10.06.16
Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 5:55 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Sending a warning shot the boards’ way (Chairman of the Enlarged Board of Appeal is next to go)…
Source (original): Rospatent
Summary: Staff of the EPO is still fighting back against the chopper and liar in chief, Mr. Battistelli, whose flagrant disregard for the law is odious as he keeps “turning a blind eye on infringements of fundamental rights in the EPO”
LAST NIGHT we wrote about the EPO‘s kangaroo courts, which have become a hallmark of Battistelli’s horrible, horrendous regime. The following latest comment discusses how Battistelli keeps defaming a judge whom he dislikes, using the “Nazi” bat (not the judge's club). He would have everyone laid off if he could. Instead he systematically fires/sanctions/silences all or most of the staff’s representatives (a top-down approach). Nobody is safe when allegations can be made up, fabricated, or sexed up/distorted based on half-truths. There is no access to justice within the EPO or even outside of it.
“Every bit of negative publicity which the EPO has received is something that Battistelli and his goons deserve; they have done this to themselves, not just with their words but also with their actions.”“Yeah,” a new comment says, “so ridiculous that they were eventually dropped by the “prosecution” and did not feature in the June proceedings. However, rumour has it that a certain batty-brain keeps trotting them out at regular intervals to remind his retainers why the suspension should be maintained.”
Quoting the previous message that said: “The accusations were downright ridiculous: having “objects which can be constructed as weapons” and “nazi memorabilia”. The exact wording at the time fails me, but it really sounded as if they combed his office and found nothing but a pocket knife and an history book to frame him.”
It wasn’t a pocket knife but sporting equipment (a club). Would a tennis racket qualify as a weapon? How about a bowling bowl? For weaponry fetishes look no further than Jesper Kongstad and his political friends who like to murder large animals for reaction/leisure (we covered this in the morning).
“The guy is a chronic liar and as time goes by he needs to lie more and more (keeping up with previous lies), to the point where almost every sentence out of his mouth is a lie…”Every bit of negative publicity which the EPO has received is something that Battistelli and his goons deserve; they have done this to themselves, not just with their words but also with their actions. “Is it just me,” I publicly asked earlier today, “or has someone else noticed that a lot of the media distances itself from/avoids Battistelli for fear of reputation damage?” The guy is a chronic liar and as time goes by he needs to lie more and more (keeping up with previous lies), to the point where almost every sentence out of his mouth is a lie (see this latest interview with him).
We have meanwhile been learning more about next week's EPO protest. “Forthcoming demonstration[s] on 13 October,” we learned, are planned for The Hague (there is also a demonstration planned for Munich).
People are said to be “organizing a demonstration on 13 October at lunch time in The Hague to draw the attention of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of The Netherlands and the Representation of the EU in The Netherlands that urgent action is needed. Letting Mr Battistelli ignore the AC resolution CA/26/16 or turning a blind eye on infringements of fundamental rights in the EPO cannot be the policy of democratic EU members states.”
This coincides with the meeting of the Administrative Council. The main question on people’s mind is, will Jesper Kongstad be Battistelli’s lapdog, lap chinchilla, or maybe he’ll finally wake up and realise he’s supposed to be a watchdog? █
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Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 6:31 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
One must not interfere with the brainwash (a so-called 'conference') that targets Administrative Council delegates (read-only/watch-only)
Larger (more legible) version
Summary: Another new wave of EPO propaganda is upon us, and it helps keep the world silent while EPO management drives people to suicide, breaks legitimate unions, and flagrantly disregards all sorts of laws in pursuit of quick cash (at the expense of Europe)
THE EPO‘s management is a house of cards. It’s a house of cards because the harder it tries to cover up its many abuses, the more it pisses off the staff and the more stakeholders worry. What has the EPO become if not something an order of magnitude worse than FIFA and Volkswagen (Dieselgate)? Battistelli is now fighting a battle against truth itself, combating truth-tellers as though they’re Nazis and criminals (whom he habitually compares them to).
“Battistelli is now fighting a battle against truth itself, combating truth-tellers as though they’re Nazis and criminals (whom he habitually compares them to).”A few months ago a Spanish staff representative gave a spoken/oral testimony to the Administrative Council delegates. Battistelli probably doesn’t want to risk that happening again, so watch the preparations above (published earlier today). Well, it’s on the Intranet, so everyone would have seen it. There’s no need for comment, is there? SUEPO, the EPO’s only real staff union (about half of all EPO staff are SUEPO members), has already complained about being excluded.
