Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XVI: The Demise of the Austrian Double-Dipper



Series parts:

  1. The EPO's Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part I: Let the Sunshine In!
  2. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part II: A “Unanimous” Endorsement?
  3. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part III: Three Missing Votes
  4. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part IV: The Founding States
  5. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part V: Germany Says “Ja”
  6. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part VI: A Distinct Lack of Dutch Courage
  7. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part VII: Luxembourgish Laxity
  8. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part VIII: Perfidious Albion and Pusillanimous Hibernia
  9. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part IX: More Holes Than Swiss Cheese
  10. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part X: Introducing the Controversial Christian Bock
  11. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XI: “General Bock” - Battistelli's Swiss Apprentice?
  12. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XII: The French Connection
  13. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XIII: Battistelli's Iberian Facilitators - Spain
  14. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XIV: Battistelli's Iberian Facilitators - Portugal
  15. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XV: Et Tu Felix Austria…
  16. YOU ARE HERE ☞ The Demise of the Austrian Double-Dipper


Friedrich Rödler with António Campinos
Friedrich Rödler (right) exchanging pleasantries with António Campinos (left) at the pan-European “good brother” network celebration to mark the centenary of the Estonian Patent Office (March 2012).



Summary: Friedrich 'Rude Liar' Rödler is notorious in the eyes of EPO staff, whom he was slandering and scandalising for ages while he himself was the real scandal

In this part we continue our in-depth look into the career of Friedrich Rödler, the head of the Austrian delegation on the EPO's Administrative Council in 2013.



As already mentioned in the last part, Rödler managed to remain off the radar of public scrutiny for a few years following his reappointment as Director of the Austrian Patent Office in 2010.

"As already mentioned in the last part, Rödler managed to remain off the radar of public scrutiny for a few years following his reappointment as Director of the Austrian Patent Office in 2010."However, in 2013, he was back in the headlines again when revelations surfaced about his management of serv.ip. This was a "partially autonomous" unit of the Patent Office which had been established prior to Rödler's arrival as Director for the purpose of providing "intellectual property information services" on a commercial basis.

The serv.ip unit was initially set up without a proper legal basis. However, that particular problem was remedied retroactively by means of an amendment to the Patent Act in 2009.

"This second salary came on top of his already generous monthly remuneration as Director of the Patent Office, which amounted to € 8,900 (pre-tax)."Things started to get uncomfortable for Rödler following an audit of the Patent Office conducted in 2012, when it was revealed that since 2004 he had been receiving a second salary as managing director of serv.ip. The contract with serv.ip had been concluded in November 2014 when Rödler was acting as ad interim Director of the Patent Office.

This second salary came on top of his already generous monthly remuneration as Director of the Patent Office, which amounted to € 8,900 (pre-tax).

More precisely, Rödler's contract with serv.ip granted him an additional monthly salary of €€ 6,250 (pre-tax).

These revelations prompted Gabriela Moser to submit a statement of facts to the branch of the Public Prosecutor's Office responsible for Economic Crime and Corruption, accusing Rödler of abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds.

"These revelations prompted Gabriela Moser to submit a statement of facts to the branch of the Public Prosecutor's Office responsible for Economic Crime and Corruption, accusing Rödler of abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds."The Public Prosecutor discontinued the proceedings against Rödler in February 2013, on the grounds that the accusation of a paid second job "did not merit prosecution".

Rödler for his part proceeded to file a complaint against Moser for reputational damage. He also refused to comply with an order issued in June 2013 by his Minister, Doris Bures, instructing him to refrain from taking his second salary.

The affair was reported on by Die Presse in August 2013 in an article entitled "Peinliche Posse um das Patentamt" ("Embarrassing farce at the Patent Office"). English here. [PDF]

The SLAPP proceedings which Rödler had initiated against Moser were discontinued in July 2015 on the grounds that her statements were “permissible value judgments”.

"Rödler for his part proceeded to file a complaint against Moser for reputational damage. He also refused to comply with an order issued in June 2013 by his Minister, Doris Bures, instructing him to refrain from taking his second salary."In the meantime, Moser proceeded to submit her third parliamentary question about Rödler [PDF] in September 2013. In this submission, she quoted in full the text of the article published in Die Presse and asked a number uncomfortable questions about Rodler's second salary.

Rödler had some initial success in defending his claim to the second salary which he had awarded to himself as "managing director" of serv.ip.

The Social and Labour Court of Vienna delivered a judgment in his favour in December 2014.

However, this turned out to be a pyhrric victory for Rödler.

The public outrage generated by his audacious "double-dipping" at the expense of the taxpayer, resulted in a government decision against renewing his appointment when his second term as Director of the Patent Office expired in April 2015.

"The public outrage generated by his audacious "double-dipping" at the expense of the taxpayer, resulted in a government decision against renewing his appointment when his second term as Director of the Patent Office expired in April 2015."In the meantime, in proceedings which took place before the Court of Appeal on 29 March 2016, the Ministry succeeded in overturning the first instance verdict which the Social and Labour Court of Vienna had returned in Rödler's favour.

The "stern master of the Patent Office" took his case to the Austrian Supreme Court which delivered [PDF] its judgment on 28 July 2016 - and the outcome was not in Rödler's favour. [PDF]

The Supreme Court found that Rödler's contract with serv.ip was null and void because he lacked any lawful authorisation to conclude such a contract.

"The Supreme Court found that Rödler's contract with serv.ip was null and void because he lacked any lawful authorisation to conclude such a contract."His claims for over € 150,000 - based on the assertion that he had been unlawfully stripped of his remuneration as managing director of serv.ip at the end of 2013 - were dismissed.

On 25 August 2016, Garbriela Moser submitted her fourth and final parliamentary question about Rödler [PDF]. This time she inquired about a possible reclamation of his illegal remuneration in the light of the Supreme Court ruling.

The Minister in charge of the BMVIT, Jörg Leichtfried, responded with a terse statement to the effect that "all legally required steps would be taken".

"To this day it remains unclear whether or not the Austrian state managed to reclaim the public funds which were misappropriated by Rödler between 2004 and 2013."The story was covered in the Austrian daily Der Standard in July 2016 and a follow-up article appeared [PDF] in the Austrian edition of the Swiss Neue Züricher Zeitung on 3 November 2016 under the title "Der Beamte Rödler will mehr Geld vom Staat" ("The civil servant Rödler wants more money from the state").

To this day it remains unclear whether or not the Austrian state managed to reclaim the public funds which were misappropriated by Rödler between 2004 and 2013.

But whatever about that, Rödler himself has long since sailed off into the sunset of retirement.

"But whatever about that, Rödler himself has long since sailed off into the sunset of retirement."In addition to operating his own management consultancy business, Rödler-Consult, he occupies himself with worthy causes such as the Austrian Superbrands Council and the initiative "Rettet das Bargeld" which campaigns against restrictions on the right to make cash payments. He was also nominated by the FPÖ as a member of the University Council of the University of Vienna for a five year term of office starting from 1 March 2018.

Rödler is also a leading member of the Order of St. George, a European and non-partisan "order of chivalry" under the sponsorship of the Habsburg family, which supports the transnational idea of "Mitteleuropa" and enhanced cooperation between the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe.

Rodler and Habsburg family-funded Order of St. George
Rödler (centre) is a member of the Order of St. George under sponsorship of the Habsburg family.



In the course of his active retirement, Rödler has also occasionally found time to comment on EPO affairs.

For example, in June 2018 he published [PDF] a commentary about Benoît Battistelli's controversial "EPO Treasury Investment Fund" (EPOTIF), inspired by an article which had appeared in the German weekly Wirtschaftswoche.

"In the course of his active retirement, Rödler has also occasionally found time to comment on EPO affairs."This commentary starts off by announcing that "the EPO is allowed to misuse Austrian funds for stock exchange speculation with the blessing of the SPÖ". Although it raises a number of valid points of criticism about the EPOTIF, the main tenor of the piece is an attempt to settle scores on the domestic political stage.

Rödler's most scathing criticisms are reserved not for the Machiavellian despot Battistelli - for whom he probably had a sneaking admiration - but rather for the SPÖ Minister Jörg Leichtfried and Rödler's SPÖ-appointed successor at the Patent Office, Mariana Karepova.

