Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Staff Representation Again Warns About Collapse in Patent Quality (Due to Bad Management), Suggests Potential Improvements

Fish bowl



Summary: The Central Staff Committee (CSC) of the EPO shares findings about a pilot programme that attempts to correct or reverse an otherwise-worrying trend of declines in European Patent quality, noting that "negative impact on quality was soon observed, resulting in numerous WIPO complaints."

THE past few years saw several attempts to warn EPO management (clueless politicians, not technical people) that patent quality had fallen. Both Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos basically responded by attacking the messengers (e.g. in 2019 under Campinos). At the same time they rebranded illegal patents (such as European software patents) using a bunch of meaningless buzzwords, boosted in part by UN/WIPO. They awarded loads of patents that should have been rejected; and had proper procedures been put in place, the applications wouldn't have arrived either. They basically invite a whole lot of junk applications; many will be erroneously granted, causing potential legal mayhem and harming the European economy.



"They basically invite a whole lot of junk applications; many will be erroneously granted, causing potential legal mayhem and harming the European economy."The Central Staff Committee of the EPO has circulated the following paper, which is dated last Friday. "The 2018 reorganisation de-centralised tasks into small teams and demanded that Formalities Officers (FOs) diversify in several procedures," it noted. "This structure created an artificial situation of understaffing in many FO teams. Many colleagues suffered from demotivation and reported higher stress levels. The current pilot project on centralisation of international phase procedures is an initiative that can improve this situation."

"The feedback received so far is very promising," they said, for a change. "A proper evaluation of the outcome of the pilot project together with a transparent timeline and proper planning is a must. This paper gives a first overview of the perception of FOs."

Remember that this is just a pilot, this isn't what's generally happening in the whole Office.

Here's the full publication:

Zentraler Personalausschuss Central Staff Committee Le Comité Central du Personnel

Munich, 19.03.2021 sc21037cp 0.2.1/1.2.1

Centralisation of the Receiving Office (RO) and PCT Chapter II demands
Perceptions of colleagues in the pilot project



In November 2020 a pilot project to centralize the Receiving Office (RO) and PCT Chapter II (for Forms PCT/IPEA/401) was launched.

Before 2018, RO and the PCT Chapter II demands were centralized in The Hague. Many Formalities Officers (FO) working on these procedures considered this to be beneficial for their work. They predicted that there would be a possible loss in quality if the procedures were to be distributed among a large group of (partly newly trained) colleagues in all directorates and all places of employment.

Senior management ignored these warnings and changed the set-up in 2018 so that procedures were indeed decentralized. However, the negative impact on quality was soon observed, resulting in numerous WIPO complaints. One of the objectives of the centralisation pilot project has been to restore quality in the PCT procedures.

Your Staff Representation has now conducted a first survey amongst the participants of this pilot to find out how they assess the new framework under test and to see in particular its impact on quality.

At present, the pilot project includes participants in Munich and The Hague who dedicate from 20% up to 100% of their working time to centralisation. We received feedback from both Team Managers and FOs.

Setup of pilot/enrolment At the start of the pilot project, the first colleagues who applied described a cumbersome enrolment process, with last-minute changes and with candidates being put on hold. It was perceived as disorganised, with candidates being asked to take ad hoc decisions.

Knowledge consolidation Working in a pool with experienced colleagues is seen as very beneficial, allowing harmonisation. The exchange of feedback and knowledge, team cooperation and shared




experiences are valued positively. Less experienced participants see the need for additional training and for regular exchange with the experts.

Job satisfaction Participating in the pilot project contributes positively to job satisfaction. In general, colleagues are able to combine well their pilot work with their work in the directorate and they enjoy the diversification of tasks. The possibility to deepen their procedural knowledge within the pilot is also appreciated.

Colleagues working mostly 100% in the pilot report a major improvement of their wellbeing at work. They feel more comfortable and appreciated in a structure where they can focus on their procedure of expertise.

For these colleagues, the demand for diversification in the FO teams gave a feeling of loss of confidence at work and they would rather not go back to this structure.

Some colleagues report struggling to balance their work between the pilot project and the directorate.

Work distribution Prior to the pilot project, many FOs were working on RO and PCT Chapter II procedures in the directorates but the number of incoming files varied greatly per FO team. Participants to the pilot report that work distribution was inefficient and created stress among staff, which had a negative impact on quality and wellbeing.

Some colleagues were overloaded with work while others did not have enough files to build and keep up knowledge. In the pilot project, work distribution is better balanced with a reduced team of FOs dedicated to only one procedure. Within a centralized structure, balancing for leave and absences is also easier than in small FO teams with multiple procedures to cover.

Quality The feedback received is promising. The latest quality circle reveals a clear improvement in quality for these procedures. The contact people from WIPO also found it favourable to interact with a smaller team of well-trained interlocutors from the EPO.

Recommendations from participants Despite the overall positive feedback, there are still some open points and room for improvement as identified by the colleagues.These concerns have already been shared with the pilot team managers:

● Reporting criteria for colleagues working for two teams needs to be clarified. No disadvantage should arise from the new way of working. ● In view of the positive aspects of a centralized structure, some participants were wondering whether a mutual sector mailbox could also be created for the Receiving Section. Recognition of the role of experts should be re-considered (as was the case




before with the LPS). FOs appreciate and value the support provided by (senior) experts. ● Collaboration and harmonization between sectors/clusters need to be fostered. For the time being, the atmosphere is still described as competitive. ● Transparency is a must for such a pilot project. Participants are unsure about the next steps. The project has been extended until further notice. Early communication whether the project will move to a steady state is requested. A constant switch between centralisation and decentralisation of procedures should be avoided in future.

Conclusion In recent years the work of FOs has been subject to numerous changes, in the teams structure as well as in the workflow and tools. The 2018 reorganisation, which de-centralised tasks into small teams, demanded that FOs diversify in several procedures. This structure created an artificial situation of understaffing in many FO teams. Many colleagues suffered from demotivation and reported higher stress levels. The current pilot project on centralisation of international phase procedures is an initiative that can improve this situation.

Feedback so far received is very promising. A proper evaluation of the outcome of the pilot project together with a transparent timeline and proper planning is a must.

As to creating a proper framework for FOs in general, it is important that management finds a long-term strategy and acknowledges that the expertise and work of FOs contributes as much to the quality of the end-product as does the work of examiners.

A reliable structure for knowledge transfer and succession planning for procedure experts will ensure that quality is maintained and it might offer new career prospects to FOs.

The Central Staff Committee

Useful links about the vacancies: ● http://my.internal.epo.org/portal/private/epo/work/jobmarket/?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/epo/intranet/work/jobmarket/vacant_positions/2020/1594312877350_formalities_officers_in_ocfd_the_hague_or_munich_ ● https://epotv.internal.epo.org/portal/recording/0394aad4-d9b8-4e00-95eb-facad59a9c7f


For the time being it remains to be seen what will happen with this pilot. We already saw some highly notorious pilots that reduced patent quality.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
 
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October