03.11.16
Posted in Europe, Patents at 7:25 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Credit: Kontrovers
Summary: The Central Staff Committee of the European Patent Office asks the Organisation to take steps against the unjust union-busting moves from Benoît Battistelli, who is eager to cover up his own abuses rather than address these
TWO days ago we wrote about next week's EPO protest and WIPR wrote about it too, noting that the “European Patent Office’s (EPO) largest staff union has called for a demonstration to coincide with the next meeting of the Administrative Council (AC) on March 16.
“The Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) called for a demo yesterday, March 9, following a vote from staff members to take strike action.”
“The Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) called for a demo yesterday, March 9, following a vote from staff members to take strike action.”
–WIPRWe happen to know a little more about this protest and now seems like a good time to share some additional information.
Internal documents suggest that the Central Staff Committee is “being chosen by Staff as their interlocutor for the strike petition. Unfortunately so far no meaningful dialogue with the current management has been possible on the claims of the petition.”
“Clearly, this is meant as an “opportunity to deescalate” to be seized by the Administrative Council…”
–AnonymousFor those who forgot what the petition stated, here it is as an image or as text.
“In the light of the overwhelming results,” says an anonymous person, the Committee “has sent a letter to the Chairman of the Administrative Council explaining the further steps regarding the voted industrial action.”
Someone sent us this letter, which we published the other day. “Clearly,” we learned, “this is meant as an “opportunity to deescalate” to be seized by the Administrative Council (AC):
- Staff will not be satisfied by their representatives just “having a meeting” — a meeting being just an extra tool offered to achieve a goal. Rather staff will be convinced by concrete results.
- This sign of good-will sent to the AC is made in the express expectation that concrete actions are decided at the next session of the AC on the claims made by Staff
It is increasingly being speculated that if Battistelli isn’t told to leave (or leaves of his own volition) later this month he will be replaced in June, which is when the AC will meet after next week.
“…urgently reintegrate the fired colleagues and immediately cease running investigations and disciplinary procedures against staff representatives.”
–AnonymousCommenting on “potential objective success criteria” (success meaning removal of the need for a strike): “Although not expressed, it seems obvious that the first claim of the petition represents a minimum breaking point for staff: Staff expect as a token of genuine change that some form of public instructions is given to the president to review his decision and urgently reintegrate the fired colleagues and immediately cease running investigations and disciplinary procedures against staff representatives.”
This isn’t entirely new. In fact, it’s right there in the petition and also in the B28's text. “Accordingly,” adds the above, the Central Staff Committee can decide on the next steps, e.g. a strike.
Jesper Kongstad, the successor of Battistelli in this position of his (Chairman), can become popular among Office staff by doing the just thing. Anyone can see that union-busting and mock trials just took place. This oughtn’t be tolerated anywhere in Europe. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Europe, Patents, Rumour at 6:34 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The contract of Benoît Battistelli remains a closely-guarded secret and his mouthpieces provide different answers from what he ‘namedrops’ on the media
IT is no secret that the EPO now lies to journalists and lies to EPO staff. We are still waiting for hard, concrete proof of Battistelli’s salary (including all the perks), which should be made apparent from his contract (that he insistently keeps secret, unlike his predecessor).
A new translation of this French article into English [PDF] is rather revealing and below we highlight some of the more important and unique bits:
Autocratic Frenchman under fire
By Florence Autret | 03/03/2016, 7:00 | 618 words
According to the Dutch daily De Telegraaf of 26 February, Benoît Battistelli is said to have demanded a golden handshake to speed up his departure (his term of office was renewed in 2015) of ….18
millions Euros, which would correspond to ten years of service. (Credits: DR) Business at the European Patent has never been better. But discontent is growing against the President. Criticized for his authoritarian management style, accused of nepotism, Benoît Battistelli is said to have attempted to negotiate his own departure – at least, according to the Dutch press. On Thursday, at a press conference in Brussels, he denied this completely, and denounced what he called a “campaign of calumny”.
Article published on Thursday, 3 March 2016 at 7.00, updated at 18.00
On 3 March this 65-year-old graduate of the prestigious French National Business School came to Brussels to present the impeccable results of the organization which he has headed for six years: Last year, patent applications were up by 4.8% in relation to 2014. The European Patent Office, based in Munich since 1973, cashes in on 1.5 billion Euros per year when it comes to registering patents. Its biggest clients are in the United States (27% of the applications), Germany (17%), and Japan (13%), but China is gaining ground with 22% more applications than in 2014.
“This is a reflection of the internationalisation of its companies and a sign of how swiftly it is catching up,” was Benoît Battistelli’s response.
Last year the Chinese Huawei Group came in fourth position after the Dutch Philips and two Korean companies (Samsung and LG), and ahead of Germany’s Siemens. “Europe remains an attractive market for technologies,” as the President also notes. In other words, business is booming.
But in Munich, enough is enough!
But relations between the President and his personnel have never been very good. The Frenchman is accused of nepotism, having brought in as his chief executive a former colleague from the INPI, the National Institute for Intellectual Property, and whose wife has been appointed as director of human resources. The unrest within this organization of 7,000 people is no longer confined to gossip around the coffee machine. The facts are hard and plain: Burn-outs, suicides at the workplace, a whole range of contentious disciplinary procedures against staff representatives, and so on.