It should be noted here that Leichtfried was the Minister who promised that "all legally required steps would be taken" to recoup the public funds which Rödler had misappropriated via his unlawful serv.ip contract. That might account for Rödler's animosity towards him.

In fairness to Rödler it must be acknowledged that he was speaking from direct personal experience when it comes to the matter of speculation with public funds. That much is clear from an article published [PDF] by the Austrian news magazine Profil in January 2013 under the title "Friedrich Rödller: The strange dealings of the Patent Office boss".

"Rödler's most scathing criticisms are reserved not for the Machiavellian despot Battistelli - for whom he probably had a sneaking admiration - but rather for the SPÖ Minister Jörg Leichtfried and Rödler's SPÖ-appointed successor at the Patent Office, Mariana Karepova."In this article it was reported that Rödler indulged in highly speculative investments with public funds from serv.ip, which at the time in question held securities worth around €€ 3.95 million.

Rödler entrusted the Austrian Patent Office "treasury investment fund" to the prestigious Viennese private bank Gutmann which operates under the slogan: "Money. And How to Keep It".

According to Profil, Rödler made decisions about the investment of the funds at his own discretion, even against the advice of his advisors at Gutmann. His investments included Turkish government securities and bonds denominated in Icelandic krona.

Rodler - Gutmann banking
During his time as head of the Austrian Patent Office, Rödler speculated with serv.ip funds using the services of the prestigious Viennese private bank Gutmann.



Rödler enjoys putting himself in the spotlight and seems to have something to say about almost every topic under the sun.

"According to Profil, Rödler made decisions about the investment of the funds at his own discretion, even against the advice of his advisors at Gutmann."But so far he has kept "schtum" about his own role in supporting Battistelli's "reign of terror" at the EPO during his time as head of the Austrian delegation on the EPO's Administrative Council.

Given his long-standing and well-documented animosity towards the staff of the EPO, it's hardly likely that he will break his silence at this belated stage to offer an apology for his complicity in Battistelli's misguided efforts to trample on the fundamental rights at the EPO.

"Given his long-standing and well-documented animosity towards the staff of the EPO, it's hardly likely that he will break his silence at this belated stage to offer an apology for his complicity in Battistelli's misguided efforts to trample on the fundamental rights at the EPO."It only remains to be noted that Rödler's departure didn't bring any change for the better, at least as far as EPO staff were concerned.

His successor as head of the Austrian Patent Office, Mariana Karepova, seems to be more style than substance. Her voting record as head of delegation on the Administrative Council indicates that she was just as supportive of Battistelli's "reign of terror" at the EPO as her predecessor.

Mariana Karepova
Rödler's successor Mariana Karepova, was just as supportive of Battistelli's "reign of terror" as her predecessor.



At the 155th meeting (warning: epo.org link) of the Council in March 2018, Karepova was elected to the Board of the Administrative Council, the exclusive "inner circle" which carries out the preparatory work for Council meetings. Presumably this little sinecure was intended as a reward for her earlier collusion with "le système Battistelli".

In the next part we will turn our attention northwards and take a look at the delegations representing the EPO's Nordic states.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Google News is Rewarding Slopfarms, Not Journalism
Don't read junk from chatbots
Richard Stallman, Whose Site is Trusted by Greater Manchester, Has Come to the United Kingdom
He doesn't suck up to the Crown, so he'll never be "knighted"
On Desktops/Laptops in Singapore Does a Fifth of Users Run GNU/Linux?
Probably not, but it's growing fast there
Links 21/04/2025: Fake Ceasefire and Software Patents (Fake Patents) Thrown Out
Links for the day
4 Years Ago Freenode Crumbled From Within
there are still hundreds of thousands of users online at any given time
Microsoft Has Tainted GNOME, Which Has Key People Acting as a SLAPP Front Against Techrights (Trying to Censor the Site by Extortion and Many Threats)
One common denominator (other than Microsoft salaries) is GNOME, which was led by an actual professional crank until she quit so suddenly months ago
Homeland of Linux Kernel Turning to GNU/Linux?
Adoption of Vista 11 has been relatively low
 
