Bonum Certa Men Certa

Virtual Injustice -- Part 8: A Well-Connected 'IP' Maximalist

Previously in the series:

  1. Virtual Injustice -- Part 1: António's Increasingly Wonky Legal Fudge Factory
  2. Virtual Injustice -- Part 2: The ViCo Oral Proceedings of 28 May 2021
  3. Virtual Injustice -- Part 3: All the President's Men…
  4. Virtual Injustice -- Part 4: Mihály Ficsor, the EPO's Hungarian “Fixer”
  5. Virtual Injustice -- Part 5: Benoît's “Friends” in Budapest
  6. Virtual Injustice -- Part 6: Best Buddies With António
  7. Virtual Injustice -- Part 7: Musical Chairs and Revolving Doors


swpats-rms
Ad hominem attack on RMS [PPT] by Mihály Ficsor at a WIPO seminar held in Romania in 2010.



Summary: The EPO's lobbying for European software patents goes all the way to the top, including António Campinos and his circle

Looking back at Ficsor's career since he left the HIPO in 2016, it seems fair to say that he has become a "job-hopper".



But all things considered he hasn't done too badly for himself so far.

As a matter of fact, in recent years he has managed to secure two well-remunerated public sector jobs: first of all at the EUIPO in March 2017 and subsequently at the EPO in March 2020.

Who says that a rolling stone gathers no moss?

"Ficsor's job-hopping adventures have undoubtedly been facilitated by his close connections with António Campinos."Of course it helps to have the right connections.

Ficsor's job-hopping adventures have undoubtedly been facilitated by his close connections with António Campinos.

As we have seen these connections go back to the days when Ficsor chaired the Administrative Board of the EU trademark agency OHIM/EUIPO between 2011 and 2016, at the same time that Campinos headed the agency.

Ficsor's latest position at the EPO falls short of the "gold medal" typically dished out to former Administrative Council members in the form of a Vice-President sinecure.

One possible explanation here is the question of political support from the candidate's home country which is normally required for an appointment as a Vice-President. Ficsor may have lacked this support if – as has been speculated – he fell out of favour with the Orban government in Hungary.

In any case, by March 2020, Campinos had already dished out all of the available Vice-President vacancies to his buddies, so Ficsor had to make do with the "consolation prize" of a Principal Director's position.

"In any case, by March 2020, Campinos had already dished out all of the available Vice-President vacancies to his buddies, so Ficsor had to make do with the "consolation prize" of a Principal Director's position."In contrast to Vice-Presidents whose appointments require political support and have to be approved by the Administrative Council, EPO Principal Directors can easily be slipped in "via the back-door" because all their appointment requires is the approval of the EPO President, in this case Ficsor's old buddy Campinos.

Even if he didn't make the top grade as Vice-President, Mihály is unlikely to complain about his EPO appointment and the level of remuneration which he currently enjoys.

OECD statistics indicate that salaries in Hungary are far below the OECD average. In the public sector, high-end salaries are reported to be around HUF 855.000 per month which is approximately EUR 2.500 Euro at current conversion rates.

Based on those figures, Ficsor's tax-free salary as a senior manager at the EPO is estimated to be a multiple of somewhere between eight and ten times of his take-home pay as a top-ranking official back home in Hungary.

Apart from that, it shouldn't be forgotten that he is still young enough to make a bid for a Vice-President position when his current boss Christoph Ernst – who is approaching 70 – finally retires.

Ernst-Requena-Duo
Ficsor's EPO "handlers": Gilles Requena and Vice-President Christoph Ernst.



Ficsor clearly knows what side his bread is buttered on. He is a "safe pair of hands" who can be counted on to do the bidding of his "handlers", Vice-President Christoph Ernst and Chief International and Legal Officer, Gilles Requena.

Before wrapping up, it is worth drawing attention to a point which should be of interest to readers of Techrights.

"Based on those figures, Ficsor's tax-free salary as a senior manager at the EPO is estimated to be a multiple of somewhere between eight and ten times of his take-home pay as a top-ranking official back home in Hungary."Ficsor is reputed to be an IP maximalist and the public record confirms that he has been an enthusiastic and vociferous advocate of "software patents" in the past.

Back in 2010 he was a guest speaker at a "Sub-regional Seminar on the Protection of Computer Software and Databases" which took place in Mangalia, Romania, from 25 ro 27 August. The seminar was organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Romanian Copyright Office (ORDA), and the Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (OSIM).

In his capacity as chairman of the Central and Eastern European Copyright Alliance (CEECA), delivered a lecture on "The International Intellectual Property Protection of Software".

pirate-slide
In a lecture delivered in 2010, Ficsor did his best to misrepresent and ridicule critics of "software patents".