In January, following the departure of two union executives, thousands of EPO staff members left their offices to gather in front of the French consulate to demand the departure of the “Frenchman”. “It’s getting worse and worse,” says Pierre-Yves Le Borgn’, French Socialist Deputy for French Citizens Abroad, who for more than two years has been monitoring the happenings at the EPO, and who, at the end of December, had an interview with Emmanuel Macron, the Minister of the Economy. In Paris he is said to have been given assurance that “no-one wants to wait for a fifth suicide to happen” before taking action. At Bercy, on the other hand, the response was “no comment.” A union source told La Tribune on Thursday that there were not four but five suicides in which there appeared to be a link between work and the lead-up to the act, and emphasised that the personnel, consisting essentially of engineers and legal experts, were subjected to “paradoxical constraints” between an intellectually highly demanding form of work and the pressures of performance.
In Germany, as in the Netherlands, where the Office employs 2700 people at the Rijswijk site near The Hague, President Battistelli has regularly featured in one or another of the media. On 2 March Bavarian television broadcast a documentary about the “nightmare” of one of the suicides in Munich.
“The suicides are personal tragedies. It is very difficult to give a reason for such a decision,” the President of the Office commented on Thursday. According to the Dutch daily De Telegraaf of 26 February, Benoît Battistelli is said to have demanded a golden handshake to speed up his departure (his term of office was renewed in 2015) of ….18 millions Euros, which would correspond to ten years of service.
“We don’t comment on rumours,” was the response on Wednesday by La Tribune, the mouthpiece of the EPO, which is one of the ever shrinking group of organizations which does not publish details of the salaries of its executives… Replying to a question from La Tribune, the President indicated that his annual salary, which is not officially published, was “300,000 Euros” annually. The rumours of his departure and the golden handshake, published by De Telegraaf, were “totally unfounded,” he maintained. These 18 million would correspond to the bonus distributed in 2015 to part of the personnel on the basis of performance indicators. “This is a political campaign”, and “calumny” says President Battistelli, who, incidentally was elected onto the municipal council of Saint-Germain en Laye on a list close to the Republicans.
For Pierre-Yves Le Borgn’, the social crisis is only a reflection of the crisis in management. The rule of “one country, one vote” prevails on the governing body, the Administrative Council. “With that principle, you can create silence” by lumping together coalitions of small countries, the Deputy explains. He goes on: “It would be a welcome step if the Member States were to take the matter in hand” by attending a ministerial conference, which has not happened for fifteen years, he says. One country, one vote: “It is the basic rule for international organizations,” replies the President of the EPO. “If the Member States want to change it, I have no objection… but I wish them good luck.” The EPO, which has 38 Member States, is not actually an institution of the European Union, where the influence of the states is weighted according to their size. The situation remains that, as from 2017, it is supposed to deliver the “Unitary Patent”, an industrial and intellectual property instrument created by the European legislature.
The next meeting of the Administrative Council is scheduled for 16 March, and promises to be a stormy event. The revolt has spread from the departments within the Office and is gaining ground among the representatives of the 38 Member States of the organization. In a recent letter to his associate members of the European Union, the Director General of the Patent Office, Jesper Kongstad, a Dane, gave notice of the lodging of a motion demanding an independent audit of the organization, and the suspension of the contentious disciplinary proceedings being taken against the staff representatives. The EPO management has given assurance that the wording of the document which will be submitted to the Council will be “considerably softened.” The President has already announced the convening of a “social conference” in the autumn and the issue of an invitation to tender for the recruitment of an “independent expert” whose task will be to come up with answers about the social situation. On 4 March he is scheduled to meet Martijn Van Dam at The Hague. The Dutch Secretary of State for Economic Affairs has been briefed about the social situation at the Rijswijk site. “The Netherlands are one of the countries which benefits most from the activity of the EPO, both as an employer as well as by way of the number of patents registered by its companies,” was the President’s rejoinder on Thursday. The Netherlands are the fifth country in the organization in terms of patents registered, and Philips hold the lead among the companies involved. Watch this space.
We have had a lot of input about Battistelli’s secret contract (it’s not what Battistelli claims without providing any evidence to the media), but we still hope that someone can leak it to us because of what Battistelli said. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Europe, Patents, Rumour at 10:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
News from Munich…
Summary: A somewhat belated translation of an important recent article from Süddeutsche Zeitung
THE EPO coverage will resume tonight (there’s much more on the way), but in the mean time, as we have just noticed a translation of this article over at SUEPO’s site, here is the English version [PDF] with bits highlighted:
2 March 2016, 19:01
Front Lines Hardening: A Public Authority Teetering on the Brink
Header
Strife at the European Patent Office between President and staff veering more and more out of control
By Katja Riedel
According to the announcement on Wednesday by Benoît Battistelli, President of the European Patent Office (EPO), it is supposed to be an “agreement that truly breaks new ground”. For the first time in the history of the international organization, the word is that a staff union is now being recognized as a social partner, and social peace with the workforce, which up to now has been decidedly hostile, accordingly appears to be just around the corner. However, the Office has chosen to overlook one minor detail: The union with which Battistelli has signed the memorandum of understanding is called FFPE, and, in the world of the EPO, with a workforce more than 7,000 strong, that union so far boasts less than 100 members. And at the Office headquarters in Munich, where some 4,000 people work, and a war has been raging for three years between staff representatives and the President, there is not one single FFPE member. The social dialogue accordingly resembles more of a monologue.