The media has certainly been paralysed by now, so we don’t expect it to cover this story about brainwashing the delegates. It will just watch idly (if at all) while Battistelli and his liars for hire (commissioned bogus ‘studies’) lie to the whole world. Why is the Administrative Council consenting to this horrible exercise in propaganda? Why are people who complain about it (in advance) totally ignored?
“We’re dealing with quite a monster here and it’s politically-connected, immune from the law, and highly abusive at so many levels.”The material upon which the propaganda will be based was published late on a Friday. It was only published internally. The target audience is certainly the converted (to which there’s no need to preach), so in essence they wasted a lot of money paying some dodgy firms to say what they wish to hear, under the pretense of ‘independent’ assessment/audit. Will the Chairman of the Administrative Council be a “yes man” in this meeting? We would be surprised if it didn’t turn out to be the case.
As we said last night, calling the EPO “rotten” is an understatement. We’re dealing with quite a monster here and it’s politically-connected, immune from the law, and highly abusive at so many levels. Who or what can ever stop this beast? █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 5:58 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The connection between the Danish Minister responsible for the DKPTO (where the EPO’s Chairman of the Administrative Council is from) and a highly controversial industry
IN today's leading article that we have just published, soon followed by the first addendum (visuals), we already explained the connection between Danish politics and the EPO — a connection to be later emphasised (in later parts of this series). Animal fur (i.e. skin/flesh) will be a recurring theme. Farmhouses too will be a recurring theme.
Some additional information about the Danish Minister might be worth taking stock of before we proceed to future parts. This post contains some further information about Troels Lund Poulsen, the Danish Minister responsible for the DKPTO. Poulsen resides on a 20-hectare farm in between Tølløse and Bukkerup close to the Iselfjord on Zealand. The location of his farmstead is Bukkerupvej 153, 4340 Tølløse (Google Maps or Google Street View).
During his time as Environment Minister he earned the nickname “Tractor Troels” due to his liking for photo ops with tractors. Some sample photos are shown below.
Regarding the connections to the fur industry, we’ve noticed that in May 2016 Kopenhagen Fur ran a puff-piece about Poulsen’s visit as Minister for Business and Growth to the Kolding Design College (Designskolen Kolding) in the harbour town of Kolding on the Jutland peninsula. The puff piece is entitled “Troels Lund Poulsen looks at fur design” and includes a photo of Poulsen looking at a piece of fur (i.e. dead animal/s). We reproduce it below (fair use under criticism criterion).
In simple terms, the photo just shows of the Minister Troels Lund Poulsen looking at fur design during his visit to the Kolding Design College in May 2016. Photo courtesy of Kopenhagen Fur.
In the coming days we intend to publish the next part of our series. █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 5:26 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Additional information (with visuals) regarding the article “Kongstad’s Political Masters in Denmark and Rumoured Connections to the Venstre Party”
THERE are side items which relate to the detailed article that we have just published in relation to the EPO.
Here are some photos (a collage we’ve made) of the Danish Minister Poulsen responsible for the DKPTO.
Large version
Also included is a Danish caricature referring to the “Troelex” affair where he got into trouble over accepting an expensive Rolex watch from the Saudi king:
Read our detailed article to better understand the relevance and significance of this latter cartoon.
Photos of Michael Dithmer might help put a face on the name that was mentioned quite a lot in our feature article as well. Here are some photos of the Permanent Secretary Michael Dithmer, who likes to hunt (kill) animals.
Large version
A photo of Poulsen (Minister) and Dithmer (Permanent Secretary) during an official visit to Shanghi can be found below.
Copies of the official CVs of Poulsen [PDF] and of Dithmer [PDF] are saved here as well, in case they modify these in the future (we already covered examples where lawyers changed their CVs in order to hide their connections to Microsoft after they had been exposed by the media or by blogs). █
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Posted in Europe, Finance, Patents at 4:44 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Another classic graphic on the Danish theme…
Summary: A look at the political context surrounding the Chairman of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation
IN the opening part of this series and in the previous post (with addendum that contains photos) we introduced readers to the Chairman of the Administrative Council of the EPO, Mr. Kongstad. Our exploration of this topic is very much relevant to the EPO, as shall become apparent towards the end of this long series.
