Summary: SUEPO's new publication, "A State Of Affairs", is a shocking reminder that the EPO can collapse some time soon due to not only misguided leadership but deeply corrupt officials who rely on nepotism and bribes to delay/stall accountability

"Dear colleagues," the Staff Union of the EPO (SUEPO) wrote today. "In this State of Affairs, we briefly reflect on what will happen, what our administration should be doing vs. what it is doing."

"We hope that our administration will observe the facts and starts looking at the longer-term sustainability of the office."

For 13 years (almost) Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos turned the EPO into not just a laughing stock but a serial violator of laws, conventions (including the EPC), and constitutions. The emergence of European software patents is a result of patent bubbles imploding and many examiners won't tolerate it anymore. Many have left for years and a lot more will leave, creating a vacuum in required skills, enraging top applicants. Here's the paper from SUEPO:

INTERNATIONALE GEWERKSCHAFT IM EUROPÄISCHEN PATENTAMT STAFF UNION OF THE EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE UNION SYNDICALE DE L'OFFICE EUROPEEN DES BREVETS

6 April 2023 su23014cp – 0.2.1/1.3.1/4.4

A state of affairs

What will happen

- EPO staff will grow older; - A quick glance at our demographics pyramid¹ shows that soon enough we will see 200+, even 300+ colleagues – the most experienced ones - leave the EPO every year; - There is no indication against the long-term trend in patent filings which has always been onwards and upwards², even if the short-term variations may seem random.

What should be happening

- The EPO should let the colleagues do their work³, offer them a pleasant working environment⁴ and a career⁵ worthy of that name; - The EPO should have been recruiting at a rate that is commensurate with the number of people that will be leaving in a few years from now – especially in DG1 which is responsible for the core business and yet is severely understaffed – if we want to have some time to transfer knowledge; - The EPO should streamline the activities of all DG's towards the main task of the Office: granting (and refusing) patents according to the EPC.

What is happening - Even if production targets would remain the same in the future, productivity targets are necessarily going up with the dwindling numbers of staff actually doing the work³; - Our targets for recruitment in DG1 are an order of magnitude too low for examiners – and the administration isn’t even willing to look to recruit formalities. Recruitment on both fronts should have started years ago. The administration keeps on relying on internal transfers, which amounts to digging a hole to fill _____________ ¹ 2021 EPO Social Report – Age histogram is on page 9 ² CSC Paper: depletion of the workforce – failure to recruit ³ CSC Publication: Quality paper ⁴ CSC Publication of a submission by an anonymous drafter ⁵ CSC Publications: Rewards 2022 – 5 parts

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another one. And – mainly thanks to the 5-year contracts – the administration struggles to reach even these too-low recruitment targets; - At the same time, the administration keeps on sprinkling new (director) posts across all other DG’s⁶, instead of recruiting in DG1; - It appears that Production is now the top priority, directors and even the COO are apparently being brought back to the production line⁷. The impact on quality remains to be seen – a topic EPO users seem particularly concerned about at the moment⁸; - BTT is pushing people out of their offices and into a de-personalised one-fits-all working environment that few colleagues appreciate – early implementation appears to be chaotic to say the least⁹; - The 2023 rewards exercise will see a further real decrease in the number of colleagues that will get to see any kind of a step forward in their career¹⁰.

Conclusion

We invite the EPO to observe the facts and change course as soon as possible: the Administrative Council might be pushing for "green in June", but our senior management should be looking at the longer-term sustainability of the office by: - ensuring appropriate workforce replacement and in-depth knowledge transfer, - focus on quality in order to keep the EPO's competitive edge and - managing personnel as a precious resource rather than a liability.

Your SUEPO Team

_____________ ⁶ CSC Report on the GCC meeting of (i.a.) 08/02/2023 – GCC/DOC 01/2023 – reorganisations ⁷ LSCTH Publication: All Hands on Deck ⁸ Stuttgarter Zeitung; RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland ⁹ CSC Publication: BTT – a divisive exercise ¹⁰ CSC Publication: 2023 Rewards Exercise

This coming weekend we'll revisit the EPO's attempts to silence us with legal threats (can't help themselves, can they?), joined by Team UPC, which basically acts like the Italian Mafia. Is Milan part of the UK yet? After Brexit and all? Asking for a 'unitary effect' (UPC) applicant... ⬆