Bonum Certa Men Certa

This Week We Shall See If the EPO's Administrative Council, Led by Josef Kratochvil, is Complicit in a Financial Scam

Europe's second-largest institution is in peril as long as nobody wants to end the corruption (either due to fear or because of personal gain)

Whose servant? Now servant of the person he was supposed to supervise
Reference: Josef Kratochvíl



Summary: The administered-by-the-Office 'Administrative' Council is having a webchat this week while EPO staff is on strike; it remains to be seen if it's merely complicit in the financial scams run by the Office, e.g. Salary Adjustment [sic] Procedure (SAP) and EPOTIF (looting EPO workers for gambling purposes or personal gain by managers and former managers)

"The new Salary Adjustment Procedure (SAP) will already lead in the first year of its implementation to a massive, irreversible salary cut," the staff representatives of the EPO wrote this morning, then citing selective bits of the letter below, sent 4 days ago to heads of delegations, who now assemble virtually for the Administrative Council's meeting, 'attended' virtually by António Campinos and 'in spirit' by his boss, Benoît Battistelli.



Josef KratochvilThe representatives ask: "Will the AC delegations accept being further misguided?"

"...as per a recent survey, a round total of 0% (yes, zero) of staff trusts the Council."That's putting it politely as we've long suspected some of them were complicit and several stakeholders in member states were personally benefiting -- financially or otherwise -- from participation in this financial scam/fraud.

Here's the full letter, which cites for backing the Association of the European Patent Office Pensioners (mostly retired examiners):

Reference: sc20186cl – 0.3.1/1.3.1/4.2.2 Date: 11.12.2020

To the Chairman and The Heads of Delegation of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation

OPEN LETTER

New Salary Adjustment Procedure: need for action

Dear Mr Chairman, Dear Heads of Delegation,

Staff have already had an eye-opening moment with the new Salary Adjustment Procedure (SAP), which now materialises with CA/66/20. It will already lead in the first year of its implementation to a massive, irreversible salary cut. At the same time, the Office is announcing a massive yearly surplus and massive increases in the Office funds (RFPSS and EPOTIF). Reality is disproving the dystopian assumptions and forecasts that resulted in financial measures unnecessarily imposed on staff.

The Staff Committees have organised virtual general assemblies, virtual floor meetings and mail actions where staff expressed their anger. On 15 December staff will have a symbolic one-day strike (“Enough is Enough”).

The implementation of the SAP in its first year exposes the illegality of decision CA/D 4/20 and the failures of the Office management1, who is still attempting to mislead staff and other stakeholders.

The question now arises. Will the delegations accept being further misguided and persist in a course which ultimately puts the sense of belonging to a common organisation at risk?

____ 1 See also the letter sent by the Association of the European Patent Office Pensioners on 8 December 2020 (annexed). Active staff are future pensioners.




It is high time that the delegations open their eyes and exercise their supervisory role.

Yours sincerely,

Alain Dumont Chairman of the Central Staff Committee

Annex: Comments by the Association of EPO Pensioners on CA/66/20




Vereinigung der Pensionäre des Europäischen Patentamts Association of the European Patent Office Pensioners Association des pensionnés de l’Office européen des brevets Vereniging van de gepensioneerden van het Europees Octrooibureau

Der Vorsitzende The Chairman Le Président De Voorzitter

Curt Edfjäll curtedfjaell@googlemail.com

8th December 2020

For the attention of: ● Mr Josef Kratochvil, Chairman of the Administrative Council ● Heads and Deputies of Members States Delegations on the Administrative Council Copy to: ● Mr Antonio Campinos, President of the EPO ● EPO Central Staff Committee ● Council Secretariat ● Board of EPO Pensioners Association.

Dear Mr Kratochvil, Dear Heads and Deputies of Member States Delegations on the Administrative Council,

Subject: Comments by the Association of EPO Pensioners on CA/66/20, “Adjustment with effect from 1 January 2021 of salaries... and of pensions paid by the Office.”

With CA/D4/20 the Administrative Council approved the new methodology for adjustment of salaries and pensions. Article 10 of CA/D4/20 reads: ”Any positive adjustment resulting from the application of Article 9 and carried forward after three annual salary adjustments will be paid out to employees as a lump sum in proportion to the basic salaries and allowances they received over the three-year period.”

With document CA/66/20 the Office is now presenting the results of the implementation of the methodology from the decision of CA/D4/20. The Association has only recently been made aware of the existence of CA/66/20 and of the negative and unequal effects it will have on pensioners in comparison to active staff.

In point 24 of CA/66/20, the Office presents the excess adjustment not applied in January 2021 for the four countries in which the Office employs staff. CA/66/20 does not specify which excess adjustments have not been applied in countries where EPO pensioners use the salary scale of the country in which they are resident. CA/66/20 states that the remaining balance is carried forward to a redistribution pool which will be used in next year’s adjustment and for a potential one-off payment after 3 years of application of the salary methodology.