“Kongstad seems to be in a position of significant power as the Chairman of the EPO Administrative Council. But it’s important to remember that this position is essentially that of a “primus inter pares” in relation to the delegates of the other member states of the EPO.”Mr. Kongstad is no orodinary person. Kongstad seems to be in a position of significant power as the Chairman of the EPO Administrative Council. But it’s important to remember that this position is essentially that of a “primus inter pares” in relation to the delegates of the other member states of the EPO.
For example, under the Administrative Council’s Rules of Procedure, any delegate can raise objections to the Chairman’s conduct of business and, if the objection is not upheld, the delegate may call for a decision by the Council.
Apart from this it should not be forgotten that as Director of the DKPTO, Kongstad is effectively a mid-ranking national civil servant who is ultimately subject to the authority of his political masters back home in Denmark.
For that reason it could be interesting to have a closer look at where the buck stops back in Copenhagen.
“Apart from this it should not be forgotten that as Director of the DKPTO, Kongstad is effectively a mid-ranking national civil servant who is ultimately subject to the authority of his political masters back home in Denmark.”The Ministry responsible for oversight of the DKPTO is the Ministry of Business and Growth. The current Minister is Troels Lund Poulsen who is a member of the Venstre party.
Before scrutinising Poulsen’s colourful and chequered political career, a short digression to provide some background about the Venstre party might be useful for readers who are not familiar with Danish politics.
Venstre – a Danish political curiosity
The Danish word “Venstre” literally means “The Left” but the party which bears this name is actually a centre-right conservative-liberal party with agrarian roots.
Venstre was founded in 1870 as part of a farmers’ movement against the landed aristocracy. Traditionally it was a conservative party advocating free trade and farmers’ interests as opposed to the interests of the aristocracy which were the platform of the other conservative party Højre (The Right). In the 1960s Venstre reinvented itself as a more classical liberal party. Today it is the major party of the centre-right in Denmark, and the third largest party in the country. It espouses an economically liberal “free market” ideology and some people would classify it as belonging to the “neo-liberal” camp.
“The Danish word “Venstre” literally means “The Left” but the party which bears this name is actually a centre-right conservative-liberal party with agrarian roots.”The party has often been in government usually as a coalition partner and many Danish Prime Ministers have come from its ranks.
In the most recent Danish parliamentary elections in 2015, Venstre received 19.5% of the vote, and 34 out of 179 seats. The government which formed following the election is a minority government consisting of Venstre alone which is supported by the other right wing parties. The current party leader and Prime Minister is Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
The Minister – Troels “Troelex” Lund Poulsen
Troels Lund Poulsen was appointed as Minister of Business and Growth in June 2015.
“It espouses an economically liberal “free market” ideology and some people would classify it as belonging to the “neo-liberal” camp.”Poulsen (D.o.B 1976) is a longtime member of Venstre who became politically active at 16, when he joined Venstre’s youth organisation Venstres Ungdom (“Liberal Youth”). A few years later, he had advanced to become its national chairman.
After finishing secondary school, Poulsen started university in 1996 but he never completed his history studies and left university without a degree.
His first and only non-elected jobs were as assistant to Venstre’s press chief, Michael Kristiansen, and as press coordinator for the Danish property development firm Ørestadsselskabet — two positions where he appears to have learned the fine art of spin doctoring.
In 2001, at age 25, Poulsen was elected to the Danish Parliament. Just six years later, he was appointed to the first of four ministerial posts which he has held:
- Minister for the Environment from November 23rd 2007 to February 23rd 2010.
- Minister for Taxation from February 23rd 2010 to March 8th 2011.
- Minister for Education from March 8th 2011 to October 3rd 2011.
- Minister for Business and Growth from June 28th 2015.
Source: Troels Lund Poulsen
“After finishing secondary school, Poulsen started university in 1996 but he never completed his history studies and left university without a degree.”Despite his meteoric rise in Venstre, Poulsen’s political career has also been dogged by controversy as documented by the Copenhagen Post in an article published in December 2011 entitled “Taxgate: Just who is Troels Lund Poulsen?”.
Source: Taxgate: Just who is Troels Lund Poulsen?
The Copenhagen Post article reveals that during his first ministerial appointment as environmental minister from 2007 to 2010, he brokered a deal to import and store the poisonous waste material hexachlorbenzene (HCB), a known animal carcinogen, from Australia. HCB is banned under the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants.
It was also during that time that Poulsen was widely criticised for accepting the gift of a 65,000 DKK (approx. 8,700 EUR) Rolex watch from the king of Saudi Arabia, the leader – and for then refusing to release his tax return to prove that he had declared the expensive gift. Poulsen finally decided to return the watch in order to silence his critics.
