06.07.16
EPO’s Old Spokesman (10 Years in Munich) Resigns Again After Only 5 Weeks, EPO is Just Buying the Media Now
At what cost?
Summary: Oswald Schröder, who left the EPO when things turned truly disastrous, is leaving again and it seems apparent that spending millions of Euros buying the media is all that Team Battistelli has got left before the public realises that it’s just another FIFA
POLITICAL pressure against the EPO is growing again. Politicians speak to one another and it starts to be too much for Battistelli to bear.
We don’t expect Battistelli to be able to ‘buy’ his way into silencing them like he does the Administrative Council and he cannot just blacklist YouTube or the European Parliament’s Web sites Office-wide (this is how Battistelli increasingly deals with dissent, having resorted to the most miserable measurements imaginable, short of hiring mercenaries to murder his perceived enemies). Now that JoinUp at Europe.eu publishes “Portugal to boost digital economy with EUR 1.9 billion” we can’t help thinking of this week’s 'gift' from Battistelli to Portugal. How will that turn out? The whole media strategy of the EPO right now is just “pay lots of money for media companies to say nice things” (i.e. buy the media) and this is very expensive. It’s gross waste and abuse from a leadership that’s about to have a ‘FIFA/Blatter moment’.
“Remember that IAM was chosen to organise UPC propaganda events supported by the EPO and financed by the EPO’s PR firm along with UPC profiteers.”Based on this new article from Luxembourg, the EPO’s spokesperson who left (we last mentioned this last year, he had worked for the EPO in Munich for a decade) is leaving again after just 5 week at the GDL palace. To quote an automated translation of the article about Oswald Schröder: “Just five weeks he was in office: Now, the new spokesman for the Grand Ducal Court, Oswald Schröder, already resigned. [...] Schroeder’s departure is the second to hold the post in the last months. Last fall spokeswoman Isabelle Faber had resigned with immediate effect on their function. Then took a “Comité de pilotage” led by Nadège Lartigue communication of the court to the outside. On May 1, Oswald Schröder was presented as the new spokesman for the court. Schroeder was formerly marketing director of BGL Bank and Spokesman of the European Patent Office in Munich. His deputy is Caroline Verhoeven, who has worked for the European Commission and a short time from the publisher “Maison modern”.”
Maybe Oswald Schröder simply left the EPO because he saw what was coming. We could use a translation of the entire article.
Joff Wild, one of Battistelli’s propaganda troops (IAM), is still promoting the UPC. Remember that IAM was chosen to organise UPC propaganda events supported by the EPO and financed by the EPO's PR firm along with UPC profiteers. Here is the latest from Wild, wrongly assuming people actually want the UPC:
Beating Brexit – So it turns out a few senior IP people have noticed the opinion polls in the UK indicating that the Leave side in the country’s referendum on EU membership is now ahead of the Remain side. The conventional wisdom is that if the UK does vote to quit the EU, then the Unified Patent Court agreement will remain unratified and the new regime will not come into force until, at the earliest, the UK formally departs. But, wait a minute, some people are now saying. The UPC is not an EU Treaty, it is an inter-governmental one. Were the UK to ratify it would not necessarily be going against the spirit of the referendum result and, in any case, it will remain a member state for a fair while even if the result is for Leave on 23rd June. Of course, this depends on how the UK government sees things. The country’s IP minister is, like the Prime Minister David Cameron, a Remainer. The justice minister, Michael Gove, on the other hand, is a prominent Leaver. But if the UK government can be persuaded to sign up despite a vote to depart, then – the thinking seems to be – a way will be found in the period that exists between that vote and departure to ensure that whatever happens the UK remains within the unitary patent system. It’s hard to believe that British industry would not want that – the country’s patent profession certainly does – and it’s not as if patents are high-profile. Essentially, no-one would actually notice. It makes sense, I guess; but whether it would actually be the right thing to do once the will of the people has been expressed is very much open to question. (JW)
The bottom line is this. As people will find out later this week, the EPO’s media strategy is just to pay the media. No wonder Schröder is no longer at the EPO. It’s embarrassing. █
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