The fact is that in the patent world, which is all but closed to outsiders, another staff union is deeply rooted. This is called Suepo, and it represents about half of the personnel. For decades Suepo was very powerful, and what it said really counted. That is, until Battistelli came, and, on orders from the 38 Member States which had elected him, set about shaping the Office towards greater efficiency. Since then both sides have been engaged in a bitter power struggle, but with unfair resources. The President has far-reaching powers, and he is not afraid to use them, liberally, which has ultimately led from escalation to escalation. For three long years Suepo has been protesting, not just internally, against Battistelli and what they see as his excessive authoritarianism, against reforms which restrict the fundamental rights of staff members, and against Battistelli’s extremely high-handed and heavily centralized management style.
For everyone to see, staff members have marched in their thousands through Munich and to the consulates, seeking to push the Member States into at least debating Battistelli’s reforms with him. But the only body which can give orders to Battistelli has long shown itself to side with the President, and has been gentle in its admonishments, even extending his term of office during the dispute and before the expiry date, until 2018. But now it looks as if Battistelli has overstepped the mark. Since last autumn he has been hitting back hard, suspending a patent judge, who in fact, given the power structure, does not actually come under his jurisdiction at all, which has caused a considerable stir in the various governing bodies as well as on the patent scene in general. According to the findings of an internal investigation unit, the man is supposed to have used more than 20 aliases to conduct a campaign of defamation against the President and other leading executives, and thereby created major upset within the Office. The man disputes the accusations. At the beginning of the year, Battistelli then dismissed Suepo chief executive Elizabeth Hardon, due to alleged bullying and complicity with the judge. Two other members of the Suepo governing body went with her.
Currently doing the rounds in the Office is a letter from the head of the Administrative Council, Jesper Kongstad, a Dane, who once had his eyes on the Presidency. Since then, he has been a Battistelli man – or, more precisely, he was. Kongstad has indicated, on behalf of 28 Member States, that there was something of a showdown with the President within the close management circle at two meetings in February. The main issue appears to have been the social conflict within the Office. In particular, the governing body wanted to discuss the case of the dismissed union members with him. Regrettably, it seems that it was impossible to engage the President in a meaningful dialogue, according to Kongstad’s letter. During the meeting he apparently rejected the requests out of hand, because the Member States were trying to undermine his authority. These attempts included the disciplinary issues as well as allowing the work of the controversial investigation unit to be vetted by an outside source. Battistelli appears to have then left the meeting.
Header
According to some newspapers, such as the Dutch De Telegraaf, the word was that Battistelli had envisaged stepping down, and was negotiating a golden handshake of 18 million Euro. “Utter rubbish” was the response from the circle around the President, and things appear to have calmed down again. Battistelli is said to be prepared to compromise on four out of six issues, but significantly not with regard to disciplinary procedures and external monitoring – the key points. Suepo are accused of stirring up the conflict alone, in order to secure their own survival. The union apparently refused to have further dealings with Battistelli due to the dismissals, nor were they prepared to enter into any agreement which would de facto have caused them to forego further influence.
How things turn out for the Office, for Battistelli, and for social peace, could well be decided in mid-March. Specifically, the demands from the Administrative Council will be high on the formal agenda at the next meeting of its full body. A straightforward majority of 38 votes could then force the President to implement the demands. Should he not do so, the Administrative Council could then, at the next meeting in June, call for him to step down, which would require three-quarters of the votes. The name of a possible successor for the top job is in fact already being bandied about, that of the German member of the Administrative Council, Christoph Ernst, from the Federal Ministry of Justice. Word has it that Battistelli considers that not even to be an option. He is in the best of moods – so it is said.
There is something rather strange (infighting perhaps) going on at Süddeutsche Zeitung, but we’re likely to cover this some time in the future when there’s more clarity on the matter.
Over the weekend we plan to work on making local copies of the TV program which covered the EPO scandals earlier this month (making a wave in Germany and changing public opinion). The EPO’s high-level management is evidently desperate to make it go away, to no longer be accessible online (this has already happened) and gradually be forgotten. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in America, Deception, Microsoft, Patents, Vista 10, Windows at 9:43 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Also openwashing for government contracts, especially when/where government requests standards and code
A leopard can paint over some spots, but a leopard is still a leopard
Summary: The latest strategic moves from Microsoft and how they relate to the whole “warming up to Open Source” or “loves Linux” PR charade
WINDOWS revenue is shrinking. Android (Linux) is taking the lion’s share of the market and the price of Vista 10 fell to something like zero. This is why Microsoft is now using patents in an effort to monetise Android and other GNU/Linux-based operating systems, such as Chrome OS. As Simon Phipps put it this morning [1], “Microsoft announced it had successfully extracted patent licenses out of Wistron of Taiwan for its use of Android and out of Rakuten of Japan for use of Linux and Android. Though there’s been something of a lull in patent aggression lately, it has a long history and generates a significant revenue stream. [...] Microsoft wants members of the Android and Linux communities where it claims membership to pay up crates of cash for patent licenses or face destructive litigation.”
“…Microsoft uses its openwashing of SQL Server as an excuse/marketing tactic, as evidenced by the last article below.”For Microsoft, however, patent extortion is apparently not enough. The company is so greedy that, based on [2] (a Windows proponent bemoaning Windows’ direction), it now further escalates forced ‘upgrade’ to Vista 10 and puts more ads in it [3], even in lock screens (we didn’t find time to cover this development because of heavy EPO coverage).
