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

Our Lawsuits Against the 'Cancel Mob' (Ringleaders) Helped Reduce Anti-Free Software Online Abuse
That's not to say that lawsuits are the best way to handle terrible people. But that can help.
The Two Lies Microsoft is Telling in "the News" This Week (to Distract From Layoffs and Decreased Interest in Slop/Chaff)
Microsoft is run by liars and frauds who SLAPP critics
Tux Machines Already Destroyed SLAPPs
Attacks on the mere publication of GNU/Linux news won't be tolerated
Always Check Your Inputs
Garbage in, garbage out. Or wrong assumptions, wrong corollary.
 
GitHub Copilot Can Cause the Bankruptcy of GitHub to Come Sooner and GitHub to be Shut Down Just Like Skype
Some publicly available information suggests that even for each paid subscriber for plagiarism (LLM 'coding') GitHub Copilot still loses more money than it makes
Wayland is Bad for the Planet
If you use Wayland, it'll take you longer to accomplish tasks and you will consume more energy (or battery life)
Legitimising Those Who Sabotage You
Microsoft is a very malicious company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 10, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 10, 2025
On Microsoft Layoffs
we might be looking at about 60,000 Microsoft layoffs since 2023
EPO Management Already Breaks Its Own Promise (Lie) on "Bringing Teams Together"
This gut-punching move happened just 2 days ago
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Occupation of 2025 and "Old Man Yells At Soundcloud"
Links for the day
Tomorrow is the Last Day of the Fund-Raising Campaign of the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
They will probably extend the date, as usual
Fixing Patents in Europe, Little by Little (by Transparency and Reporting of Suppressed Facts)
Tomorrow and throughout the weekend we shall focus some more on the EPO
PCLinuxOS is Available for Download Again
PCLinuxOS is important to us also because its founder, back then the partner of Susan, helped create Tux Machines more than 21 years ago
Links 10/07/2025: Microsoft E-mail 'Services' Collapse Again, "Yet Another Strava Privacy Leak"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/07/2025: Automating Git Repo Updates and Small Web 'Zine'
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Leftovers
mostly Linux stuff
Audiocasts/Shows: Going Linux, FLOSS Weekly, and RHEL Clones
3 new picks
We Are Already Fighting - With Considerable Success - SLAPPs in the UK
we intend to tell the full story
Bullies With Pens and Papers (or Apple Macs With Templates)
Not all barristers are evil, but there are perhaps "rotten apples"
Slopwatch: webpronews.com, linuxsecurity.com, linuxjournal.com
a pile of trash disguised as 'articles'
Links 10/07/2025: Linda Yaccarino Divorces MElonazi Site, Wildfires Hit Syria
Links for the day
The History and the Policy of the EPO's Stance on Breastfeeding (Corporate Monopolies Versus Babies' Health)
"The Case for Introducing a Breastfeeding Policy at the EPO"
Gemini Links 10/07/2025: Inventing Chords and "Nightmare Boss"
Links for the day
Igor Ljubuncic Once Again Shows That for Technical Reasons Wayland Still Sucks, Performs Considerably Worse Than What Existed for Decades
That is aside from compatibility factors and other crucial factors
Links 10/07/2025: "Apple Vs The Law" and Twitter Became Full Nazi Bar
Links for the day
Unable to Find Anyone to Work as Their Media Lawyer, Brett Wilson LLP Will Continue Losing Female Staff
What sort of sick person would wish to join Brett Wilson LLP to carry this baton?
Microsoft-Sponsored Propaganda Site Has Removed False 'Hit Piece' About Dr. Stallman (With Fake and Misrepresented Imagery) But Only After 4 Years
So they only removed that page some time around 2025, i.e. about 4 years after it had been published
Dan Neidle Said That Tax Evasion Facilitator Mr Zahawi (Working to Silence Bloggers Through Brett Wilson LLP) Targeted Not Only Him (But The Others Kept Quiet)
"Mr Neidle said after repelling Mr Zahawi he was contacted by bloggers and tweeters who had received similar threats. They deleted their work “and in most cases never commented publicly on anything again”."
SLAPP Funding Transparency Urgently Needed in the UK and Elsewhere (in Practice, Not Just in Theory)
Writing about crime - including Microsoft crime - is not a crime
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 09, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 09, 2025
Elodie Bergot Still Doing Illegal Things at the EPO, Based on the Local Staff Committee Munich
They keep taking away from the staff while compelling the staff to do illegal things
Gemini Links 09/07/2025: Extreme Testing and Golang Documentation in Geminispace
Links for the day
Vice President of the European Patent Office (EPO) Complains That Techrights Gives Visibility to Legal and Technical Issues at the EPO
"Follow-up on enquiries relating to Dir. 1218 and 1001"
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com and Various Slopfarms That Lie About "Linux" and Are Promoted by Google News
Google does not seem interested in tackling this problem
Links 09/07/2025: War Updates and Microsoft Moving to India to Cut Costs
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Was Always a 'Movement' of Inclusion of Tolerance
Even the licences themselves remove access barriers
Links 09/07/2025: "Subprime AI Crisis" and "OpenAI May Be in Major Trouble Financially"
Links for the day
Huge Piles of Legal Papers ('Paper DDoS') Do Not Impress Judges and Regulators
they just make judges and regulators even more suspicious of the eagerness to resort to 'paper DDoS'
Brett Wilson LLP Sent Over 5 Kilograms (or Over 12 Pounds) of Legal Papers! Because Writing About Microsoft Abuses is 'Illegal'.
How do you guys sleep at night? On a big pile of Microsoft money?
Extremism as a Weapon Against GNU/Linux (Microsoft Lunduke)
He ought to know the Halloween Documents. Wasn't he a Microsoft employee when these came out?
Lunduke Isn't Even Hiding His Anti-Linux Agenda (From "Linux Sucks" to "Linux is Pedophiles")
just trying to make a lot of trouble
Some People Use Computers to Get Actual Work Done
Tolerance and inclusion must extend to acceptance that some people don't agree with you, might never agree with you, and imposing what allegedly works for you on them is unreasonable
Example of "Old" Things That Still Work
The notion that something being "old" implies it must be discarded is typically advanced by those looking to sell more of something
Some Scheduled Maintenance Later Today
Typically the most vulnerable service during short interruptions is IRC
Computers Are Just a Tool
People don't get married because they love weddings, folks don't join the army because they love war, and most drivers don't drive to work because they love cars
Apple Way Past Its Prime
Apple deserves a decline
The FSF's SysOps Team Recovered From Serious Hardware Issue Within Hours
About half a day ago I noticed that all/most GNU/FSF sites were not reachable and thus reached out to a contact for any details
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 08, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 08, 2025
Slopwatch: Turning Bugs Into FUD About "Linux", Getting Basic Facts Wrong
all the screenshots are of fake articles; we don't want to link to any
Technical Reasons, Not Politics: With Wayland "it feels a lot like Linux from 20-25 years ago, which is horrendously frustrating, because it feels like we wasted one or two decades of progress and stability"
Lately, quite a few benchmarks were published to show Wayland compares poorly compared to what we had
PCLinuxOS Recovering From Fire
It looks like a nightmare scenario, where even backups onsite get destroyed
Links 09/07/2025: More Heatwaves, Officials Culled in Russia
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/07/2025: XScreensaver and Resurrection
Links for the day