Bonum Certa Men Certa

With EPO 'Strike Regulations' Belatedly Ruled Unlawful, EPO Management May be Lowering the Salary Even Further by Introducing Outside 'Temps' or Casual Workers

Force-feeding Europe their unconstitutional vision

Scabs

Summary: Institutional capture by an 'IP' (litigation) Mafia is nearly complete; with illegal so-called (anti) 'Strike Regulations' out the door, they're quickly moving on to another plan, or so it seems on the surface

SEVERAL days ago I saw and then publicly mentioned this new post from Scotland, which said (it is already in Daily Links along with some editorial comments, expressing disbelief and wondering what this whole thing even means):



The University of Stirling has joined the Pan-European Seal Programme, a prestigious EU training scheme, becoming the first in Scotland to partner with Europe’s leading Intellectual Property (IP) organisations: the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO).

[...]

The Pan-European Seal Programme is jointly organised by Europe’s IP Offices, EPO and EUIPO, and offers paid, trainee roles in Alicante or Munich.



What is that? Remember that EPO and EUIPO are deeply connected (also in a corrupt sense) and there's an influx/flow of unsuitably trained managers from Alicante to Munich (notably António Campinos and his cronies). Yesterday the Central Staff Committee (CSC) of the EPO circulated a publication to explain what this new programme is all about. It bears resemblance to something from the Benoît Battistelli era, aside from the Serco outsourcing [1, 2]. Likely illegal from the EPC's perspective, but who pays attention to the EPC anymore? It's just some paper, right? And staff's rights can be abolished through contracting to some foreign firms.

We already know that EPO managers bribe academia for bogus 'studies' and bribes media for propaganda or silence (including censorship of already-published articles about Serco outsourcing), so it's useful to hear what this "Pan-European Seal Programme" is really about. It definitely sounds like a race to the bottom. "A new group of Pan-European Seal trainees joined the EPO in mid-September," the CSC tells staff, "and one or more of these trainees may have recently joined your team or directorate. If you have wondered who they are, how they are affiliated with the EPO, and what their role is, this publication serves to provide a summary of the information available to us, and we hope it can be of use to answer some of your queries."

To me, personally, it certainly sounds like bringing low-cost labour from elsewhere, then forcing you to train the people who will later replace you. Only years ago the EPO limited the length/span of work contracts to just 5 years. Should workers be reading the writings on the wall? Maybe not. The CSC publication is trying to be cordial and informative. We reproduce it below.

Zentraler Personalausschuss Central Staff Committee Le Comité Central du Personnel

Munich, 14/10/2021 sc21125cp

The Pan-European Seal Trainee Programme – What is it?

Dear Colleagues,

A new group of Pan-European Seal (PES) trainees joined the EPO in mid-September, and one or more of these trainees may have recently joined your team or directorate. If you have wondered who they are, how they are affiliated with the EPO, and what their role is, this paper serves to provide a summary of the information available to us, and we hope it can be of use to answer some of your queries.

The Pan-European Seal programme is jointly organised by the EPO and EUIPO, and in collaboration with almost 100 member Universities, provides recently graduated students with paid, year-long traineeships that are described as “on-the-job work experience and professional training”. Although the PES programme was introduced at the EPO in 2015, you may have only become aware of it more recently, since the number of trainees is steadily increasing year-on-year, from 32 in 2015 to 117 in 2021, this scaling up due to its inclusion in the SP2023.

The PES programme is open to applicants who already hold a bachelor’s/master’s degree, no more than two years after their most recent graduation, with language requirements of “a minimum level of B1” in any of the three official languages or “a very good level of English; knowledge of French or German is an advantage” depending which part of the same webpage is accurate. The graduates must first be shortlisted by their universities and then undergo a selection process by the EPO. The successful candidates are paid 2000 Euros per month, subject to local taxes, and the traineeship usually lasts 12 months, although the period was extended last year, and SP2023 documentation implies the expansion to a “2-year traineeship”. It is noted that many of these trainees are very likely already fully qualified for a regular appointment at the EPO, since the requirements for recruitment in job group 1-4 are a diploma at “master’s level” and “excellent knowledge of one official language and ability to understand one other”, and lower for recruitment in job groups 5-6.

The trainees are deployed all across the Office in different departments. There are positions open for the trainees in seemingly all areas of the EPO, including formalities, HR, communications, talent academy, and interpreting. Within DG1, the examiner trainees are assigned to teams within selected areas of expertise. They follow “Course A” of the newcomer examiner academy training, and are then performing core search and examination work under the supervision of a mentor. This outsourced work is checked and signed off by their mentor, to whom the resulting points/actions are assigned. The very limited feedback we have received from mentors thus far is that they are satisfied with this arrangement and that the trainees are well equipped to complete the tasks assigned to them.

