Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO 2020 Vision: Billions for Gambling, No Money for Masks (for Staff's Safety)

Who needs protective gear anyway?

EPO mask



Summary: SUEPO highlights another way in which EPO management, which enjoys diplomatic immunity, in effect ignores critical guidelines that ensure safety of staff

THE management of the European Patent Office (EPO) has been horrific for at least one decade. Grossly incompetent and corrupt. Longtime readers would already be aware that our sole criticism of President Brimelow was her stance on software patents in Europe (the "as such" episode in particular).



"This sort of nihilism and overconfidence might be expected from Donald Trump; has Trumpism spread to Bavaria?"Now that the EPO is run by crooked officials like António Campinos and Benoît Battistelli (they were crooked even before joining the EPO) should we be shocked that their management skills are appalling and their management colleagues (i.e. their mates whom they gave top jobs) cannot get the very basics right? As SUEPO explained earlier this month (along with the above image):

Masking incompetence?

EPO management demands that staff wear a mask when in the EPO premises since 18 May. We would have expected that, of course, the administration would provide masks to all colleagues and visitors entering the premises without one. It is obviously not an important financial burden for EPO staff, but it is even less so for the Office. Above all, it would have shown that management really cares about staff health and is not reluctant to spend a few Euros per employee per week if it contributes to keep the EPO’s workforce in good health. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Staff must bring their own mask, as stated in the mandatory (!) e-learning module, which VP4 asked all staff to follow in her mass email of 26 May.

We are well aware that this issue is far from being the most significant in the covid-19 episode at the Office. It is sadly just another symptom of our administration’s petty state of mind. One cannot help wondering in whose brain such an “idea” might have sprouted, when any half-competent HR manager should have reminded top management the obvious, i.e. that it is the Office’s responsibility to ensure the health of staff on its premises.

If our administration was not in a position to do the right thing on its own, they might have been able to check how the matter was dealt with in the EPO’s host states.

In Germany the Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales explains: “Zwei klare Grundsätze gelten: Unabhängig vom Betrieblichen Maßnahmenkonzept sollen in Zweifelsfällen, bei denen der Mindestabstand nicht sicher eingehalten werden kann, Mund-Nasen-Bedeckungen zur Verfügung gestellt und getragen werden. [...]“ (emphasis added)

In The Netherlands the following applies: “Voor medewerkers die een mondkapje moeten dragen en gebruiken in hun werk, zoals medewerkers in het openbaar vervoer, maakt de werkgever afspraken om hierin te voorzien.” which can be translated in English into “For employees who have to wear and use a mouth shield in their work, such as employees on public transport, the employer makes arrangements to provide for this.” (emphasis added)

We let the reader draw their own conclusion.


The above text was sent to us not by one but several readers, who are personally impacted by these terrible EPO policies. Is the EPO eager to just sicken its very own staff? This sort of nihilism and overconfidence might be expected from Donald Trump; has Trumpism spread to Bavaria?

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
 
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles
Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games
Links for the day
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol