Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Virtue-Signalling on the Ukrainian Front

Campinos, Putin, and Lukashenko
A fellow-traveller of the autocratic despots Putin and Lukashenko? The EPO’s virtue-signalling on the Ukrainian front distracts from the ugly reality of its controversial connections to the Belarus IT sector.



Summary: António Campinos persists in attention-shifting dross and photo ops; none of that can change the verifiable facts about the EPO's connections to Lukashenko's 'science park' in Minsk

The EPO’s efforts to engage in public displays of "solidarity" with the Ukraine continue apace as evidenced by a recent announcement (warning: epo.org link) that António Campinos met with Andrew Kudin at the EPO premises in Munich on 13 May 2022.



"If – as suspected by EPO insiders – the Chairman of the Administrative Council is relying on the Office Administration for his information, then there’s a fair chance that he is being given the “mushroom treatment” by Campinos and his cronies."Kudin is the Director-General of the Ukrainian State Intellectual Property Institute ("Ukrpatent").

According to the official press release, the EPO "decided to propose an enhanced package of support measures and cooperation activities to its Ukrainian partner". Campinos and Kudin used the opportunity to sign a "Declaration of Intent" laying down the basis for future co-operation.

Campinos and Kudin
Munich Agreement: Campinos and Kudin sign a "Declaration of Intent" on 13 May 2022.



The EPO’s frantic virtue-signalling on the Ukrainian front appear to be designed to distract public attention from the ugly reality of the organisation’s connections with the Belarusian IT sector which were explored in a recent Techrights series.

The latest in-person meeting between Campinos and Kudin in Munich was preceded by an earlier online "e-meeting" (warning: epo.org link) in April - which Campinos opened with a dramatic statement informing his interlocutor that "In these difficult times, every one of us in the office [i.e., the EPO] feels Ukrainian".

EPO on 'feel Ukrainian'
António Campinos claims to "feel Ukrainian" but evidently prefers to outsource EPO software development to Belarus.



Campinos may "feel Ukranian" - at least when it’s time for virtue-signalling via PR photo-ops - but when it comes to outsourcing software development at the EPO his true loyalties seem to lie with the Belarusian IT sector which is firmly under the control of the local autocrat, Putin’s ally Lukashenko.

The EPO’s governing body - the Administrative Council – is another enthusiatic participant in the latest wave of hypocritical virtue-signalling.

Back in March of this year, the Council held a symbolic minute of silence "in solidarity with Ukraine and as a mark of respect for victims of the Russian military aggression".

EPO minute of silence
At its March 2022 "e-meeting", the Administrative Council held a symbolic minute of silence "in solidarity with Ukraine". The photo shows members of the EPO’s senior management - including Campinos (centre) - who participated in the online meeting from EPO premises in Munich.



Gestures of this kind - however well-intentioned they may be - ultimately ring hollow when they are accompanied by a refusal to address related matters of urgency such as the EPO’s Belarusian outsourcing arrangment and the risks which this poses for the organisation’s IT security.

EPO observers are waiting to see whether the Council will see fit to break its silence concerning this highly contentious affair at its forthcoming quarterly meeting next month.

This meeting which is due to be held in Munich on 29 and 30 June 2022 will be the first "in person" meeting of the Council in Munich since the declaration of the Covid pandemic in March 2020.

In the meantime, the Council Chairman - Czech delegate Josef Kratochvíl - seems to be "asleep at the wheel" as usual.

Despite being asked for comment by the Kluwer Patent Blog, Kratochvíl has so far failed to take a position on Campinos’ most recent display of execrable and "potty-mouthed" behaviour towards EPO staff representatives.

Against this background, it is hardly surprising that there is no indication that Kratochvíl has any intention to look into the EPO’s controversial Belarusian outsourcing arrangement.

As a matter of fact, it’s not even clear whether he is properly briefed about this affair.

If - as suspected by EPO insiders - the Chairman of the Administrative Council is relying on the Office Administration for his information, then there’s a fair chance that he is being given the "mushroom treatment" by Campinos and his cronies.

Recent Techrights' Posts

KillerStartups.com is an LLM Spam Site That Sometimes Covers 'Linux' (Spams the Term)
It only serves to distract from real articles
 
Gemini Links 21/11/2024: Alphabetising 400 Books and Giving the Internet up
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: TikTok Fighting Bans, Bluesky Failing Users
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: SpaceX Repeatedly Failing (Taxpayers Fund Failure), Russian Disinformation Spreading
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Earned Two More Honorary Doctorates Last Month
Two more doctorate degrees
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Gemini Links 20/11/2024: Game Recommendations, Schizo Language
Links for the day
Growing Older and Signs of the Site's Maturity
The EPO material remains our top priority
Did Microsoft 'Buy' Red Hat Without Paying for It? Does It Tell Canonical What to Do Now?
This is what Linus Torvalds once dubbed a "dick-sucking" competition or contest (alluding to Red Hat's promotion of UEFI 'secure boot')
Links 20/11/2024: Politics, Toolkits, and Gemini Journals
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2024: 'The Open Source Definition' and Further Escalations in Ukraine/Russia Battles
Links for the day
[Meme] Many Old Gemini Capsules Go Offline, But So Do Entire Web Sites
Problems cannot be addressed and resolved if merely talking about these problems isn't allowed
Links 20/11/2024: Standing Desks, Broken Cables, and Journalists Attacked Some More
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2024: Debt Issues and Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban
Links for the day
Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar), Magna Carta and Debian Freedoms: RIP
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar) & Debian: from Frans Pop to Euthanasia
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
This Article About "AI-Powered" is Itself LLM-Generated Junk
Trying to meet quotas by making fake 'articles' that are - in effect - based on plagiarism?
Recognizing invalid legal judgments: rogue Debianists sought to deceive one of Europe's most neglected regions, Midlands-North-West
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Google-funded group distributed invalid Swiss judgment to deceive Midlands-North-West
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 20/11/2024: BeagleBone Black and Suicide Rates in Switzerland
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 19, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Links 19/11/2024: War on Cables?
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/11/2024: Private Journals Online and Spirituality
Links for the day
Drew's Development Mailing Lists and Patches to 'Refine' His Attack Pieces Against the FSF's Founder
Way to bury oneself in one's own grave...
The Free Software Foundation is Looking to Raise Nearly Half a Million Dollars by Year's End
And it really needs the money, unlike the EFF which sits on a humongous pile of oligarchs' and GAFAM cash
What IBMers Say About IBM Causing IBMers to Resign (by Making Life Hard/Impossible) and Why Red Hat Was a Waste of Money to Buy
partnering with GAFAM
In Some Countries, Desktop/Laptop Usage Has Fallen to the Point Where Microsoft and Windows (and Intel) Barely Matter Anymore
Microsoft is the next Intel basically
[Meme] The Web Wasn't Always Proprietary Computer Programs Disguised as 'Web Pages'
The Web is getting worse each year
Re-de-centralisation Should Be Our Goal
Put the users in charge, not governments and corporations in charge of users
Gemini Links 19/11/2024: Rain Music, ClockworkPi DevTerm, and More
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 18, 2024