Despite all this, there are still Microsoft layoffs (we wrote about the latest round thereof earlier this week) and now that the US government, in spite of heavy Microsoft lobbying, leans towards FOSS [4] (there is a lot of press coverage about this right now e.g. [5-11]), Microsoft uses its openwashing of SQL Server as an excuse/marketing tactic, as evidenced by the last article below [12]. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
-
But while this has been going on, you’re not hearing about another part of Microsoft. Simultaneous with the Eclipse and SQL Server announcements, Microsoft announced it had successfully extracted patent licenses out of Wistron of Taiwan for its use of Android and out of Rakuten of Japan for use of Linux and Android. Though there’s been something of a lull in patent aggression lately, it has a long history and generates a significant revenue stream.
Yes, that’s right: With one face, Microsoft wants us to forgive and forget the “cancer” comments, the dirty tricks, and the standards fixing. Even as the body of SCO lays slightly warm following the Redmond-financed fight against Linux, Microsoft wants us to overlook more than a decade of hostility and accept it as a full-status community member because it showed up with code, cash, and compliments. But with the other face, Microsoft wants members of the Android and Linux communities where it claims membership to pay up crates of cash for patent licenses or face destructive litigation.
-
Microsoft has hidden a Windows 10 ad-generator/downloader in a latest security update KB 3139929. This security update is meant for IE11 users who are running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. So, before installing any Patch Tuesday, take a moment to look at what’s inside.
-
If Microsoft’s documentation is correct, installing Patch Tuesday’s KB 3139929 security update for Internet Explorer also installs a new Windows 10 ad-generating routine called KB 3146449.
Many people — present company included — feel that putting an ad generator inside a security patch crosses way over the line. In fact, you have to ask yourself if there are any lines any more.
[...]
If the documentation can be verified, Microsoft’s intrusive Get Windows 10 behavior has reached new lows.
-
-
The White House on Thursday issued a draft policy for public comment that would support making computer code used by federal agencies open source.
It’s part of an on-going effort by the Obama administration to make government computer systems more efficient both by using open source programs and by releasing code written by government agencies both inside and outside the government to use.
-
The Office of Management and Budget’s busy week continued Thursday with its third policy memo in the last seven days.
Along with a draft data consolidation guidance and a final mandate for every agency to set up a Buyers Club for innovative acquisitions, OMB now is taking aim at the software that runs in those data centers and is bought by those procurement experts.
Federal Chief Information Officer Tony Scott released a draft open source software policy March 10 with a goal of reducing duplicative purchases and taking advantage of industry best practices.
-
The Office of Management and Budget has released a draft policy to improve how custom code developed for the government – including code developed by contractors – is acquired and distributed.
-
The White House is looking to make software code used by the federal agencies more open, sharable and reusable. In a March 10 blog post, federal CIO Tony Scott announced a new draft Federal Source Code policy that would create a new set of rules for custom code developed by or for the federal government.
-
The White House issued a draft policy today that would require federal agencies to open source a significant portion of its software code. Under the proposed Federal Source Code Policy, the Office of Management and Budget would pilot the requirement to share publicly all custom code developed in-house by federal IT personnel and at least 20 percent of newly developed custom code by third party developers or vendors on behalf of a covered agency.
-
The administration has been looking to embrace the best practices in software development, using innovation shops like 18F and the U.S. Digital Service to test and promote methods like agile development and making use of open source code.
Now, the entire federal government will be getting on board with the latter. The Office of Management and Budget released the first draft of the Federal Source Code policy, a mandate to make federally-developed code available to everyone.
-
The White House will release a draft policy Thursday for sharing source code among federal agencies, including a pilot program that will make a portion of federal code open source.
-
Analysts said the move would enable the company to compete more effectively with Oracle and IBM, who already produce Linux-compatible database products.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 9:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Original/English
Publicado in Decepción, Europa, Patentes at 8:01 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Image credit: Joeri Beetz
Sumario: Lo que el equipo de PR de la EPO, que esta alineada con los medios conjuntamente con FTI Consulting (la que disfruta de un presupuesto secreto de 80,000 euros al mes), nos dice acerca de los ¨resultados¨ de la EPO es básicamente una mentira, o propaganda basada en estadísticas engañosas.
LOS abusos de la gerencia de la EPO son rarámente justificables, con la excepción de ser presentados como consecuencia de incrementar la productividad, salida, resultados o algo alrededor de esas líneas. La gente que insiste en la justicia y derechos humanos estan siendo caricaturizados como obstáculos a la productividad y un obstáculo en la carretera a la necesaria reforma. Pero alguién lo suficientemente inteligente para trabajar como exáminador de patentes en la EPO sabe que eso son paparruchas. He revisado jornales internacionales en el pasado y se que trabajos apresurados y bajo presión producen resultados equivocados, perezosos y trabajo en vano. Pobres papeles pueden caerse a través de la red y un infeliz reeditor puede malamente rechazar reportajes decentes o perder la huella de ellos.
El año pasado repetidamente mencionamos (varias veces en realidad) las razones por las que los ¨resultados¨ de la EPO són simplemente mentiras inválidas. Señalamos ello, basados en numerosas fuentes, ambas externas e internas. Es SIMPLEMENTE PROPAGANDA, como lo hicimos notar el año pasado. Los números no significan nada. O alternativamente, no significan que periodista crédulos son (mal) llevaron a creer.
“Esto también incluye las solicitudes PCT presentadas en China, que nunca va a traducir en cualquier idioma europeo.”
