will undoubtedly be considered as the darkest times in EPO’s history. Hidden behind self-proclaimed success - justified and protected by fictitious results; manipulated numbers; and the illusion of incredible achievements solely attained at the cost of quality, organizational balance and public service orientation - manipulation, nepotism. favoritism, intimidation, harassment, corruption and management by fear have reigned, slowly destroying the soul and very purpose of the Organization. Rivalry and individualism have replaced cooperation and collective effort. Obsession for financial benefits has replaced sense of public service. Self-interest has replaced interest of Europe. Loyalty to “ambitious people with an agenda” has replaced loyalty to the Organization. The list of damages on both corporate culture and professional practices is endless. Specialized blogs and internet sites such as Techright, IAM media, IPkat or Kluwer already give an idea of the nature of the problem. But what you will find there is only the tip of the iceberg. The truth is far more disturbing. For eight years, secured by the convenient indifference of the member states and protected by its diplomatic status, the EPO has simply been a dictatorship in the heart of Europe, destroying all founding values that were the cornerstones of its success and corrupting the very principle of public service that was (and still is) its reason to exist. There is no doubt that the magnitude of the damaging effects on the organization itself and on the European innovation’s economy, will soon become obvious.

Since July 1st 2018 a new President is leading the organization. In a few weeks he has brought a new wind of hope. By simply listening and talking to people, he has awakened a sense of optimism that long had deserted the Office. And we are very pleased about it.

The Battistelli disaster should however not be forgotten. One of the main reason that made this madness possible was the simple fact that no counter-power was available within the organization. The dictator was free to manipulate numbers, processes, results and people as he wished. And this is where the responsibility of the Administrative Council is engaged. The five elective posts of Vice presidents should be a natural counter power. That’s precisely why these posts are elective and not simply positions to be fulfilled as regards to skills and technical achievements. VPs should, before all, be strong personalities with outstanding sense of ethics and international public service able to strongly react if things go wrong. Unfortunately this most important aspect of the role and values of the VPs has eroded in time. And nowadays they seem to be considered (and to consider themselves) as “common” executive managers (That’s probably why one of the VP positions has disappeared in the framework of a reorganization and that no plan seems to be made to have it back). We see great danger here. And the Battistelli’s nightmare should remind us the reality of this threat. If the VPs are chosen to fit in the plan of the President, even a decent President; if they are directly or indirectly chosen by him for operational comfort; if the selection done by the member states is a bargain around “nationality issues” and networking games rather than a pre-selection based on demonstrated dedication to public service and proven multilateral experience; the whole system is endangered. It is the responsibility of the Administrative Council to prevent this.

It seems that, while candidates can still apply until September 5th 2018, names of the people who are going to “win” are already known. Mr. Christoph Ernst, current President of the AC, would become VP5. Ms. Nelly Simon, a very close associate of Mr. Campinos at EU IPO - and chosen by him in the framework of this selection procedure - would become VP4. And the French candidate - whose name we don’t know yet but who is described as a “Bercy candidate” close to Battistelli (ENA?) - would become VP1. If this is the case, it means that the legal democratic rules have again not been respected; that the EPO rules - meant to guaranty them - have again been bypassed and/or fictitiously applied; and that the very same dysfunctions that made the Battistelli’s dictatorship possible are again striking. And this is not be acceptable.

Therefore, in the name of the European citizens who deserve to be properly represented in an organization at their service, in the name of the European economy and the European industry which deserve the highest level of public service, and in the name of our colleagues who deserve to serve a “well-balanced public service oriented international organization” we ask you to:

- Select vice Presidents primarily as regards to their potential to play their role of internal counter-power rather than for their proximity with the new or previous President, their network, their networking skills, or their professional experience exclusively.

- Reintroduce the 5th vice President - for example by separating IM and Human resources into two different areas that could be “Resource Management” and “Information” each one having a VP – in order to re-establish the original balance within the internal leadership.

- Make sure that rules and regulations related to VPs selection are indeed framed to guaranty this balance.

Hoping that you will give to this letter the attention it deserves,

Kind regards

The Georg Elser group.

PS: For the sake of democratic transparency multiple newspapers of the member states have been put in cc. and cci of this email.

The Greorg Elser Group is a group of retired and active staff members of the EPO who decided, after the dictatorial presidency of Battistelli, to play the role of early whistleblower in case of abuse. This is our first public paper.



We will have a lot more to say pretty soon. Some of the above names are familiar and their new positions confirm rumours we have been hearing for weeks.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
 
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025