Series index:

1. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 1: How the Bundestag Was (and Continues to be) Misled About EPO Affairs
2. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 2: Lack of Parliamentary Oversight, Many Questions and Few Answers…
3. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 3: A “Minor Interpellation” in the German Bundestag
4. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 4: Parroting the GDPR-Compliance Myth
5. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 5: The Federal Eagle's Disconcerting Metamorphosis
6. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 6: Dr Petri Starts the Ball Rolling…
7. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 7: Ms Voßhoff Alerts the Bundestag…
8. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 8: The EPO's Tweedledum, Raimund Lutz
9. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 9: A Veritable Virtuoso of Legal Sophistry
10. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 10: A Faithful Lapdog Despised and Reviled by EPO Staff
11. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag — Appendix (Benoît Battistelli's Vichy Syndrome): Georges Henri Léon Battistelli and Charles Robert Battistelli
12. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 11: The BMJV's Tweedledee: Dr Christoph Ernst
13. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 12: A Worthy Successor to His Mentor?
14. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 13: The Failed Promise of a “Good Governance” Guru…
15. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 14: The Notorious Revolving Door
16. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 15: Different Strokes for Different Folks
17. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 16: An Inimitable Duo
18. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 17: Jawohl, Herr Minister!
19. You are here ☞ Zero Tolerance for “Lawless Zones”?

Heiko Maas as guest of honour at the 2014 EPO Inventor of the Year Boondoggle in Berlin.

Summary: "It comes as no surprise that Maas appeared as a guest of honour at the European Inventor of the Year Boondoggle in Berlin in 2014 where he was seen on stage clapping along with the EPO President."

During his stint as Federal Minister for Justice (December 2013 to March 2018), Heiko Maas was fond of spouting slogans about the need for zero-tolerance for "lawless zones" ("rechtsfreie Räume"), for example in debates about FIFA abuses or discussions about the need to tackle Internet "hate speech".

"The overriding concern of Maas in relation to the EPO appears to have been to ensure that nothing happened which might interfere with the cash flow generated by the EPO for its contracting states in the form of national renewal fees on EPO-granted patents."He was also fond of enjoining his fellow citizens to "get up off the sofa and speak up" and not to "duck away" from confronting xenophobic political extremism.

But when it came to the EPO, it seems that Maas was more than willing to turn a blind eye to what numerous commentators have called "the last dictatorship on German soil".

Heiko Maas: Zero tolerance for "lawless zones" – except in the case of the EPO!

The Justice Minister was evidently unperturbed by the vicious and cynical excesses of Battistelli's managerialist "reign of terror" à la France Telecom.

In this case Maas was quite happy to remain comfortably seated on his own ministerial sofa and to "duck away" from his responsibility to tackle the rogue international organisation with offices located on German territory in Munich and Berlin.

The Minister's priority appears to have been to ensure that nothing interfered with the lucrative cash flow generated by EPO-granted patents.

The overriding concern of Maas in relation to the EPO appears to have been to ensure that nothing happened which might interfere with the cash flow generated by the EPO for its contracting states in the form of national renewal fees on EPO-granted patents.

It is recalled that the German slice of this "cake" in 2021 is estimated at around EUR 211 million.

"It comes as no surprise that Maas appeared as a guest of honour at the European Inventor of the Year Boondoggle in Berlin in 2014 where he was seen on stage clapping along with the EPO President."In the German media Maas was often portrayed as an arrogant and venal character. He gives the impression of being the type of self-preening politico who would have been all too susceptible to the blandishments of the oleaginous Battistelli.

It comes as no surprise that Maas appeared as a guest of honour at the European Inventor of the Year Boondoggle in Berlin in 2014 where he was seen on stage clapping along with the EPO President.

Heiko Maas clapping along with Battistelli at the 2014 EPO Inventor of the Year Boondoggle in Berlin.

In the next part we will look at how the de facto media blackout concerning EPO affairs in Germany aided and abetted the Justice Minister in the evasion of his responsibilities in relation to EPO affairs. ⬆