Pensioners Association Comments on CA/66/20 Page 1 of 2




The Association has on several occasions asked the Office for explanations as to how the redistribution pool works for pensioners. Only by mail to the Chairman of the Association dated 7 December 2020 did the Office clarify that although the mechanism of excess adjustment is applied to pensioners, the lump sum will not be paid out to pensioners at the end of the 3-year period. I quote from the mail from VP4: “Any remainder of the carried forward adjustment will be paid as a lump sum only to employees in return for their active contribution to the Office’s success in these difficult times.” I wish to recall that today’s pensioners have all also contributed to the success of the EPO and should therefore not be treated unequally to active staff.

VP4 further states: “the principle of equal treatment has been respected.” It is evident that this is not correct. By not according any payment from the redistribution pool to pensioners, there is no equal treatment.

It is thus clear from the Office’s statement above that the Office intends to use the redistribution pool as a kind of bonus payment for active staff, which was certainly not the intention behind the new methodology. However, any money in the redistribution pool resulting from the excess adjustment applied to pension payments will not paid out to pensioners although this money has been taken from their pension payments.

EPC Article 33(2)c states: “The Administrative Council shall be competent to adopt or amend the Pensions Scheme Regulations and any appropriate increases in existing pensions to correspond to increase in salaries.”

The proposal to implement the new methodology so that pensioners do not benefit from the payment of a lump sum at the end of the 3-year period is thus in contradiction to the EPC itself and constitutes an unequal treatment of pensioners compared to active staff.

The Association assumes that the Administrative Council was also not aware of the way the Office intends to apply Article 10 of CA/D4/20 and its negative effects on pensioners.

The Association therefore respectfully requests the Administrative Council to instruct the Office to apply EPC Article 33(2)c correctly so that also pensioners will be given treatment equal to that applied to active staff such that the pensioners will also benefit from a lump sum payment.

Curt Edfjäll Chairman of the EPO Pensioners’ Association

Pensioners Association Comments on CA/66/20 Page 2 of 2


The likely correct perception that the Council is complicit in it all (seeing the current role of Ernst and previous role of Kongstad, before he was removed for scandals) means that, as per a recent survey, a round total of 0% (yes, zero) of staff trusts the Council. It's seen as a big part of the problem, incapable of correcting it (because it is unwilling to).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
 
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: Books and Cold Tea
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: More Layoffs, Nokia Again Takes Advantage of Illegal and Unconstitutional Patent Court With Nokia Staff as 'Judges'
Links for the day
Links 02/04/2025: Seizures and Returns to Windows of 24 Years Ago
Links for the day
LLM Slop Helps Obscure and Distort News About Layoffs (IBM, GAFAM)
It's hard to find accurate information
Links 02/04/2025: Microsoft Developers Are Threatening to Go on Strike, World Backup Day Noted
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Has Growing Appeal (the Web Got Too Bloated and Full of LLM Slop)
For any "data plan" with bandwidth limits or "tiers" it would be cheaper to use/browse Geminispace
The Web Can Survive LLM Slop, But Only If We Collectively Shun and Discourage Serial Sloppers
Doing nothing ought not be a possibility
Amid Secret Shut-downs and Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (4 Waves of Layoffs in 3 Months of 2025) Some Microsoft Staff Expected to Go On Strike
workers going on strike
Gemini Links 02/04/2025: No more on Mastodon and Gemini Mention Script in Go
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 01, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 01, 2025
My Motion Disbarring or “Striking Off” Brett Wilson LLP for Enabling Violent Americans Who Try to Crush Microsoft Critics in the United Kingdom by Multiple SLAPPs
"Guns for hire" (for Microsoft people who received Microsoft salaries)
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Hijacked Again by Patent Litigation Industry, as President Cheeto Prioritises Aggressors
The "mafia" has taken over the "industry" and the Federal system (justice and constitutions trampled upon)
Ubuntu Slop and FUD Manufactured With LLMs and Funded (by Oneself) 'Studies'
Slop and FUD are ruining the Web
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: Games and More
Links for the day
Links 01/04/2025: Apple Fined $162M for Privacy Abuses, Disinformation Online a Growing Concern
Links for the day
Why We're Reporting Brett Wilson LLP for Apparently Misusing Their Licence to Protect American Microsofters Who Attack Women
For those who have not been keeping abreast
Newer Press Reports Confirm That Microsoft Shuts Down 'Hey Hi' (AI) Labs Despite All the Hype
The "hey hi" (AI) bubble is not sustainable
Links 01/04/2025: Mass Layoffs at Eidos and "Microsoft Pulls Back on Data Centers" (Demand Lacking); "Racist and Sexist" Slop From Microsoft
Links for the day
Stefano Maffulli and His Microsoft-Funded OSI Staff Are Killing the OSI and Killing "Open Source" (All for Money!)
This is far from over
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: XKCDpunk and worldclock.py
Links for the day
50 Years of Sabotage and a Gut Punch to Computer Science (and Science in General)
Will we get back to science-based computing rather than cult-like following?
Techrights Headlines as Semaphore
"If you are hearing this, thank you"
3 Months in 2025, 4 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft, Now Offices Shut Down Permanently
"A recent visit by the South China Morning Post confirmed that the office was dark, unoccupied, and had its logo removed."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 31, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 31, 2025