Bonum Certa Men Certa

EUIPO and EPO Abuses Growingly Inseparable

Bleeding reputation

ARCHAMBEAU RIGA 2015



Summary: 'Musical chairs' at CEIPI and the EPO/EUIPO (Battistelli, Archambeau, Campinos) as well as joint reports never fail to reveal the extent to which EPO abuses are spreading

OUR 5-year research into abuses at the European Patent Office (EPO) often led us not astray but into abuses at other institutions. EUIPO, for instance, does not have a shortage of scandals; for instance, recall António Campinos/Battistelli 'musical chairs' at CEIPI, immunity scandals, nepotism/entryism, and outsourcing.



Now that Campinos is the President at the EPO he's promoting software patents in Europe and doing just about nothing to improve anything; later this month he might even give 30 million euros to a company with roots in the Third Reich.

"What has Campinos brought to the EPO? Nothing."In Twitter, IAM has just resorted to facts-free name-calling against me, seeing that we covered the back room story about how Christian Archambeau's appointment was 'fixed'. He's still head of the EUIPO and now he has his "first press briefing," on which World Trademark Review/IAM was very eager to 'report' (and yes, it's an incredible puff piece or marketing). The summary says: "Christian Archambeau sat down with journalists earlier today in what was his first press briefing since he became executive director of the EUIPO. In a wide-ranging discussion, he revealed various plans that the office has in the works."

IAM aren't "journalists"; they're paid by the very same institutions they cover, e.g. EPO. Sadly, EUIPO is quickly becoming the same thing EPO was about 5 years ago, owing to nepotism and corruption (the head of the EUIPO came from EPO and head of EPO came from EUIPO; sometimes known as "cross-pollination").

"New study looks at relationship between SMEs, growth and use of Intellectual Property Rights," says the summary of this EPO "news" (warning: epo.org link), promoted in Twitter under the title "Joint EPO-EUIPO study finds strong link between growth of SMEs and their use of IP" [sic] (mixing two totally different things, patents and trademarks).

"Campinos brought Battistelli back to the EPO. Just less than a year after he had left."Can one even tell the difference between those two anymore? Except one being EU-tied and the other predating the EU?

What has Campinos brought to the EPO? Nothing. A delusion or a false hope of change.

Have a look at Barney Dixon's article, which was cited by SUEPO this week. The author rightly notes that it took Campinos 'only' a year to merely speak about MoU with SUEPO chiefs (it took him 5 months to merely face them) and staff representatives remain punished after union-busting activities. From the article:

The Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) met with the office’s president, António Campinos, last Thursday (16 May) to discuss a framework for a memorandum of understanding between the office and SUEPO.

While details from the meeting have not yet emerged, in an open letter ahead of the meeting, SUEPO said it was not prepared to prioritise a discussion on a memorandum of understanding over the issue of the unlawful sanctions against European Patent Office (EPO) staff.

It said that these negotiations could only go hand in hand with progress achieved in the other topics, including the settlement of sanctions.

SUEPO claims that, despite many statements from Campinos outlining his intention to restore social dialogue at the office, it was only in December, five months after he took office, that he first met with SUEPO Central.

The union also claims that Campinos failed to organise a follow-up meeting in January 2019.

SUEPO is the largest union at the EPO, representing more than half of staff office-wide.

[...]

It was carried out in order to establish a baseline to measure progress as the new EPO strategy is rolled out from summer 2019 onwards; give EPO staff a chance to have their say at an important time for the office and compare results with relevant external benchmarks.

The EPO’s Central Staff Committee said the results are “neither a surprise nor a statistical anomaly … Instead, they are a dangerous continuation of a long-standing trend, that of a sinking ship.”


So the EPO is still going down the drain, based on the employees of the EPO. Notice this new comment responding to this: “It also shows the responsibility of the Administrative Council. They simply cannot trust anything even the new President, Campinos, puts on the table.”

The response: "Does that mean that they will be employing food-tasters at the upcoming Inventor of the Year Sommerfest in Vienna?"

"They're hijacked by few corrupt individuals who assign (gift) top posts to friends and colleagues, not people best qualified for the job; they become exceedingly rich at the expense of Europe and if the institutions collapse in the process, so be it (the way they see it)."Remember that they've added Battistelli as a jurist. On technical matters (Battistelli has no background in science). Campinos brought Battistelli back to the EPO. Just less than a year after he had left.