Gemini Links 21/04/2025: Remembering Pope Francis, Crystal Simulation
Links for the day
Doing Microsoft's Job. On IBM's Payroll.
today's Red Hat cannot recognise threats even after a head-on collision
Teaching GAFAM in Schools is Like Teaching Children to Smoke Tobacco
So suggests an FSF presentation
Companies With Fake Values and a Fake Economic/Financial State (Phony Valuations)
It'll all go up in smoke, eventually
Links 21/04/2025: Microsoft LLM Slop (Plagiarism) Going Out of Control, CT Scans' Cancer Problems Was Underrated
Links for the day
GNOME Has a Long History (Over a Decade) Misusing the Code of Conduct (CoC) to Censor (Cull) Legitimate Technical Criticism
This has nothing to do with manners, it's about control (by cover-up)
According to StatCounter, This is What Linux Adoption Looks Like (Based on Web Requests Visible to StatCounter)
How much worse will it get for Microsoft?
Gemini Capsules Still Outsourcing to Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Now Measured at Less Than 10 (or Less Than 0.3%)
In Geminispace, Let's Encrypt is not commonly used
Twisting Microsoft's Failure (Transmitting Malware) as "SSH Backdoors" and a Linux Problem
Somehow we almost always find that those FUD pieces about "Linux" are based on obvious falsehoods
Vista 11 Has Burned OEMs and Some Move to GNU/Linux
When people can finally avoid Windows (there's no reason to attach it to new PCs) there will be a lot more GNU/Linux users out there
Remember That Microsoft Mass Layoffs Are Imminent Because Its 'Empire' is Falling Apart
European politicians take a long, hard look a Free software
Richard Stallman in the UK This Week, Scheduled to Give Two Public Talks (London and Oxford)
Those talks do not cover the same topics
Gemini Links 21/04/2025: April, Autism, and ASN
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 20, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, April 20, 2025
Links 20/04/2025: Partly Assorted Scientific and Political Leftovers
Links for the day
Links 20/04/2025: Many Data Breaches and Growing Censorship Wave
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/04/2025: Canadian Elections and "Use the Best Tools You Have for the Current Environment"
Links for the day
Deja vu: Hitler's Birthday, Andreas Tille elected Debian Project Leader again
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 20/04/2025: Bleeding Constitution and ChatGPT Infuriates Users Some More
Links for the day
Chinese OEMs (and World's Largest) Pave a Path Out of Microsoft Windows
So Microsoft now values (or prices) Vista 11 at just $140?
Gemini Links 20/04/2025: Contradictions of Mark Carney and Blog Questions Challenge
Links for the day
Microsoft's 'Lawsuit Diplomacy' (SLAPPs Riding UK Libel Law and Piggybacking UK GDPR, Inapplicable!) Will Only Give a Worse Image to Microsofters (and Microsoft), Give Exposure to Even More Suppressed Facts and Scandals
Microsoft came to dominate some sectors because of (or owing to) crimes; Microsoft won't just go away without some more crimes.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 19, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 19, 2025
Five (or Three) Years Without Social Control Media
Glyn Moody quit X (Twitter)
Electronics in People's Bedrooms
Modern technology not only blurred the gap between "functions" of rooms
Why GNU/Linux is Growing
There's growing interest in GNU/Linux right now because people do not fancy buying a new PC just to 'upgrade' (more spying) Windows
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Contingencies, GTD, and Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: Economic Races, Charm Offensives, and USB-C Rants
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: "Infantilization at Big Tech" and LLM Slop Abused in Defiance of Workplace Rules/Policies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Palm Addiction and Real Experts
Links for the day
Egypt is Controlled by Google, Not Microsoft
Moving from Microsoft to Google is not the answer
Microsofters Say They Cannot Find a Job (That They Want) Because of Techrights, But Techrights Merely Reported on Their Behaviour
Quit pointing the finger at people who are recipients of abuse or merely mention the abuse
Free Software and Standards - Not Marketing Blitz - Needed Amid Growing Severity of Dependency on Hostile Suppliers (or Another Country's Sovereignty)
ZenDiS can be described as the "Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration"
When It Comes to the Web, Google is Evil and It Destroys the Web's Integrity With LLM Slop
Even academia, which is meant to keep standards high, is being lured into LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 18, 2025