“The Copenhagen Post article reveals that during his first ministerial appointment as environmental minister from 2007 to 2010, he brokered a deal to import and store the poisonous waste material hexachlorbenzene (HCB), a known animal carcinogen, from Australia.”This incident earned him the nickname “Troelex” in the Danish media.
From 2010 to early 2011, Poulsen was Minister of Taxation – a job which he appeared to carry out without controversy until the so-called “Taxgate affair” surfaced in late 2011 some time after he had moved on to the Education Ministry.
Poulsen’s appointment to the Education Ministry in March 2011 was the result of another Venstre-government embarrassment which forced the then-PM Rasmussen to fire his Immigration Minister Hornbech and reshuffle the cabinet. During his seven months as education minister, Poulsen – who left university without a degree – was lampooned in the media as the “uneducated education minister”.
However, the incident which seems to have been most damaging to his reputation was the “Taxgate affair” which had been simmering in the background for some time previously but only really began to attract public attention in November 2011.
A timeline of the case can be found in an article entitled “Taxgate: How it all went down” which was published in the Copenhagen Post in December 2011 as an official enquiry was beginning.
Source: Taxgate: How it all went down
“During his seven months as education minister, Poulsen – who left university without a degree – was lampooned in the media as the “uneducated education minister”.”In December 2011 an official investigation was ordered into allegations that Poulsen and officials from the Taxation Ministry had been involved attempts to influence a tax audit of the opposition Social Democratic leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt and her husband Stephen Kinnock. At the same time Poulsen announced that he was taking a six month leave of absence from Parliament. One Danish journalist quipped that Poulsen might soon have the opportunity to complete his history degree now that his future in politics was looking less promising.
The Taxgate investigation went on for 16 months and involved the hearing of a total of 45 witnesses. The final cost to the Danish taxpayer was estimated in excess of 19 million DKK (approx. 2.5 million EUR) as reported by the Copenhagen Post in an article entitled “As Taxgate finally wraps up, total tab hits 19 million” published in December 2013.
Source: As Taxgate finally wraps up, total tab hits 19 million
“Poulsen is reputed to be fully loyal to his superiors “above and beyond the call of duty” and it seems that his loyalty to the party has been rewarded in spite of the many controversies which have overshadowed his career to date.”Political commentators have described “Taxgate” as one of the biggest scandals to hit Danish politics in recent times. Politiken newspaper’s editor-in-chief Bo Lidegaard has said that the case reeked of “political corruption” and “abuse of power”.
Although Poulsen’s reputation was undoubtedly damaged by the affair, he nevertheless managed to make a political come-back in June 2015 when he was appointed as Minister of Business and Growth in the newly formed Venstre minority government.
Poulsen is reputed to be fully loyal to his superiors “above and beyond the call of duty” and it seems that his loyalty to the party has been rewarded in spite of the many controversies which have overshadowed his career to date.
The “éminence grise” – Permanent Secretary Michael Dithmer
A significant figure in the chain of command between Kongstad and his Minister appears to be the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Business and Growth, Michael Dithmer.
“Bendtsen came under investigation for corruption in 2009 as a result of allegations that large Danish companies had paid for 23 hunting trips and 25 golf tours for Bendtsen and officials from his Ministry.”A long-serving career civil servant, Dithmer is also reputed to have strong Venstre connections. Both of his parents were lawyers and were Venstre members who sat on the Copenhagen City Council. It is suspected that Dithmer might also be a party member but this has not been confirmed.
In his role as a senior civil servant Dithmer is normally less exposed to the limelight than politicians like Poulsen but it turns out that he has also been involved in a fair share of controversies during his career.
From 2001 to 2008, Bendt Bendtsen, a member of the Conservative Party, acted as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic and Business Affairs under Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. During this time Dithmer’s duties as Permanent Secretary included advising the Minister about potential conflicts of interest in relation to gifts and benefits in kind.
Bendtsen came under investigation for corruption in 2009 as a result of allegations that large Danish companies had paid for 23 hunting trips and 25 golf tours for Bendtsen and officials from his Ministry.
“It was also reported that in 2007 Dithmer used his official BMW 730i with chauffeur to buy a new hunting rifle during a trip to Jutland.”The total amounts of the benefits alleged to have been received were reported to be of the order of 250,000 DKK (approx. 33,500 EUR).
