THE LACK of oversight and accountability at the European Patent Office (EPO) breeds misconduct and misuse of funds. We have given many examples over the years. Here's one example from last year:
[PDF] -- a document from which we extracted the images at the top.
"The EPO has highly severe quality issues (this is costing billions which the public will pay), but here it is fantasising about making construction projects with loads of fancy mockups."It's commonly stated and frequently pointed out these days that due to Battistelli's attack on judges -- an attack perpetuated by Campinos by inaction for nearly a year now -- the EPO wasted tens of millions of euros renting a place in Haar. It doesn't need this office space. In fact, this is likely in direct violation of the EPC.
"Want to know what this is," asked our source, then "have a look at MICADO CA/43/19. Hundreds of Miliions of euros of applicants' money [get used] for buildings: Champagne "
The EPO has highly severe quality issues (this is costing billions which the public will pay), but here it is fantasising about making construction projects with loads of fancy mockups. What does it envision for itself? Why is all this money being piled up and wasted on bad projects? Shouldn't the financial gain instead be returned to applicants? As some people put it last year, the EPO has become an "investment bank" rather than a patent office. ⬆