THE more we speak to readers (and we often don't quote them because it can give away their identities), the more we realise that leadership at the European Patent Office (EPO) is full of sociopaths. People are rewarded not for their skills or their compassion but for compatibility with sociopaths who already occupy top positions at the Office. Nothing illustrates this better than ENA graduate Battistelli and his friend Campinos, who is incapable of empathy but perfectly capable of emulating it (story-telling and PR).