Source: Bendt Bendtsen meldt for bestikkelse
During the investigation into Bendtsen’s affairs it emerged that Dithmer himself had been a willing participant in a number of hunting trips which had been paid for by DHH (Det danske Hedeselskabet), a business foundation which is one of Denmark’s biggest firms in private forest management and is involved in the commercial trade of forest properties in Denmark and the Baltic region. It was also reported that in 2007 Dithmer used his official BMW 730i with chauffeur to buy a new hunting rifle during a trip to Jutland.
Source: Bendtsens højre hånd fik selv jagtture”
“By 2009 the Danish press was already reporting that the cumulative losses associated with Roskilde Bank had reached the level of DKK 10 billion (approx 1.35 billion EUR) and were expected to climb even higher.”Dithmer also came under fire in connection with the collapse of Roskilde Bank, a regional lender that had existed since 1884. During the years preceding the recent global financial crisis the bank became a test laboratory for “innovative accounting”. It was later found to have grossly exaggerated the value of its assets, while the management indulged in self-enrichment by awarding itself millions in stock options and bonuses. After unsuccessful government-backed attempts to find a buyer, Roskilde Bank was finally declared insolvent in August 2008. By 2009 the Danish press was already reporting that the cumulative losses associated with Roskilde Bank had reached the level of DKK 10 billion (approx 1.35 billion EUR) and were expected to climb even higher.
Source: Roskilde Bank – taxpayers’ nightmare
Following the Roskilde insolvency, about one-third of Denmark’s banks either collapsed or were absorbed by bigger rivals.
In September 2009, the Danish Social Democrats called for an investigation into what Bendtsen had known about Roskilde back in 2006 at a time when the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) was already aware that the bank was in trouble.
“In January 2012, reports appeared in the Danish press that Dithmer had been the main inspiration behind economic measures which had cost the treasury at least 2.1 billion DKK (approx. 280 million EUR).”It was claimed that although the Ministry had been repeatedly briefed about the situation at Roskilde, officials in the Ministry had failed to pass the relevant information on to the Minister. Dithmer’s role in the affair came under scrutiny and questions were asked about what was claimed to be his close personal relationship with the Director of the FSA, Henrik Bjerre-Nielsen.
Source: Kendte Bendtsen til Roskilde Banks problemer?
In January 2012, reports appeared in the Danish press that Dithmer had been the main inspiration behind economic measures which had cost the treasury at least 2.1 billion DKK (approx. 280 million EUR). According to one report, in his role as Permanent Secretary he had pushed through a special government guarantee of 13.6 billion DKK (approx. 1.83 billion EUR) to Amagerbanken under Brian Mikkelsen, Bendtsen’s successor as Minister of Economic and Business Affairs. The measure was approved despite the fact that the Ministry had been advised against issuing a guarantee by Finansiel Stabilitet, a state-owned public limited company which was responsible for winding up the activities taken over from distressed banks.
Source: This page about Michael Dithmer
“In the next installment we shall start to look at Mr. Kongstad’s private entrepreneurial activities which he seems to pursue with almost as much enthusiasm as his day-job as Director of the DKPTO.”As a seasoned political operator Dithmer managed to weather these storms and to hold on to his position as the ” éminence grise” of the Ministry of Business and Growth. It has been rumoured that his connections to Venstre may have helped him to emerge relatively unscathed from the various controversies in which he has been implicated but this cannot be confirmed.
That concludes our little excursion through the corridors of power in Copenhagen where the political masters of the DKPTO reside. In the next installment we shall start to look at Mr. Kongstad’s private entrepreneurial activities which he seems to pursue with almost as much enthusiasm as his day-job as Director of the DKPTO. █
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10.05.16
Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 6:57 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Another TTIP/TPP-like spiel… because they want all the money and power and would lie for it
Reference: Peter Popoff
Mr. Popoff lied to people (said he spoke for God) and seriously harmed them in order to get their money. Likewise, the EPO and so-called ‘experts’ (a conspiracy of self-serving law firms) are lying to people (while claiming to speak for SMEs) in order to systematically rob Europe with broad lawsuits and shakedowns.
Summary: Another fine example where the echo chamber of Team UPC is trying to sell us the illusion that European businesses want the UPC
THIS Web site has spoken out against the UPC for nearly a decade, since before it was even known as “UPC”. One might think that it’s all over for UPC amid Brexit, but don’t put the guards down and rest on the laurels because history shows that foul play and nefarious tricks can accomplish all sorts of things, by pulling the right strings behind closed doors. We see this in TISA, CETA, TTIP, TPP, ACTA or whatever the powerful corporations and their lobbyists/lawyers want to have.