–Joeri BeetzBueno, gracias a Dios suficientes abogados de patentes tomaron nota de un artículo de Joeri Beetz’s, el que puede ser encontrado aquí. En sus propias palabras: ¨En la primera semana de Marzo, como en cualquier otro año, la EPO ha publicado sus estadísticas de aplicaciones de patentes del pasado año. Como en cualquier otro año, el principal objetivo es mostrar que la EPO se ha convertido en más importante. Aunqe el numero de directas aplicaciones en la EPO ha sido más o menos constante en la última década (+2.7% en 2015, similar nivel al del 2005), un escenario de crecimiento deaño sobre año es presentado al añadir todas las aplicaciones de PCT. Con ello quiero decir no sólo the PCT aplicaciones en la EPO al entrar su fase Europea (pagos de matrícula, solicitud de examinación,…), pero realmente ´todas´. Esto incluye aplicaciones de PCT de China que nunca fueron traducidas a algún lenguaje Europeo. Del crecimiento del último año de 4,500 aplicaciones (+1.6%), 2,821 son PCT (+1.3%) y 1,679 directamente EP (+2.8%). [...] Otros números interesantes de la WIPO: El pasado año la EPO como Oficina Recibidora de la PCT, recibió 7.2% menos aplicaciones y la EPO fue seleccionada como Autoridad de Busqueda Internacional en menos de 11.1% aplicaciones. Con una merma del total de PCT aplicaciones (-9.4%), por supuesto no es una sorpresa. Sin embargo es interesante ver que el uso de la EPO como ISA va de caída más rápidamente que el número de aplicaciones PCT (ambas total y con la EPO como rO). Aparentemente, la EPO se está convirtiendo en menos popular como autoridad de búsqueda. Entradas regionales EP por aplicaciones PCT creció un 6% este año (EPO count). Hay que tener en cuenta que entradas regionales representan aplicaciones PCT que fueron solicitadas hace año y medio. Por lo tanto este número no refleja la preferencia de aplicaciones el 2015, pero también en dos o tres años anteriores.¨
Eso es simplemente el quid de la cuestión. Hay ahora más ángulos desde los cuales enfrentar esto y la gente que actualmente trabaja para la EPO nos dijeron que esos números son ENGAÑOSOS. Sin embargo, la cuenta Twitter de EPO esta republicando y reciclandolos varias veces por día (desde le 3/3 día de propaganda). Aqui estan los medios británicos, imbécilmente repitiendo como loros lo que el equipo PR de la EPO les dijeron que escriban (ellos también mienten a los periodistas y sus empleados). Los medios cabilderos corporátivos hicieron lo mismo al insinuar/republicar una publicación de presna (como lo hicimos notar anteriórmente, la EPO actualmente pagó por publicaciones de prensa para diseminar esta propaganda engañosa de ¨resultados¨).
“Al parecer, la EPO es cada vez menos popular como una autoridad de búsqueda.”
–Joeri BeetzLos ¨resultados¨ de la propaganda de la EPO en Suiza on en sus medios también es una ¨cosa¨, basado en esos dos nuevos ejemplos [1, 2]. ¿Hicieróns sus autores un chequeo de la realidad? Por supuesto que NO!. Ellos no se comportan como periodistas pero más como escritores ¨en prestamo¨ para la EPO. Por ello es esto que estamos viendo un montón de lo que los medios pasan sin cuestionar la procedencia de las declaraciones.
A propósito, la razón de que Suiza tenga más patents per capita no es lo que la EPO quiere que creamos. Las patentes son indicadores de riqueza, no innovación, ya que aquellos con dinero patentan cosas raramente, a diferencia de los que implementan cosas, como los programadores de la India (donde las patentes de software son verboten acertadamente).
“Conocedores de EPO, uno de los cuales tiene acceso a dichos datos, admite que hay algo mal y, sin embargo – todos los hechos sean condenados! – Los medios de comunicación sigue cayendo por ello.”Francis Jeffrey, quien tiene patentes asignadas a el, nos dijo el otro día: ¨El efecto de esto ha empeorado con la adición de renovación de matrículas: la UPSPTO ha impuesto cuotas cada cuatro años desde la administración Clinton / Bush¨
No piensen que sólo lo de arriba demuestr la invalidez de los ¨resultados¨ de la EPO. Previamente hemos cubierto otros indicadores. Conocedores de EPO, uno de los cuales tiene acceso a dichos datos, admite que hay algo mal y, sin embargo – todos los hechos sean condenados! – Los medios de comunicación sigue cayendo por ello. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
03.10.16
Posted in Europe, Patents at 4:13 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Original/English
Publicado en Europa, Patentes at 6:23 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz
B Agenda Provisional
1 (dec) Adopción de la Agenda Provisional (B28/3/16)
2 (opn) Situación Social y Casos Disciplinarios
3 (opn) Secretariado del Consejo
4 (opn) Estudio Social
5 (opn) Reforma Estructural del Jurado de Apelaciones de la EPO
6 (opn) Preparación de la 147 Reunión del Consejo Administrativo de la EPO
7 (inf) Otras Materias
Sumario: La Junta 28 (B28), la que se rumorea esta en el proceso de despedir al Presidente de la EPO (Battistelli), tiene un revelante set de conclusiones
LA EPO esta a punto de irse a la huelga (más de ello esta noche). Cuando Battistelli dijo que sus relaciones son excelentes estaba MINTIENDO descaradamente o fuera de su juicio. Basado en documentos filtrados a Techrights hoy, no hay redacción de la estancia de la Junta acerca de Pinocho Battistelli. Aquí les presentamos la agenda de la reunión B28 (después que las conclusiones fueron sacadas), fechada el 9 de Marzo del 2016 (eso es hoy). La siguiente es la agenda y sus minutos de la reunión encubierta B28 (15 de Febrero).