The slides from this lecture which can be accessed via the WIPO's official website reveal that on that occasion Ficsor did his best to misrepresent and ridicule critics of "software patents". In particular, he indulged in a cynical ad hominem attack on Richard Stallman.

"In particular, he indulged in a cynical ad hominem attack on Richard Stallman."It's safe to say that Mihály Zoltán Ficsor is a worthy addition to Team Campinos and that he seems to be well-qualified to act as an overseer of the operations of António's legal fudge factory.

In the next part we will take a look at Ficsor's assistant in case no. G 1/21, the EPO's Nordic Ice-Queen, Heli Pihlajamaa.

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM Layoffs in 2025: Rumours Say Even Managers Will Get the Axe, Some Via Loopholes Like PIP and/or RTO (Preparations Already Underway)
Where does IBM's money go?
FOSDEM Talks Are Vanishing
They no longer seem to be taking money from Microsoft and/or its tentacles
How "Open Source" Became Microsoft (But It's Actually Proprietary, OSI is an Openwashing Front Group Now)
They're still trying to rewrite history, but it's harder when Richard Stallman (RMS) is alive
 
Richard Stallman Gives Keynote Address in a Few Hours
Richard Stallman's personal site was updated to give more details
Microsoft Relegated by Manchester United
No Microsoft
Slashdot is Once Again Publishing Lies and Revisionism for Bill Gates, Citing Microsoft's MSN to Rewrite History and Distract From the Jeffrey Epstein Crimes
Of course this also distracts
Gemini Links 27/01/2025: Mental Locomotion, Gemini Protocol Bots From China, and Domain-Specific Languages
Links for the day
Microsoft Still Hires Journalists to Reward Them (Belated Payment) for Microsoft Propaganda
The PR/lying pipeline
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, January 26, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, January 26, 2025
Links 26/01/2025: Privacy Breaches and Growing Nationalism
Links for the day
The UK's Press Gazette Has No Credibility Anymore, It Celebrates Plagiarism and Cheap Misinformation (This Ruins Linux Sites Too)
They encourage a form of plagiarism and that even ruins "Linux" sites
Journalistic Malpractice Helps Bill Gates Cover Up His Marriage Collapsing Because of His Very Deep Ties to Jeffrey Epstein (and It's Melinda Who Dumped Him, Divorce Proceedings Started by Her in 2019)
you can alter narratives and perceptions worldwide
The Linux Foundation's Certificate Authority (CA) Let's Encrypt Hits New Lows in Geminispace
13 known capsules still use it
Links 26/01/2025: Chatbot Woes and UnitedHealth Data Breach (Windows TCO)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/01/2025: The Postman and More
Links for the day
Links 26/01/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) Turns to Hype/Pyramid Scheme, Insurers Failed to Comply With Federal Law
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 25, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, January 25, 2025
Gemini Links 25/01/2025: Plaintext Weblog Posts and Software Development
Links for the day
More Details Emerge About Upcoming Long-Rumoured Layoffs at IBM
Without leadership there's no coordination
Links 25/01/2025: Microsoft Chaffbot Offline and Advocacy/Dissent in China Muzzled
Links for the day
Frequent Flyers of the 'Lolita Express' (Where Screwing Underage Girls is Big Business)
In the words of Bill's wife and mother of his 3 children
Microsoft-Sponsored Inauguration as a Reminder to Boycott Microsoft
If you do not support what's happening politically right now in the US, then stop giving money (or anything else) to Microsoft
Fund-Raising for Initiative Introducing Teens to Free Software Instead of Junk Like Bytedance's TikTok
A crowdfunding campaign coming soon
Bringing Down or Taking Down an Innocent Man is Difficult
One positive thing about all this is that we've come to witness (and meticulously document) how social control media works for the mob
Plagiarism at LinuxSecurity.com, Piggybacking Other People's Hard Work and Googlebombing "Linux"
They are googlebombing Google, and worse yet, they leverage bots to do this
Gemini Links 25/01/2025: Pictographs, Non-voters, and Frustrations
Links for the day
Links 25/01/2025: Microsoft Already Shutting Down Its UK "Experience Centre", "AI Deal" Linked to Atrocities
Links for the day
Red Hat is Required to Promote Microsoft's Proprietary Stuff and Even Produce Puff Pieces (Mindless Fluff) About It
Notice the aspect of bribed "media" or "news" or "press coverage" (pay-to-say)
The Limits of Freedom
This is generally not a new problem
The Fall of Corporate Media Controlled by Oligarchs Who Boost (or Are Compelled to Boost) Reckless Lies About the Poor While Normalising Rich People's Crimes
No wonder they have layoffs
IBM Layoffs (or Replacement With Low-Cost Labourers) Far Greater Than Reported by IBM
they serve to confirm what we've long said not only in relation to IBM but also Microsoft
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 24, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, January 24, 2025