12.01.16
The Rule of Law and Justice Don’t Exist Inside the EPO, Confirms the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
Summary: Further analysis of the latest rulings from the ILO — decisions that were long expected
THE EPO does not quite respect the principles of the Rule of Law and justice. It’s a mirage or an illusion. We covered it on Thursday, based on the latest ILO decisions.
The “ILO sends European Patent Office Director Battistelli flying,” EPSU which has been involved recently writes about this judgment (in Twitter earlier this evening), as it “Validates complaints [of] staff…”
This links to an article that a handful of EPO insiders told us about. One person said ““every single internal appeal” handled by the Appeals Committee in its current composition from Oct 14 to today legally flawed…”
William New from IP Watch wrote:
The judgments are “remarkable” for several reasons, said the source who wished to remain anonymous.
First, they show that the ILO is trying to clarify formal errors that upset procedures and cause major problems, said the source. In addition, both express criticism of the current EPO president, the source said.
Judgment No 3796 clarifies that “every single internal appeal” handled by the Appeals Committee in its current composition – from October 2014 to today – is legally flawed, the source said. That means that many cases will have to be dealt with again, after a new internal appeals system is created, the source said. To fix the flaw, the president will have to ask the CSC to nominate members for the committee, but because two members of the Appeals Committee have been demoted after disciplinary procedures were launched against them by the administration, the CSC has refused to act. “The ILO judgment puts pressure on” Battistelli to make concessions to the CSC, the source added.
In addition, under Judgment No. 3785, complaints by several hundred staff members against the new career system will have to be revisited, and those judgments will be delayed. Both decisions will likely figure into the 14-15 December AC meeting “since they show that employees’ justice is currently denied at the Office,” the source noted.
All of this is “bad for the reputation and credibility” of the European patent system, said the source. It’s also bad for the image of responsible governments such as France, the Netherlands and Germany, so “there will be a lot of pressure on the delegations to finally fix some issues.”
The latest fictional diary from the EPO is based on the above. Many people are likely to speak about this for quite some time to come. █
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