B28/4/16
Orig.: en
Munich, 09.03.2016
SUMARIO
DE
CONCLUSIONES
de la
71 reunión del
JUNTA DEL
CONSEJO ADMINISTRATIVO
Munich, 17 de Februaro del 2016
ENTREGADO POR: Secretariado del Consejo
DESTINATARIOS: Consejo Administrativo (para información)
Este documento ha sido emitido en forma electrónica unicamente
1. La Junta del Consejo Administrativo (“la Junta”) sostuvo su 71ava reunión en Munich el 17 de Februaro del 2016, con el Sr Kongstad en su presidencia.
Srta. Erlingsdóttir, Sr. Asan and Sr. Kratochvíl han informado al Presidente que no pudieron venir.
2. La Junta adoptó la agenda provisional señalada en B28/3/16 e.
3. La Junta presentó al Presidente con un papel, preparado por sus miembros poco antes de esta reunión, la que señala a la Junta con muy precisas expectaciones de la Oficina de la Gerencia acerca de los asuntos de la agenda de hoy – en particular en lo social y los asuntos disciplinarios.
4. El Presidente consideró que no hubo mayor problema con cuatro de los cinco puntos que fueron tomados en cuenta en este bosquejo pero solicitó clarificación acerca del estado legal para instrucciones directas dadas al Presidente para procedimientos individuales bajo su competencia. El llamó la atención a los grandes riesgos en términos de gobernabilidad.
5. Los miembros de la Junta consideraron el documento ser auto-explicativo. Ellos señalaron que no debería venir como sorpresa, tomando en cuenta las numerosas señales dadas al Consejo Administrativo a través de un considerable periódo de tiempo. El documento sólo viene a traer claridad. Es considerado necesario ya que parece que no hay otros medios de comunicar al Consejo de las preocupaciones recurrentes expresadas los pasados meses. Más allá de lo formal (indisputable) asunto del Artículo 10 EPC, la Junta tiene que deplorar una obvia falta de voluntad por parte del Presidente para embarcarse en una atrasada discusión abierta con el Consejo en temas polémicos – ante todo el diálogo social.
6. El Presidente no estuvo de acuerdo y recordó de su carta envíada a las delegaciones de la AC el 15 de Febrero explicando las posibles maneras de seguir adelante pero ha mantenido su posición por razones legales de acuerdo a instrucciones relacionadas con los casos disciplinarios.
7. La sesión se levantó antes de que pudieran ser examinados los otros temas de la agenda.
La próxima semana será histórica para la EPO, asi que tomé varios días libres. Tenemos un montón de material de trabajo, así que sintonicenos. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Europe, Patents at 3:30 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Benoît Battistelli is not genuinely interested in defusing the situation (cruel witch-hunts persist), so now the ball is in Kongstad’s court
Summary: Rather than go on strike next week (there will be a protest, but not a strike) the staff representatives of EPO ask Mr. Jesper Kongstad to tackle urgent issues in order to prevent the strike
The above image, sent to us by an anonymous reader with the French text explained, “shows how the rules Battistelli [EPO President] imposed in 2013 for the purpose of impeding strikes backfired.”
As a recap, explained this reader, “nowadays you have to humbly file a petition to the Prince. If the Prince thinks the petition to be worthy of his attention (and His Highness decided twice not to pursue the matter), then He will organise himself a vote.
“And the ballot now takes place in your own office, during work hours, on EPO supplied computer equipment, with extremely limited voting by proxy provisions.”
–Anonymous“And the petition can be neither circulated by E-mail, nor discussed on the workplace, unless one is interested in a very short or limited career.
“And the ballot now takes place in your own office, during work hours, on EPO supplied computer equipment, with extremely limited voting by proxy provisions.
“And if the vote goes through, your salary is docked for a duration longer than the strike itself.
“Yet those idiots still don’t get the point.”
As explained by another person, reflecting/remarking on the results of the recent ballot:
This result is remarkable for the following reasons:
- first because the ballot received little publicity: being organised by the Office according to its extraordinary practice – which to our knowledge is unique in any developed world – it received little publicity. It should also be noted that, while supporting the claims therein, neither the Union (SUEPO) nor the Staff Committee expressly championed the cause of this “grass-root” initiative – staying neutral, the institutions have merely encouraged Staff to make use of their democratic right.
- Secondly because there was a general concern that the electronic voting itself and confidentiality of the votes could not be guaranteed: despite the present atmosphere of fear that reigns nowadays in the EPO, colleagues have participated in large numbers
Wait and watch how Battistelli et al try (not necessarily with success) to put more obstacles in order to prevent staff from going on strike. They have done this for weeks if not months (here is the more recent example of that).
“I think you’ll find that is the practice whereby BB [Battistelli] acts as a barrier to the AC [Administrative Council],” one person wrote a short while ago. “Interestingly there seems to be points on the B28 [Board 28] agenda about governance and the AC secretariat, which is provided by the office i.e. under BB’s general control. Don’t know why that is now an issue but clearly is.”
“…despite the present atmosphere of fear that reigns nowadays in the EPO, colleagues have participated in large numbers…”
–AnonymousHaving navigated through various documents, including those pertaining to so-called ‘union recognition’ (there was no such intention with respect to SUEPO from Battistelli, as it was merely theatrical, probably intended to appease the Council), we are increasingly concerned that EPO workers still don’t deal with rational management. They deal with tyrants disguised as professionals — people who would allegedly even bribe in order to buy support. If your negotiation ‘partner’ plays so dirty, is it safe enough to play clean yourself? Is it possible at all?