The SP2023 programme passport of the PES scheme gives some indication of the intentions and future directions that the EPO is planning. In particular, it defines a benefit of the programme to be feeding “the talent acquisition pipeline” and that information regarding job vacancies will be communicated to current and former PES trainees. It further defines the goal of providing a “new legal and administrative framework” to be included in the CODEX that allows the trainees to be “considered as employees” and offers trainees “conditions of employment similar to those of other employees of the Office”.

Finally, on behalf of the Staff Representation, we would like to extend a warm welcome to all the new PES trainees! Should you want any assistance or advice, you are invited to contact us at centralstaffcommittee@epo.org and we will do our best to help. If you are a mentor or otherwise involved in the PES programme and would like to share your experience, please also get in touch with us.

The Central Staff Committee


The CSC seems overly optimistic here, perhaps avoiding potential alienation/embarrassment to newcomers, but with a management that steals from pensioners while lying about "a gap" anything can be believed...

The EPO is being plundered. EU officials and German officials look the other way as quality of patents collapses. We know too well who stands to lose and who stands to gain from this. This is another UPC but at the level of the granting authority (Office) rather than the courts all across the EU.

Staff can strike? Take them all out!
The only strike oligarchs approve of is a drone strike (assassination). Union-busting or union-bombing? With the veneer of "academia"...

Recent Techrights' Posts

Official SUSE Blog Still Uses LLM Slop (Bots) to Make Fake Articles (Marketing)
The company is all about sound bites
Companies Realise That Slop Doesn't Work as Advertised, Accordingly Dump It
"Hype dims as a country-wide survey of US corporations shows a sudden drop-off in AI use among firms with more than 250 employees."
Microsoft-Funded Lawsuits Against Critics of UEFI 'Secure Boot'
Remember that no company (or law firm) ever survives collaborations with Microsoft
It's Only the Second Week of September and Already Two Waves of Layoffs at Microsoft, Slopfarms and Microsoft-Funded Sites Spin It as "AI Investments" Rather Than Commercial Failure
A very large third one expected next week
If Your Machine Still Has "Secure Boot" Enabled, Then Microsoft Has a de Facto Kill Switch (Even If Your Machine Doesn't Have Windows and Never Had Windows)
It is not incorrect to call UEFI 'secure boot' a "kill switch"
Reddit is Corporate Propaganda
To make matters worse, Reddit ousted many original moderators
Jeff Geerling Shocked to Discover Many Metrics in YouTube Are Fake (His Audience Turns Out to be Much Smaller)
Maybe self-host all videos, don't rely on Google's "FOMO" cheating (addiction based on false assumptions)
 