Also, the UPC ‘mission creep’ can still be found on the surface…
Bristows, a UPC pusher and British parasite, wants us to believe that the words of Tilmann (mentioned here before in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]) count for something objective. Team UPC basically cites another Team UPC member and people notice this. One of them said that the paper was “authored under the chairmanship of Prof. Tilmann” (which isn’t OK).
IP Kat promotes the UPC quite a lot these days, at least when it’s Bristows staff authoring the posts. Here is the comment in full (under the misleading article with a misleading headline, courtesy of Bristows staff):
Since the author is keeping quite on this: “The German Bar Association’s recent position paper” was authored under the chairmanship of Prof. Tilmann who is presiding over the relevant sub-committee. For obvious reasons, this is not irrelevant and should be mentioned, at least if an objective information of the readers was intended.
So Tilmann of Team UPC interjected himself into IP Kat through Bristows (Team UPC). Nice propaganda, but people do notice:
To be fully objective, it should be stated as well that Prof. Tilmann is as well uttering a pro-domo plea as he has been heavily involved in the launching of the UPC. That the German Bar Association position paper reflects the position of its chairman is not a surprise.
In German he can be qualified as “Wendehals”, i.e. flexible neck.
In a first paper analysing Opinion 1/09 of the EuCJ, he was most adamant that the UPC was only open to EU member states. After Brexit, this opinion was not so important and a few amendments to the UPC under Art 87 would allow not only the post Brexit participation of the UK, but also further non EU member states.
It is amazing to see how an opinion can change when one’s own interests are at stake…..
We hope that IP Kat realises what it’s stooping down to. I confronted one of their writers this morning. █
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Posted in Asia, Europe, Patents at 6:38 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Who needs examiners anyway? Battistelli makes the EPO more like INPI or SIPO (China).
Summary: The highly corrosive and destructive nature of Battistelli’s EPO presidency is demonstrated by his latest moves, which he foolishly advertises in the EPO’s Web site today (both the so-called ‘news’ section and his so-called ‘blog’)
WHETHER or not the EPO is becoming 'French' (i.e. no patent examination) it might be too early to tell, but in a matter of 2-3 years the stock will have run out and EPO examiners can expect massive layoffs. Insiders too tell us so.
“Battistelli is causing irreparable damage and people are seeing that.”The very low quality of patents in China (granted by SIPO, not the Croatian one) may be a sign of things to come at the EPO, under the leadership of Battistelli and the people he brought to the EPO (mostly from France, usually former colleagues from INPI where there’s no quality control). It’s all about quantity, not quality. Apparently, as I was told this earlier today by a university professor, Saudi Arabia had been pursing a similar strategy. They just use patents as trophies (false surrogate for innovation) and provide incentives — sometimes huge financial awards — for people to pursue the dumbest of patents just to increase the number of patents and give the illusion of scientific advancement/leadership. If this sounds like what the EPO is becoming, then it’s probably because it’s true.
“Dusting off some old files (some as old as 18 years ago we’re told!) and rubberstamping them is not “production” but a shoddy job, a cheat, and a rapid destruction of everything that the EPO stands for.”In my daily life I happen to speak to various academics and people who work in my domain. A lot of companies in Europe — as today I’ve learned — are reassessing the value of EPs (European patents) after the EPO descended to the gutter of patent quality. Dutch attorneys too are receiving queries to that effect, based on their letter which we published last week. Battistelli is causing irreparable damage and people are seeing that. Dusting off some old files (some as old as 18 years ago we’re told!) and rubberstamping them is not “production” but a shoddy job, a cheat, and a rapid destruction of everything that the EPO stands for.
Based on this tweet from earlier today and the Battistelli brain fart it links to (warning: epo.org address), the very low-quality patents of China are now common grounds for Battistelli. Is this what he strives for now? Attracting all the rejects, even from other countries, in order to just rubberstamp their rubbish? Is this the future of the EPO? It’s spelling doom for the EPO’s reputation and value. How much would people pay for EPs? 500 Euros apiece? What would that mean to existing grantees of EPs? How can one separate the wheat from the chaff or the noise from the signal? Battistelli, in our view, finds friends only in authoritarian regimes these days (including China) because no honourable politicians in Europe would associate with such a thug (they do their homework or have it done for them by their PAs). Here is the bogus ‘news’ from today (warning: epo.org address), complete with a photo op and glamourisation of the thug, Battistelli. To quote: “On Friday 30 September, President Benoît Battistelli welcomed Commissioner Shen of the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. The visit was held on the occasion of the annual EPO-SIPO Heads of Offices meeting, this year hosted by the EPO in Europe. The meeting is an annual fixture for the two offices and offered a valuable opportunity to discuss strategic topics of mutual interest and to take stock of the results achieved within the framework of both IP5 and bilateral co-operation.”