Not too long ago we managed to get our hands on a letter sent to Mr. Kongstad, who is growing impatient with Battistelli. Here is what this letter says:
European Patent Office | 80298 MUNICH | GERMANY
European Patent Office
80298 Munich
Germany
Central Staff Committee
Comité central du personnel
Zentraler Personalausschuss
Tel. +49 -89- 2399 – 4355
+43 -1-52126 – 305
+49 -30-25901 – 800
+31 -70-340 – 2028
centralSTCOM@epo.org
Reference: sc16039cl – 0.3.1/4.1
Date: 09.03.2016
To the Chairman and the Heads of
Delegations of the Administrative Council
of the EPO
Strike ballot results 08.03.2016 – Next steps
Dear Mr Kongstad,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In a ballot organised yesterday, Staff of the European Patent Office voted overwhelmingly (91%) in favour of a strike. Staff has chosen the CSC as their interlocutor for the strike petition (see Annex). Unfortunately, no meaningful dialogue with the current management has been possible.
Next week the 147th meeting of the Administrative Council will take place in Munich. Since a strike should be a means of last resort, EPO staff is expecting a clear signal from the Council that will de-escalate the current crisis.
We also welcome any opportunity to relaunch the social dialogue through negotiation with serious partners. Therefore, we propose that a meeting should be organised between a delegation of the Council and a delegation from our side to address the concerns of staff.
Yours sincerely,
The Central Staff Committee
Annex: Call for Strike “Lawfulness at the EPO”
We confirm that this letter was legitimately decided and produced by the Central Staff Committee1.
______________________________
1 Pursuant to Article 35(3) ServRegs, the Central Staff Committee shall consist of ten full and ten alternate members.
The CSC presently consists of 9 full and 8 alternate members, because two have resigned in December 2014, one has been dismissed in January 2016 (against the recommendation of the Disciplinary Committee) and one refused replacement of a full member against Article 7(3) of Circular 355.
One full member of the CSC has been downgraded in Jan 2016 (against the recommendation of the Disciplinary Committee). In fact, the Office has launched investigations and disciplinary procedures against several other Staff representatives as well, affecting negatively their health.
It is worth noting, in addition to the above, that dissent against the management is at an all-time high by some measures.
As pointed out by one person, “history of votes “against” a proposed strike (/participants)
· 26.09.13: 306 (/ 4640)
· 13.03.14: 266 (/ 4119)
· 23.10.14: 353 (/ 3553)
· 08.03.16: 219 (/ 4062)
“This is the lowest result so far!” █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Patents at 2:24 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
How many people even noticed (let alone wrote about) Microsoft’s Wistron and Rakuten patent settlements that explicitly cover Linux?
Sending journalists in many different directions to distract from the really outrageous news
Summary: Microsoft loves Linux enough to strangle it to death with patents while the media isn’t paying attention and instead telling us that Microsoft is now a buddy or “pal” of GNU/Linux
MICROSOFT HAS — whether deliberately or not — been distracting the media and disguising several patent attacks on Linux by openwashing its latest proprietary crusades (bringing Microsoft’s proprietary software and lock-in to FOSS and/or GNU/Linux). For those who have been living under a rock/tree since 2006 (the Novell-Microsoft patent deal), Microsoft is trying to tax GNU/Linux, raising its cost while also making it a cash cow of Microsoft, by leveraging software patents. Microsoft always coerces the extorted party into stating (in the public eye) that everything is amicable while the settlements are wrapped in a coat of NDAs. We gave an example of this last month (Acer). It’s not only unjust; as per the RICO Act, this should come under investigation for potential violations of the law. This, in our view, is racketeering. “That’s extortion,” Mark Shuttleworth (founder of Canonical) said many years ago, “and we should call it what it is. To say, as Ballmer did, that there is undisclosed balance sheet liability, that’s just extortion and we should refuse to get drawn into that game.” On another occasion he told the media: “Microsoft is asking people to pay them for patents, but they won’t say which ones. If a guy walks into a shop and says: “It’s an unsafe neighbourhood, why don’t you pay me 20 bucks and I’ll make sure you’re okay,” that’s illegal. It’s racketeering.”
To add insult to injury, Microsoft is ripping GNU/Linux off (Canonical in this one example) and then patenting the ideas of Canonical/Ubuntu. See this new article from a Microsoft propaganda site. It’s titled “Microsoft applies for Continuum patent” and comments on it say (among other things): “The issue is that mainstream media think it is MS idea, even calling Ubuntu convergence being inspired by continuum.
“To add insult to injury, Microsoft is ripping GNU/Linux off (Canonical in this one example) and then patenting the ideas of Canonical/Ubuntu.”“Canonical took to long to deliver (and still actually didn’t) on the convergence idea, now it’s too late and Ubuntu phone will soon die.”
Quoting comments from the article itself we have: “I wonder how this patent compares to Ubuntu’s convergence that they’ve been working on for years? It seems essentially the same in that they expect Ubuntu Phones to attach to a monitor and act as a full computer.”
Another person wrote: “Not sure that MS can get this. Prior-Art argument. Ubuntu has been working on the same thing for the last few years. They call it “Convergence”, it’s been in testing for at least a year or more…. not to mention the previous project to run Android and Ubuntu on a single device with the same purpose.”
“Despite being anything but an innovator, Microsoft is extorting companies behind the scenes using these bogus patents.”“It’s not worth doing,” another person wrote. “Continuum has been done with Convergence with Ubuntu, and I think KDE Plasma Mobile is working on something similar too. Microsoft is just attempting to gain a patent for something that they can then sue everyone away from doing. In other words, Microsofting the competition.”