Links 09/09/2025: US-Korea Tensions and Meta Whistleblowers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2025: Moon Eclipse and ROOPHLOCH Reports
Links for the day
Links 09/09/2025: “Torrents of Hate” and Political Crisis in France
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2025: "Dedigitizing" and Forgejo on FreeBSD
Links for the day
Google News (Not Just Google Search) Lets Itself by Gamed by One Slopfarm - to the Point Almost Half of "Linux" News is Bot-Produced Plagiarism (LLM Slop With Slop Images)
That says a lot about what Google thinks of quality, even in Google News
Bill Gates-Funded Media Inadvertently Refutes the Microsoft Lie That in 2025 Microsoft Had Just Two Waves of Layoffs
There were about 12 rounds of layoffs so far in 2025
From theregister.co.uk to theregister.com (US) to The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives) and theregister.ai
The best way to break this racket (or cycle of hype and harm) is to break the chains of funding
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Culture of Censorship Necessitates More Speech
The OSI bans dissent or people who merely point out that the OSI is abusive
How to Reach Us Discreetly (Other Than Encrypted E-mail)
We're still managing to maintain a 100% source protection record. We soon turn 19.
LLMs Are Vastly Worse Than a Waste of Energy and the Externalities Are Huge
Worse than just higher power bills for everybody
LLMs Versus Search (Not Replacing Search But Engaging in DDoS Attacks Against Web Sites That Permit Searching)
The state of the Web isn't just bad; it's utterly terrible
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 08, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 08, 2025
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IX - Shunning Old Computers (in 2023 the Certificate Was Updated/Overridden, Underlying Aim May Be Herding/Forcing People to Get TPM and Other 'Novel' Restrictions)
the "upgrade treadmill"
Rumour: Second Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in September to Commence Third Week of September
That basically answers questions like, "Any specific date or time of the month?"
Gemini Links 08/09/2025: Reality, ROOPHLOCH 2025, and Writing Another Gemini Client
Links for the day
Updating Firmware is Not the Solution But Only Additional Risk, Disable "Secure Boot" Today
firmware blobs are buggy, secret, impossible to audit, and barely tested
Microsoft Tim's DevClass (Part of The Register MS/Situation Publishing) is Full of Slop
Looking at many sites that are full of slop images is becoming an eye sore and hallmark of text too likely generated by LLMs or 'assisted' (tainted) by them
Microsoft Trying to Fake Demand for Slop. At What Cost?
That's a giant demotion and broken promises
Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant and Kryptonite/Garlic to Vampires
Transparency (sometimes described by words like "Sunlight" or "Truth") is paramount
The Register MS Uses Slop in Articles About Slop
we are fairly certain it's slop or CG based on other people's work
Visiting a Web Page or a Public URL Should be Safe, Predictable, and Benign
It's probably too late to "fix" the Web
The Register MS (Situation Publishing) is Paid to Spread Mindless Hype for the "Hey Hi" Ponzi Scheme and That's a Serious Problem
"Sponsored by Zoom."
Links 08/09/2025: Burger King Cracked, Cox v. Sony Analysed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/09/2025: Socialist Computer Museum and GAFAM/ByteDance/TikTok-Dominated Net
Links for the day
Links 08/09/2025: Tim Crook Disappoints Apple Faithfuls and Zuckerberg Lies (Financial Fraud) for Cheeto King
Links for the day
EPO Workers Point Out that the EPO is Destroying the Planet Under the Guise of "Hey Hi" (It Also Grants Many Invalid Patents Illegally
On 12 March and 16 June 2025, staff representation met with the administration in the Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in Munich
Turn Off Microsoft's Restricted Boot ("Secure Boot")
We're still running a series on this issue
Social Control Media Sites Have Become Bot Farms (Not Limited to LLMs and Automation)
linkedin.com was nothing but trouble and losses for Microsoft
Deep in Debt With the Magnitude of Losses Quickly Growing, Microsoft "Open" "Hey Hi" Now Uses Broadcom for Vapourware, Pretending It'll Do OK Next Year
At some stage it'll collapse
You Can Tell Microsoft is in Trouble When Its Own Fans and Staff Blast it
"Microsoft sinks billions into chasing artificial intelligence fads to hype up its share price."
Multiple Undersea Cable Cuts and We're Still OK
Microsoft customers experience problems
Lawyers Who Think They Are Online Assassins Don't Deserve a Licence to Operate
they've become a laughing stock in their "sector"
Microsoft Windows Fell to 3.9% "Market Share" in Bahamas
Based on statCounter
How the European Union (EU) Fell Out of Love With Free/Libre Software
Lots of bribery
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 07, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 07, 2025
Gemini Links 07/09/2025: Scanner, Slop, and Chadobear
Links for the day
The UEFI 9/11 is 3 Days Away
Nobody denies that bad things will happen
Google Versus Journalism
Google played a big role in the demise of news sites
Gemini Links 07/09/2025: Advertising, Decentralized Archival, and Outsourcing to Bezos
Links for the day
Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Has Almost Gone Down to Zero, Nearly Totally Extinct in Geminispace, the Few Capsules Still Using It Are Spam/Dead/Stagnant
This represents another decrease for Let's Encrypt; the last decrease was last week
Not Much Left in News Cycles
To be very clear, this does not describe "Linux" anything; it's true in just about every facet of news, except the paid-for fake "journalism" about "hey hi" (sites getting paid explicitly to maintain or rekindle hype)
Trying to Silence Techrights Was a Huge Mistake
Peter Thiel attacked a publisher for asserting, correctly, that he was gay. Now everyone knows it.
Throwing Away "Old" Computers (Mozilla and Other Climate Deniers)
Mozilla is not leftist
The UEFI 9/11 - Part VIII - Denial of Service and Selling Us WSL (Windows) Instead of "Risky" (Prone by Breakage by Microsoft) GNU/Linux
Restricted Boot (so-called 'SecureBoot') does not improve security. It is nothing but trouble. It's meant to trouble non-Windows users. In dual-boot setups, SecureBoot is a recipe for disaster because Microsoft keeps erasing or tampering with the boot sector, to paraphrase an associate
Slop is Extremely Rare in Geminispace, Slop Images Are Unheard Of (Despite Images Being Supported)
As long as Geminispace grows in terms of domains it's safe to predict the protocol will still be used in 2029 and hence Geminispace will turn 10
Links 07/09/2025: Robodebt Class Action, Fines, and Copyright Settlement
Links for the day
Links 07/09/2025: Yle Impersonated in Social Control Media, Boat-Attacking Orcas, Midjourney Sued Again
Links for the day
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Linux Journal, and the Serial Slopper
Google won't tackle the issue because Google participates not only in relaying slop but also in generating lots of it
Links 07/09/2025: Google Fines in EU and "Your Internet Access Is at Risk"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/09/2025: Little Brother and Corporate Theatre
Links for the day
Links 07/09/2025: More Harms of Slop and Anthropic's Nightmare Scenario (Huge Legal Liabilities for Slop)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 06, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 06, 2025