04.06.21
EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag — Part 8: The EPO’s Tweedledum, Raimund Lutz
Series index:
- The EPO Bundestagate — Part 1: How the Bundestag Was (and Continues to be) Misled About EPO Affairs
- The EPO Bundestagate — Part 2: Lack of Parliamentary Oversight, Many Questions and Few Answers…
- The EPO Bundestagate — Part 3: A “Minor Interpellation” in the German Bundestag
- The EPO Bundestagate — Part 4: Parroting the GDPR-Compliance Myth
- The EPO Bundestagate — Part 5: The Federal Eagle’s Disconcerting Metamorphosis
- EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag — Part 6: Dr Petri Starts the Ball Rolling…
- EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag — Part 7: Ms Voßhoff Alerts the Bundestag…
- You are here ☞ The EPO’s Tweedledum, Raimund Lutz
Raimund Lutz, former EPO Vice-President of DG5
Summary: Under the regime of Benoît Battistelli, who broke the law countless times, Raimund Lutz was engineering the legal machinations by which Battistelli could get away with it all (a dark legacy that continues under António Campinos as EPO President)
In this part we introduce one of the key protagonists in intrigue which deflected the Legal Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag from scrutinising the EPO’s deficient data protection framework in October 2015.
The subject of our attention here is Raimund Lutz, a figure who will be familiar to readers of Techrights.
Back in 2015 Lutz was a Vice-President of the EPO in charge of the directorate of Legal and International Affairs (DG5).
“One of Lutz’s most shameful actions as EPO Vice-President was participation in the campaign of moral harassment against staff union officials conducted by Battistelli and his mignons.”He held this position from 2011 to 2018 and during that time he had the unenviable reputation of being one of the most unscrupulous and “ethically challenged” members of the EPO’s senior management team. If EPO insiders are to be believed he was a master of intellectual duplicity and moral vacuity.
One of Lutz’s most shameful actions as EPO Vice-President was participation in the campaign of moral harassment against staff union officials conducted by Battistelli and his mignons.
“Bergot’s witch-hunt led to the dismissal of Brumme and the downgrading of Weaver on spurious charges of “serious misconduct”.”Readers may recall that, in tandem with the notorious Željko Topić, Lutz was responsible for a joint communiqué issued in October 2015 advising EPO staff that the EPO staff union’s “Rules for the Grant of Legal Assistance” to EPO staff members were “against good faith and/or national law … and are thus unlawful and void”.
These highly contentious and ill-founded claims by Lutz and Topić were used by Batistelli’s HR dompteuse, Elodie Bergot, to pursue a witch-hunt against selected SUEPO officials, most notably Ion Brumme and Malika Weaver. Bergot’s witch-hunt led to the dismissal of Brumme and the downgrading of Weaver on spurious charges of “serious misconduct”.
The unjustly persecuted SUEPO officials subsequently won their complaints before the ILOAT in Geneva (cases nos. 4042 and 4043, published on 26 June 2018) as the Tribunal delivered a final slap in the face to Battistelli shortly before his departure in ignominy at the end of June 2018.
We will take a closer look at other significant aspects of Lutz’s role inside the EPO in the next instalment.
But before doing that we would like to trace the earlier stages of his career path which culminated with his appointment as the EPO’s Vice-President in charge of Legal and International Affairs.
“From 1982 to 1984 Lutz worked in Munich as a judge and subsequently as a public prosecutor.”Georg Raimund Lutz was born in Bavaria in 1950. He studied law at the University of Regensburg. This was followed by an internship which included a placement in Paris.
From 1982 to 1984 Lutz worked in Munich as a judge and subsequently as a public prosecutor.
In 1985 he joined the Federal Ministry of Justice in Bonn where he initially worked as an Assistant in the Department for Commercial and Intellectual Property Law.
From 1989 – 1999 Lutz was assigned to the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) as head of the Berlin sub-office. From 1997 he was also head of the trademarks section of DPMA in Munich.
In 2000 he moved to the Federal Ministry of Justice in Berlin as head of the Department for Commercial and Intellectual Property Law.
Lutz’s tasks at the Federal Ministry of Justice included the preparation and monitoring of national legislation relating to IP matters and the representation of Germany in European and international bodies such as the European Union, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organisation.
“Georg Raimund Lutz was born in Bavaria in 1950. He studied law at the University of Regensburg. This was followed by an internship which included a placement in Paris.”His duties also included participation in the German delegation on the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation.
Lutz’s name first appears in the official records of the Administrative Council in June 2000 as the alternate or deputy representative of the German delegation.
By December 2004 he had become joint head of delegation, a position which he shared with the then head of the German Patent and Trademark Office, Jürgen Schade.
By 2004 Lutz had become joint head of delegation on the EPO’s Administrative Council
In May 2006, Lutz was appointed as Chairman of the Federal Patent Court (“Bundespatentgericht”) by the Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries. The appointment ceremony took place in the Orangerietrakt of the Nymphenburg Royal Palace in Munich.
The Orangerietrakt of the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich where the appointment ceremony of Lutz as Chairman of the Federal Patent Court took place in May 2006.
After he became Chairman of the Federal Patent Court, Lutz continued to act as the head of the German delegation on the EPO’s Administrative Council.
In October 2010 it was announced that he had been appointed as a Vice-President of the EPO and that he would be taking up this new position in January 2011.
In the next part we will take a critical look at some aspects of Lutz’s career as EPO Vice-President. █
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