Among the other comments we have “Prior art is all over the place” and “This is a complete bullshit patent.”
Despite being anything but an innovator, Microsoft is extorting companies behind the scenes using these bogus patents. Days ago we wrote about Wistron, whose patent ‘deal’ (surrender) with Microsoft is now covered in a variety of other sites, e.g. [1, 2, 3]. A lot of sites did not cover this because they were too busy writing puff pieces about Microsoft ‘embracing’ FOSS or Linux (Microsoft embraced neither, except in the E.E.E. sense). “The deal,” WIPR said, “announced on Monday, March 7, covers Wistron’s tablets, mobile phones, e-readers and other devices running the Android and Chrome platforms that fall under Microsoft’s patent portfolio.”
“Microsoft loves Linux? Well, just ignore “Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC,” which is attacking Linux, essentially engaging in blackmail and extortion with software patents.”How interesting a timing. “Microsoft can embrace open source all it wants,” Simon Phipps wrote (he is a FOSS luminary), “but until it foreswears patent aggression against community members it’s a hostile party.”
I had a bit of a chat with him about this [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. He’s clearly too smart to fall for Microsoft’s charm offensive. Microsoft loves Linux? Well, just ignore “Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC,” which is attacking Linux, essentially engaging in blackmail and extortion with software patents. Also take note of this report from yesterday (“EU Taking Steps Towards Formal Complaint Against Google’s Android” over at Bloomberg) which reminds us that Microsoft is still lobbying and AstroTurfing (lobbying by proxy) against Linux, as we explained many times before.
So, this is the real Microsoft and for those who think it “loves Linux” perhaps a bit of a broader perspective may be necessary. The media sure isn’t helping because all it has done this past week is reposts/recycling of marketing images from Microsoft (with red-coloured hearts in them). That’s hardly journalism; it’s often called churnalism as it requires no research or input, just a little editing.
“The media sure isn’t helping because all it has done this past week is reposts/recycling of marketing images from Microsoft (with red-coloured hearts in them).”Microsoft, you see, loves Linux enough to just blackmail it. Again and again. It happened a second time this week alone, while the media wasn’t paying attention. Only Microsoft propaganda sites [1, 2] have covered it (so far, with the expected bias) and the Microsoft boosters try to make this racketeering look like “pals”. Why are general news sites or GNU/Linux sites not paying attention? It was simply nowhere in the news, not ‘on the radar’. Microsoft is now acting exactly like a patent troll, and it’s called “Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC,” based on the announcement which says: “Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC and Rakuten Inc. on March 9 signed a worldwide patent cross-licensing agreement covering each company’s respective consumer electronics products, including Linux and Android-based devices.”
So only 2 days apart Microsoft signed two Linux-related patent ‘deals’ (extortion), but the media focused only on Microsoft PR. Here is a sort of press release that almost nobody noticed, except perhaps this belated article (this morning) which says “Microsoft has just announced that it signed a new deal over its Android and Linux patents, this time with Japanese company Rakuten.”
“So only 2 days apart Microsoft signed two Linux-related patent ‘deals’ (extortion), but the media focused only on Microsoft PR.”Where was the media in the midst of all this? Why is this not being covered? IT Wire portrays Microsoft as a friend of Linux. This is far too shallow an article by an occasional writer and another new article from his colleague, Sam Varghese, mentions almost nothing at all about Microsoft’s attacks on GNU/Linux. Planet Debian also obsesses over the wrong news (so do Debian supporters), which isn’t even news at all. The Microsoft/SONiC/Debian thing is not news because it was mentioned in passing several months ago. It’s old new recycled or re-announced by Microsoft for propaganda, serving to distract from patent extortion (two incidents thereof), whether by design or by pure coincidence, which we doubt.
Over at FOSS Force, Christine says that “[a]ll of these efforts are entirely aimed at channeling business Microsoft’s way. It’s a one-way street. Redmond is only making it easy for open source developers to work and play well with the Microsoft universe.”
One journalist said that the “big thing today is SDN – or software defined networking – and Microsoft turned to Linux to enable it.” While also taxing Linux with patents? In the courts, Microsoft insists that Linux is its “intellectual property”. Now it’s just acting as though Linux is its property. How conveniently some people forget that Microsoft is still attacking Linux with software patents. Maybe they’re just not paying attention and the media surely isn’t helping. Microsoft cannot love Linux or even learn to love it. It can only pretend when it suits the goals of the marketing or E.E.E. strategy.
“Microsoft cannot love Linux or even learn to love it. It can only pretend when it suits the goals of the marketing or E.E.E. strategy.”Considering in general terms whether there was a deliberate design/plan here (intended to bury certain news while propping up some old/recycled news), Microsoft boosters sure covered the wrong thing and in general news sites the headline was changed from “Microsoft will release a custom Debian Linux. Repeat, a custom Debian Linux for networking” to “Microsoft has released a Debian Linux switch OS. Repeat, a Debian Linux switch operating system” (which is an entirely different thing, suggesting that it’s just recycled old news). The Register had rewritten its initial misleading headline about Microsoft and Debian and suddenly it looked like news from last year.
Why is there no investigative reporting about Microsoft’s patent attacks on Linux? Microsoft apologists played along by taking this news from last year and saying: “Put down your coffee gently. Microsoft will today release a homegrown open-source operating system, based on none other than Debian GNU/Linux, for network switches.”
Nope, not today, not yesterday. This is old news. And they’re missing the real news. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
Content is available under CC-BY-SA