06.22.15
Gemini version available ♊︎Demonstration Against European Patent Office Management in Munich This Wednesday
Another opportunity to show Battistelli who’s in charge
Photo credit: The EPO’s instructions for attending the protest
Summary: The rotting of a lawyers-run patent system in Europe and action against those who facilitate it, using extremely oppressive tactics
Residents of Munich can show their solidarity (defending scientists, not managers and lawyers) later this week, for “SUEPO organises on Wednesday 24 June 2015 a demonstration in Munich in front of the EPO Isar building (Bob-van-Benthem-Platz 1) starting at 12.30h,” according to its Web site. It is probably short enough a notice to prevent Battistelli from effectively threatening organisers.
“With a political system so predominantly lawyers-occupied no wonder the EPO’s management continues to function — without scrutiny, only impunity — quite so abysmally and the only people who lose their job are those who speak out against the EPO’s management.”“The main purpose of the demonstration,” explains SUEPO, “is to make it clear to the Members of the Administration that investigating your “social partner” with the private security firm Control Risks is not the best way to renew “social dialogue”.
“Our claims are still the same: respect for Rule of Law, for Freedom of Association and Honest Negotiation of our work package. But we do not forget the mission of the EPO as a public service created for the benefit of the citizens of Europe. That is why we continue to defend high quality searches and examinations as well as transparency.”
Techrights is also concerned about the EPO‘s role in allowing software patents in Europe, despite fundamental legal issues (the unified patent court and unitary patent get around these). There is so much more to criticise the EPO for, not just gross violations of laws.
Over at Managing IP (MIP) there is a survey right now; Rolf Claessen wrote that there is an “MIP in-house survey on in-house attitudes to unified patent court and unitary patent: can you help?”
The problem is though, Managing IP is a site by patent lawyers for patent lawyers, so we can pretty much guess how the survey will turn out and whose results (or opinions) will be represented. Other blogs of patent lawyers are calling for participation:
This blogger’s friends at Managing Intellectual Property magazine are running a survey, in which PatLit readers who work in-house are invited, indeed urged, to participate.
Whatever comes out of this survey, which also talks about the unified patent court and unitary patent, will be seriously warped and biased in favour of the surveyed population (tiny and self-serving margin of the population) that takes part. With a political system so predominantly lawyers-occupied no wonder the EPO’s management continues to function — without scrutiny, only impunity — quite so abysmally and the only people who lose their job are those who speak out against the EPO’s management. █
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