European Patent Office (EPO): No Transparency and No Paper Trail
Yesterday: Further Transparency Problems at the EPO
Two days ago: EPO Hiding Cocainegate and Abandoning Transparency (Even Access to Very Basic Information is Denied)
Not mentioned: when colleagues work without paper all their clicks and other behaviours can be spied on by management (via Microsoft/US), work can even be remotely shredded/deleted
I like working on paper. I'm also not "anti-computer" (if there's such a label).
In court hearings, for example, I only use a notebook. No laptop. I can scribble things to help me organise thoughts and on occasions when recording the podcast (2010 onwards) and doing videos I also used paper. There are many advantages to paper, but unless we teach the next (or young) generation how to use paper, they will lose a lot and simply assume that a bunch of PDFs or social control media with infinite scroll is the best thing ever. In hindsight, I'd also like to commend the several judges I saw at the High Court who only use pens and markers, no laptop anywhere in sight. They focus on what matters. They don't rely on batteries. No data loss or "application has just crashed".
At the European Patent Office, people now get in trouble for using paper. Odd, isn't it...?
An office that grants lots of invalid/illegal patents, in order to bring in billions of euros (monopoly money), now complains that printing stuff out is a problem. In the words of the Central Staff Committee this week, circulated to staff in the form of an open letter to the President:
On 20 April 2026, the Office published a Communiqué on its commitment to a fully paperless patent grant process by April 2027.Since this Communiqué, we note that some line managers made comments in staff reports on the paper consumption by their team members and even considered it as “uncollaborative behaviour” or “incompetence”. They request a justification for continuing to print documents on paper.
Affected staff members are consulting general practitioners, specialists and OHS to obtain an “adequate” justification.
In this open letter to the President, the Central Staff Committee (CSC) reminds that the digitalisation of workflows within the Office should not prevent staff from individually printing the documents they prefer to read on paper.
Sincerely yours,
The Central Staff Committee
We wrote about this at the time (April 2026) and this is the latest in a series of justifiable anger:
European Patent Office
80298 Munich
GermanyCentral Staff Committee
Comité central du personnel
Zentraler PersonalausschusscentralSTCOM@epo.org
Reference: sc26070cl
Date: 03/09/2026
European Patent Office | 80298 MUNICH | GERMANY
To: Mr António Campinos (President of the EPO)
Cc: Social DialogueBy email:
To: president@epo.org
Cc: socialdialogue@epo.orgOPEN LETTER
Paper consumption treated as uncollaborative behaviour or incompetence
Dear Mr President,
On 20 April 2026, the Office published a Communiqué on its commitment to a fully paperless patent grant process by April 2027. It announces “a new paper consumption dashboard for managers which provides individual-level information on the number of sheets printed, enabling managers to better understand where paper is still being used”.
Since this Communiqué, we note that some line managers made comments in staff reports on the paper consumption by their team members and even considered it as “uncollaborative behaviour” or “incompetence”. They request a justification for continuing to print documents on papers.
In order to protect themselves, staff members have therefore consulted general practitioners and specialists (e.g. orthopedists, ergotherapists and ophthalmologists) in order to obtain a certificate that their health condition requires to print and read documents on paper. These affected colleagues then ask the Occupational Health Services that they inform their line manager that an adequate justification for printing has been provided.
The present situation is not sustainable as it creates distress among staff and higher administrative burden and costs both for staff and for the Office.
There are already well-documented reasons why paper is preferrable to prolonged screen use (e.g. to avoid computer vision syndrome, digital eye strain and musculoskeletal pain).
The digitalisation of workflows within the Office should not prevent staff from individually printing the documents they prefer to read on paper. Staff should not be described as “uncollaborative” or “incompetent” for doing so.
We are looking forward to hearing reassuring statements from you.
Sincerely yours,
Derek Kelly
Chairman of the Central Staff Committee
Perhaps this is the inevitably outcome of an office being run by people with no relevant experience and no understanding of how to deal with patents. The incompetence is that of the management, i.e. sheer incompetence of people who never examined a patent in their entire lifetime.
They are also being insensitive to people with disabilities (very commonplace, especially in the wrists and shoulder, see below). █