Here's another new comment: "The Office issued a new financial study. Märpel should try to get it. The study concludes that the EPO equity will be negative, but omits all planned fee increases while keeping regular increases in costs. Hence, it seems that Campinos, just like Battistelli, will not hesitate to publish bogus studies to serve his plans."

These institutions are victims of corruption at the higher/highest level. They're hijacked by few corrupt individuals who assign (gift) top posts to friends and colleagues, not people best qualified for the job; they become exceedingly rich at the expense of Europe and if the institutions collapse in the process, so be it (the way they see it).

Recent Techrights' Posts

As Prices Soar and Services Shut Down (Even YouTube Starts Demanding Money for the Original or a Tolerable Experience) It's Time to Explore the Real Alternatives
https://inv.nadeko.net is the most viable instance of Invidious these days
Justice Will Find Its Way at the End
We deserve an award, not SLAPP, for what we've done
March Already, Rumours of IBM Layoffs in Brazil
Red Hat might be impacted too
 
Getting Serial Sloppers to Knock the Habit of Plagiarism by LLM Slop
All in all, the fewer the slop objects, the better
Gemini Links 01/03/2025: Amends and GNU/Linux
Links for the day
Links 01/03/2025: Scam Altman's Latest Excuse, Google Price Hikes
Links for the day
Links 01/03/2025: Squashing Software Patents, USPTO Facing Additional Cuts
Links for the day
Links 01/03/2025: UNM Gopher and Getting One's Pages on gemini://
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 28, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 28, 2025
Links 28/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Autodesk, Employee Burnout, and Measles in Texas
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/02/2025: offpunk, Lagrange, and More
Links for the day
When the Business Goal is to Protect the Image of Criminals From the Mainstream Media or Free/Independent Press (at Any Cost)
What ever happened to the concept of "ethics" in this "legal" occupation?
Skype is Dead, Microsoft Shuts It Down in a Few Months (for Good)
Many billions down the drain
It Has Been Over a Year Since Takedown Demands From Brett Wilson LLP, Nothing Has Been Taken Down
It backfired on the Serial Defamer
Links 28/02/2025: Domestic Violence Fatalities, Escalations Again Near Taiwan
Links for the day
IBM is Trading Employees for Revenue Acquired by Buying Companies and Growing the Debt
IBM's financial plan is corporate bulimia
[Video] Full Video of Richard Stallman's Talk Earlier This Month in Italy (Nexa, Turin)
We have a collection of them
Gemini Links 28/02/2025: Spring, cgi and inetd, Gemini Protocol FAQ
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 27, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 27, 2025
What the LLM Scrapers Are Doing to Tux Machines
So far today it looks like we'll have served about 1.5 million requests at midnight. That's more than 50,000 per hour or 1,000 per minute.
Netcraft's New Web Server Survey Shows Microsoft Down in Every Category
That Microsoft is still visible in
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Garbage and Fake 'Articles' About GNU and Linux, Courtesy of Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms
Today there is a frustrating amount of FUD online that wasn't published by humans but instead generated by LLMs
Links 27/02/2025: Google Clown Computing Layoffs and Slack Goes Down as Usual
Links for the day
Links 27/02/2025: The Engagement Rehab and Another New Zine
Links for the day
Links 27/02/2025: Microsoft Trying Ads as Sales Fall, Preserving Data From Social Control Media a Real Problem
Links for the day
Hiding Crimes Against Women (i.e. Reputation Laundering) by Misusing Inapplicable Privacy Laws From Another Continent
As it turns out, "privacy" does not cover hiding illegal activities and if public information exists to prove these illegal activities, then it's perfectly OK to share it
Zurich CEO suicide, Martin Senn proximity to Adrian and Diana von Bidder-Senn, Debian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Debian, CentOS, RHEL source code demise now linked, accelerated after invalid trademark judgment
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Civil Society Should Demand Removal of People Who Sought Removal of Richard Stallman
Perhaps it's noteworthy that the FSF is now being attacked (again)
RTO for You, But Not for Me: How IBM's Managers Try to Disguise Layoffs as "Resignations" or "Retirements"
What ever happened to corporate ethics?
Links 27/02/2025: Conflict Updates, Hacks Caught Red-Handed Misusing Licence to Exercise Law to Submit LLM Slop to Courts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/02/2025: Fuzzy Frontiers and New Arrivals at Geminispace
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 26, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 26, 2025