“Battistelli, in our view, finds friends only in authoritarian regimes these days (including China) because no honourable politicians in Europe would associate with such a thug (they do their homework or have it done for them by their PAs).”Worth noting: this meeting took place in France. Saint-Germain-en-Laye even (Battistelli was the mayor of the Paris suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye). The EPO has no branches/office in France. France is not a host country and France’s patent system is mostly a joke (some say because language barriers discourage applications from being sent there).
Battistelli has made the EPO look like something worse than a joke. It’s a banana republic!
And speaking of bananas, watch today’s news headlines to find “Seedy business: Patent war looms over Europe’s crop diversity”
Well, how far should patent scope go? Under Battistelli, anything goes…
Patents on seeds and plants are supporting a monopoly’s business model, not innovation or common interests. Here is what the article says:
An imminent EU legal opinion on food patents has raised fears among smaller businesses that agrichemical giants such as Monsanto and Syngenta will be able to monopolize varieties of staples like carrots and broccoli.
The European Commission is expected to issue an opinion before the end of the year to clarify ambiguities in EU law over the extent to which food products can be patented. The forthcoming decision has sparked a flurry of 11th-hour lobbying from industry and green campaigners.
The debate hinges on the nature of the innovation and whether the plant breeding techniques constitute genetic modification, or involve processes that are seen as altered or accelerated versions of more natural, biological processes.
Big companies argue that the ability to patent foods and seeds is critical to their business model, which involves pouring millions of euros into engineering bio-tech crops that they say are healthier for consumers and more resistant to pests. Their opponents say biological processes and their products should not be allowed to become exclusive to individual companies. They complain that food security and the environment could be at risk if crop diversity is reduced, with the most common vegetables being controlled by a handful of deep-pocketed companies.
In other news from today, the EPO has granted another crappy patent, this time on a thing that can prevent access to life-saving treatment. The patent is now partly revoked [1, 2, 3, 4]. How many people need to die from Hepatitis C because the EPO under Battistelli continues to fail to actually do the job properly*? Verging endorsement of software patents again, today the EPO links to a notorious page that we wrote about before and soon enough the Office is going south (not just literally), to a country where software patents sort of exist.
“How many people need to die from Hepatitis C because the EPO under Battistelli continues to fail to actually do the job properly?”If the EPO does not sort out its patent quality, for which it earned reputation in the first place, then it will lose everything. Battistelli doesn’t need to care because he can always go back to his political career in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Politicians needn’t retire in their 60s and Nicolas Sarkozy, Battistelli's political ally, is reportedly running for leadership again. █
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* Like organising stupid and self-aggrandising festivals for lobbying purposes at the expense of millions of Euros while buying the media — all this instead of focusing on actually examining patents, then granting or rejecting them based on their merit.
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Posted in Courtroom, Europe, Patents at 5:28 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“The file against me contains so many demonstrably fabricated accusations that I have little doubt I can defend myself – or, rather I would be able to if, our internal system were not what it is currently, a kangaroo court.”
–Laurent Prunier, EPO staff representative
Summary: The EPO’s kangaroo courts and farcical notion of justice should serve as a warning sign to anyone seeking patent justice at the EPO, either as partners/employees or stakeholders/applicants
THE EPO is a horrible, horrible place to work at. The staff survey speaks for itself and people who work for the EPO constantly remind us of the nature of the workplace, comparing it to being in the trenches.
The kangaroo courts of the EPO are some of the most jaw-dropping aspects of the EPO. Anyone can be accused of anything and so-called ‘evidence’ even fabricated or ‘sexed up’ in order to do whatever the egoistic President wants, making up for his insecurities and cluelessness by merely bullying people. We covered several examples of that over the past year. It’s not about one person. There are many victims and only few of them are courageous enough to go public.
