03.02.16
German Television to Cover the EPO Scandals at 9 PM (CET) Tonight — Half an Hour From Now (Updated)
German Media Redux: The last thing the top-level management wants is transparency inside the European Patent Office, especially after relative calm in German media [1, 2]
Summary: There is finally quite a lot of German media coverage (radio, television, newspapers) about the truth inside the European Patent Office
TECHRIGHTS still has some work in progress when it comes to German media (more on that in the future). There’s also hope that someone will translate “Verwaltungsrat gegen Amtspräsident” for us. It’s getting a little out of date, but it turns out that it reached far and wide. “A new article by Thomas Magenheim-Hörmann was published on 29 February,” one reader told us yesterday. “The article appeared in the Münchner Merkur and various regional daily newspapers such as the Oberbayrisches Volksblatt.”
“V channels and newspapers may soon cover the EPO affairs a lot more than before, based on what we know and have heard.”German translations aren’t the main priority, however, nor is the pressure for German media to actually cover the developments at the EPO. TV channels and newspapers may soon cover the EPO affairs a lot more than before, based on what we know and have heard. Soon we will also have some videos to share.
Later tonight there will be a program on German television and now comes this preparatory article.
A lot of people are writing to us about it today (and even yesterday). “BR TV “Kontrovers”at 2100 tonight, German local time,” one person reminded us. Some people already sent some explanations and translations.
“Some people already sent some explanations and translations.”Regarding “Bavarian TV report tonight,” one reader told us, “in case you hadn’t already been made aware, there’s a documentary about the EPO on mainstream TV tonight (Bayerisches Fernsehen – it doesn’t get more mainstream than that). The programme will air tonight at 9pm local time.”
“Here’s the teaser. And here’s a translation of the teaser,” the reader added with the following preceding remark (we used a screenshot for fair use):
(not sure of the copyright on the photo. the credit is given as Photo: picture-alliance/dpa/Andreas Gebert on the BR website.)
When a dream job becomes a nightmare
A job at the European Patent Office is supposed to be highly lucrative; the pay is generous, and with minimal deductions. And yet, for some employees, the glass palace on the banks of the Isar is a golden cage. Kontrovers [documentary programme] takes a look behind the facade.
EPA in München | Bild: picture-alliance/dpa/Andreas Gebert
The European Patent Office exists to protect the rights of inventors. But many people are critical of its lack of protection for the rights of its own employees. Those responsible at the European Patent Office do not feel bound by fundamental principles of German employment law, such as the special status of employee representatives, pointing instead to its status a supranational organisation, above the German state. Is this really legitimate?
“For information,” added another reader, “German media reports about the EPO” are on their way, including the above from Bayrischer Rundfunk (BR). “This evening,” added this reader, “(2 March 2016 at 21:00 Central European Time) the Bavarian broadcaster Bayrischer Rundfunk will report in detail on the situation at the EPO in the current affairs program “BR Kontrovers”.”
“The program will hopefully be viewable online at the following link after transmission.”
“Some people already sent some explanations and translations.”TV programs in Dutch sure shifted/changed public opinion (we see this online). If Germany, where the population in considerably larger (bigger by more than an order of magnitude), the same thing can happen, there will be no turning back for Team Battistelli. Germany has a very strong position in EU political circles.
“A report was also broadcast today on Bavarian Radio,” our reader added, confirming what we later found out from Florian Müller (already mentioned this morning). “The text at the following link corresponds to the content of the audio broadcast” (we should note that this link is currently broken, so if anyone can find a working link, please let us know).
“A short 3 minute video clip from Bayrischer Rundfunk can be seen here,” added this reader (no point ripping it for local hosting if the full program will soon be made available even on television). “The video can be downloaded from this link,” our reader added, just in case someone wishes to keep a local copy for future reference. We will try to make sense of it all after the broadcasting. We’ll appreciate readers’ help with this. █
Update (21:51, same day): The TV program about the EPO (from less than two hours ago) is now online at this page. The EPO stuff starts at 11:56 (nearly 12 minutes from the start).
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