Every big scandal "as such" starts as merely a 'rumour'

Summary: Political actions against the EPO's management are increasing in frequency, as well as in location

TECHRIGHTS has been working hard behind the scenes this month. There are now actions against the EPO at 3 (at the very least 3) levels, some political/local/external, some internal (the EPO), and some involving the European Commission. Looking grim for the EPO's reputation, no doubt, but we press on and communicate with more people, undeterred and determined, because EPO managers are well connected and they too have strings they can pull. The European Parliament may soon have something tabled regarding the EPO. While parliamentary documents cannot be shown yet, we are in fact aware of concrete progress.

"While parliamentary documents cannot be shown yet, we are in fact aware of concrete progress."One person sent us what was called a "draft of a question [an MEP] was planning on tabling to the European Commission. I assume if it has been tabled it will be in the public domain." Perhaps somebody who is familiar with the Parliament/Commission Web site will be able to locate the letter (if it's there), but regardless, here is a redacted version of it:

There's no escaping the fact that more and more European politicians (local or EU level) become interested in -- and increasingly involved in -- the EPO scandals. This escalation won't end well for Battistelli and his team. The harder they try to justify what they have been doing (or to silence their critics), the worse it gets. Are we seeing a 'slow motion' FIFA-type scandal unfolding?

"Are we seeing a 'slow motion' FIFA-type scandal unfolding?"Few politicians out there deserve special praises for studying a hard topic like patents and the EPO (harder to grasp than something like football or sex-related scandals); many take the easy route and ignore what's going on at the EPO; they gain more political karma by dealing with trivial matters like immigration, poor-shaming, and so on. Dutch politicians Dennis De Jong and John Kerstens, as well as French Politicians Philip Cordery and Pierre-Yves Le Borgn’ are among those actually doing their job, which is representation of their citizens, especially at hard times. John Kerstens and Philip Cordery can be contacted in Twitter. ⬆