President Battistelli believes he can be the accuser, the jury and a judge above the law (both national and international). He also acts a lot like an executioner, judging by the number of dismissal letters he sends out to people who represent staff (we might elaborate on this in some future series). Would EPO managers get away with murdering little girls because of the immunity they proudly claim inside Eponia? Read this new comment (posted today in relation to the EPO):
To: “Et sinon je reprendrais bien des croquettes”
When a drunken diplomat kills a little girl, immunity is upheld, but the diplomat is declared “persona non grata” and sent back to his or her country. The diplomat is then supposed to be judged there.
The Vienna convention was never designed so that diplomats can kill little girls with impunity. It was designed to protect, for example, USA diplomats to be judged for “anti-communist activities” in the former USSR.
In the case of International organisations, however, I am not really sure how the “persona non grata” concept is supposed to apply.
The above continues with more direct statements rather than hypothetical analogies:
Something else.
It has been 3 months since the Enlarged Board published that the EPO President violated judicial independence and nothing has happened. This is outrageous.
There is also the subject of the frivolity of the accusations. The board of appeal member who is the subject of the decision did, as far as I can tell from the available documents, nothing wrong. The accusations were downright ridiculous: having “objects which can be constructed as weapons” and “nazi memorabilia”. The exact wording at the time fails me, but it really sounded as if they combed his office and found nothing but a pocket knife and an history book to frame him.
This is also absolutely outrageous. It looks like the so called “investigation team”, even with major breaches of confidentiality (they bugged the computers used by the Council themselves, remember?) could not find anything serious and yet the board member is still guilty. Of what?
Next, we have had members of Suepo dismissed for, apparently, also nothing. Pure “coincidence”, according to a vice-president. Apparently, a few more will be dismissed soon.
As it was said on German TV: this is “Gantanamo auf Deutschem Boden”. How long will this scandal last?
From what we understand, it was sports equipment (a club), not a knife. It’s amazing how far Battistelli would go to get his way… we can also envision Parallel Construction being used to entrap or perhaps wrongly/falsely accuse the person, who in principle enjoys complete independence from the Office of Battistelli (evidently not in practice, especially when the Council and the Board of Mr. Kongstad become lapdogs rather than watchdogs of Battistelli).
The comment above is interesting and it is new. It’s a comment to which one person replied with a famous saying: “For evil to prevail it is only necessary that good men do nothing …”
I agree. There is a moral duty here. All my coverage regarding the EPO was done for zero financial gain. It’s just the right thing to do.
Another person said this:
The original accusation was that the member of the board of appeal used the public computers of the Office to spread “defamatory” material on VP3 – the weapons and nazi memorabilia were conveniently found later in his office and used for a classical case of character assassination.
To further reinforce the narrative about defamation, VP3 sued the member of the board of appeal for in a German court – you may have read the outcome above (28/09): it appears that the Procurator dismissed the case recently.
How long will this scandal last?
Scandal? Who says this is a “scandal” – you? And what about Newspapers, Lawyers, Judges, the IP world? Did you see any reaction from them? Because I didn’t. Therefore, it’s not a scandal. The Administrative Council is acting like this is totally normal. No scandal here.
If you wanna a scandal read TMZ.
The corporate media — and even so-called ‘IP’ media for that matter (we put IP in scare quotes because it’s a vague term that can refer to a plethora of entirely different things, not necessarily patents) — aids the EPO’s abuses by a conspiracy of silence and indifference. We spoke to some people from within this media and we know how and why they are gagged regarding the EPO. We think that a lot of so-called ‘IP’ media wants to just receive prepared ‘articles’ or advertise in ‘article’ form for the EPO, not engage in actual journalism. We recently covered examples from two major 'IP' media sites. Don’t expect them to cover the EPO scandals because they’re not designed or equipped for that. It’s just not their business model.
“Something is not just rotten at Eponia. Rotten is far too gentle a term and we intend to dig as deep as necessary to show what the EPO has truly become.”“Isn’t that just the point,” asked another new commenter (clustered deep inside an article from June at IP Kat, as the site no longer covers the scandals, just promotes the UPC for Battistelli). “The EPO’s immunity is designed to protect French Enarques from being pursued for “anti-union activities” on the territory of EPOnia. I see no incompatibility with the aims of the Vienna Convention …”
Tomorrow we shall continues our series about Mr. Kongstad. There will be a total of (by our estimation) nearly 10 parts.
Something is not just rotten at Eponia. Rotten is far too gentle a term and we intend to dig as deep as necessary to show what the EPO has truly become. █
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