Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Bureaucratic Nonsense That Came Out of Benoît Battistelli and Jesper Kongstad at EPOPIC

Saying what the audience wants to hear, but not what's objectively true

Benoît Battistelli at EPOPIC
Benoît Battistelli at EPOPIC, photo via Otto Scharff



Summary: Analysis and breakdown of some of the statements made by the EPO's President and his friend from the Administrative Council

THE first day of the 25th EPOPIC (the EPO's own vanity platform) is definitely over and the keynote talks of Battistelli and Kongstad have been documented, to some degree, online (we don't know yet if videos too will surface or have already surfaced). To Kongstad's great convenience, it took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. According to the EPO's official Twitter account, "~400 participants from over 45 countries" attended this event.



Battistelli is quoted by his most obedient workers (PR/communication) as saying: "Quality is the backbone of the patent system" (how ironic).

"Given the increasing abundance of patents on life and software patents in Europe, how can these two people boast quality?"Quoting Battistelli, based on this: "We may be the best patent office when it comes to quality, but we are also the most expensive" (it was the best patent office before Battistelli came in perhaps, if not Brimelow too).

Jesper Kongstad too is quoted or paraphrased as saying: "Quality is at the centre of our minds when it comes to examination and searching activities" (every patent office would say this).

Given the increasing abundance of patents on life and software patents in Europe, how can these two people boast quality? It's under their management that the quality is being so rapidly compromised.

Battistelli is quoted (or paraphrased) by his PR/communication people as saying that EPO has "been able to significantly increase our efficiency & quality. This year we expect ~12% increase in our production" (production of what? This isn't production, it's the granting of monopolies).

"Battistelli wishes to just increase the number of patents, irrespective/regardless of quality."Using production line terminology, Battistelli shows just how misguided his strategy really is. Battistelli wishes to just increase the number of patents, irrespective/regardless of quality. Unless society somehow (overnight of over the course of a year) became 12% more innovative, the only way to interpret these numbers, efficiency aside, is that it became easier to pass quality tests (diminished quality control can be the result of overworked and rushed staff). In other words, the threshold for acceptance was lowered at the EPO. In the USPTO it's estimated that 92% of applications are "successful" and the overall number of patents is huge. It's not even manageable. Is this what Battistelli gradually mimics? Is this a yardstick for "success"?

The current management is lowering the quality and cheapening the value of patents (not cost) while fast-tracking massive amounts of patents for large, aggressive corporations like Microsoft. With increased pressure on staff, don't expect examiners to properly examine prior art. It's becoming a rubber-stamping operation, influenced by or run at the behest of large corporations.

Battistelli is paraphrased as saying: "The Unitary Patent is a huge improvement of the European patent system and facilitates access mainly for the SMEs" (again ironic if not outright foolish a statement, putting aside his unacceptable intervention in politics).

Based on leaked documents, SMEs are discriminated against. Kongstad, who is close to Battistelli (this has been the cause for protests by much of the staff), has done nothing to end this. He won't even assist outside/independent investigations. According to this, Jesper Kongstad said that "big players on the market have understood that we need to suport [sic] SMEs to benefit from the IP assets."

"It's not not all that lucrative for patent examiners (not in the long terms) and definitely not for European citizens, even small European businesses."Well, obviously then they're doing something wrong when they create a fast track/lane for larger (and better off) corporations, even non-European ones. This hurts SMEs the most.

"Our patent information system is focused on: quality, completeness, usability, timeliness and correctness," the EPO paraphrases Battistelli.

Well, that's just not correct; not anymore, for sure.

Make no mistake. Battistelli still has fans like IP Australia (patent lawyers), to whom patent maximalism must seem like a business opportunity (more applications for more clients means more income for them). It's not not all that lucrative for patent examiners (not in the long terms) and definitely not for European citizens, even small European businesses.

Finally, a lesson for EPO Webmasters: if you are going to display embedded content from Twitter, make sure it's guaranteed to be under your control, not Twitter's control. The screenshot below is from the EPO's own Web site. It's just a shame that these links would be blocked if clicked from within the EPO...

EPOPIC site

Recent Techrights' Posts

Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
 
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025
Microsoft - Like IBM - Does the "Relocation" Tricks (Start Over Elsewhere, Then Get Sacked by Microsoft)
It is a "low blow" or a "dick move"
After the Free Software Foundation's Campaign to Raise Money Let's See Campaigns to Finish Off Microsoft (Vista 11, GitHub etc.)
Microsoft is in effect collapsing
Your Publications Have No Major Impact Unless or Until You "Get Some Heat"
we're on the right track
Slopwatch: A Cause for Hope, the Hype is Dying
For about a month we showed that becoming a slopfarm - for several weeks - resulted in utter failure and ruin for BetaNews
Links 11/07/2025: Censorship Worsening, 3D Printing Success Stories, UK and France Unite Around Nukes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Zorin OS and Scriptonite Updates
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Hardware, Russia, and China
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Intel Collapsing and Microsoft Resorts to Bribery to Push Slop Via Obligatory Education
Links for the day
The EFF Sided With the Team That Strangles Women and Tells Women to Kill Themselves
They say that apathy and inaction are a form of a "stance"
"Nat [Friedman] and [the Serial Strangler From Microsoft] Were Always Exceptionally Close," Says Former Housemate and Colleague
Now Alex (hiding behind another name when that suits him) not only attacks women but also people who merely report what he did to women
Exemplary List of Things That Are Not Artificial Intelligence or Even Intelligence
The "age of AI" or "era of AI" or "AI revolution" mostly boils down to rebranding, just like "the cloud"
New Letter From the European Patent Office Explains How the Office Plots to Grant Many Illegal Patents, a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of 'Growth'
Open letter to Mr Rowan (VP1) and Mr Aledo Lopez (COO)
Abuse of Process
5RB is employing people who help violent men
What Microsoft's Nat Friedman and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
"Get in da car; No time to explain, loser"
Microsoft and IBM Don't Have Much of a Future (They Mostly Pretend at This Point)
IBM and Microsoft are in some ways alike but in many ways different
It's Not Just Twitter (or X.com) That's Dying, Microsoft's Equivalent is Dying Also
Unable to find a business model
GitHub Copilot Can Cause the Bankruptcy of GitHub to Come Sooner and GitHub to be Shut Down Just Like Skype
Some publicly available information suggests that even for each paid subscriber for plagiarism (LLM 'coding') GitHub Copilot still loses more money than it makes
Wayland is Bad for the Planet
If you use Wayland, it'll take you longer to accomplish tasks and you will consume more energy (or battery life)
Legitimising Those Who Sabotage You
Microsoft is a very malicious company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 10, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 10, 2025
On Microsoft Layoffs
we might be looking at about 60,000 Microsoft layoffs since 2023
EPO Management Already Breaks Its Own Promise (Lie) on "Bringing Teams Together"
This gut-punching move happened just 2 days ago
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Occupation of 2025 and "Old Man Yells At Soundcloud"
Links for the day
Our Lawsuits Against the 'Cancel Mob' (Ringleaders) Helped Reduce Anti-Free Software Online Abuse
That's not to say that lawsuits are the best way to handle terrible people. But that can help.