Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Media Strategy: Call the Whistleblowers Nazis and Criminals

Godwin's law
Source: Godwin's law



Summary: A look at some of the lowest possible levels of smears against those who put at risk an abusive management inside the European Patent Office (EPO) -- abusive enough to cause staff to commit suicide

THE EPO has got a war inside of it. It's a war between staff and the clique of Battistelli, which is most of the top-level management following a multi-year coup.



A new article by Katja Riedel (we need a translation) builds on top of yesterday's radio, television and newspaper coverage in Germany. A lot of people commented on last night's TV programme, which I too watched (it can be streamed for the next few days at Bayerischer Rundfunk's Web site). As one new comment put it:

This evening on Bayerischer Rundfunk, Kontrovers news magazine, from about 11min 56secs in the programme http://www.br.de/mediathek/video/sendungen/kontrovers/kontrovers112.html An in depth report (in German) on the social problems at the EPO lasting 20 minutes. Too long to translate but it certainly appears difficult for the EPO to defend. The EPO provided statements but no interviews. The programme interlaced the statements with (necessarily anonymous) case studies. Even a doctor would not appear on camera in case it would let any patient be identified. The programme will be available online for about 5 days from 02.03.16.


The TV programme and other coverage from Germany has helped reinforce the correlation between EPO suicides and Battistelli with his 'Gestapo', the I.U. 3/3 is an EPO propaganda day (more on that later), so we need to write a lot of rebuttals today. As one comment put it yesterday, an EPO worker “committed suicide after having been subjected to an investigation by the infamous Investigation Unit.” Here is the comment in full:

There was a very critical news story on the Bavarian television this evening on the social conflicts at the EPO: http://www.br.de/nachrichten/europaeisches-patentamt-muenchen-vorwuerfe-100.html. Most interestingly, the report starts with an interview of the brother of one staff member who committed suicide after having been subjected to an investigation by the infamous Investigation Unit. No later than yesterday, in his public audition by members of the French Parliament Mr. Battistelli had justified the fact that no independent enquiry had been conducted in any of the recent suicides at the EPO with the argument that the families themselves had not claimed that there was any relationship whatsoever between the suicides and the EPO ...


Battistelli is of course blaming his victims, even those whom he illegally suspended or dismissed. He not only can be seen comparing his opposition to "Nazis" but also to criminals. Oh, the hypocrisy. Battistelli needs to watch out and be careful what he says or else staff will sue him for defamation. Telling utter nonsense to French politicians isn't acceptable and as this comment put it yesterday:

Curioser and curioser: so, criminal proceedings are open against staff representatives? On the basis of German law, I gather? I thought that German law (on human rights or data protection, for instance) was "inapplicable" in Eponia? Or is it applicable when it suits Benito Battistelli's purposes?


One asks: "Could anyone cast some light here?"

Here is more information, for those who don't understand French:

Dear Inspector Gadget, I think that you are confused or rather that BB's babble may have confused you.

The latest allegation raised by BB in front of the French Parliamentary Committee implied or insinuated that the dismissed staff representatives had been somehow involved or implicated in the sending of messages with "Nazi symbols" to German members of staff.

As far as I could decipher BB's babble, this does not mean that anyone is being accused of being a Nazi (in this particular case !) but rather that people have allegedly thrown "Nazi insults" at others.

According to BB such actions are in breach of German law and have resulted in the filing of a criminal complaint. It seems that national law is still respected by BB when it suits his purposes.

So far nobody has been able to obtain any information as to whether or not such a complaint actually exists and if so who is named in it as the accused. It is quite possible that the EPO did indeed file a complaint against "persons unknown" but in the absence of tangible evidence leading to the identification of the perpetrator(s), the State Prosecutor would probably close the file.



And finally there's this:

In this public declaration, made on 1 March 2016 in front of members of the French parliament, Mr Battistelli clearly justifies the dismissal of the SUEPO officials by accusing these of having uttered nazy insults against other EPO staff members, for which a criminal complaint has been filed.

This is too much for me.


As we are going to show later today (this afternoon), there is even worse propaganda right now. Battistelli is fighting for survival and bamboozling journalists with the PR team; this appears to be the latest media strategy, aided by massive budget.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Under Scrutiny Today in the British Government's Meeting, Grilled for Its Failure to Regulate Rogue Law Firms
Things are not improving
 
The Deleted Article About Mass Layoffs at IBM (April 2026)
Resurrected
Lots of Positive News Lately, Microsoft GitHub in Trouble
it's not too crazy to speculate about GitHub being the next Skype (or CodePlex)
The Register MS Has "Webinars" (Marketing); They're Promoting Ponzi Schemes or Slop But Disguised as "Intelligence"
These "webinars" are just spam displayed to people as if it contains real information
It Was Always About Freedom and Sovereignty (or Self-Determination)
About 24 hours from now Richard Stallman (RMS) will be giving a talk in Texas
Mass Layoffs at IBM Again, Just in Time for the Fake "Results" Next Week
Slopfarm will issue some chaff to give an illusion of journalism
Windows (Microsoft) in Botswana Falls to Another New Low
Botswana is a fairly large country
SLAPP Censorship - Part 47 Out of 200: British Courts Are Not Censorship Offices for Americans Funded by Affluent Third Parties
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was scrutinised by our government
More Than 6 Months After a Very Close Friend of António Campinos and EPO Official Caught With Cocaine Campinos is Cracking Down on - or Stealing From - EPO Staff
Now they go after the "Education and Childcare Allowance"
Links 14/04/2026: Data Breaches and LLM Slop in Courts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/04/2026: Mastodon in the Terminal and a Voxel Engine
Links for the day
Links 14/04/2026: Against US Monopolies in UK, Legal Action Against Twitter
Links for the day
The Series About SLAPPs Funded by Third Parties: All Parts Thus Far
index for today
SLAPP Censorship - Part 46 Out of 200: Alex Graveley's Attorney Rick Cofer Did Not Deny That Graveley Had Strangled Women; He Did, However, Pay Local Officials
some background about SLAPPs that began in 2021 very shortly after I wrote about corruption at Microsoft GitHub
The EPO's Attitude Towards Women and Media Silence on EPO Unrest
There's media blackout about very critical matters
Gemini Links 14/04/2026: Greed Versus Stability; Board and Card Games
Links for the day
Links 14/04/2026: Cheeto Loses Defamation Lawsuit Against the Media, "France Takes Its 129 Tonnes of Gold Uut of New York"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, April 13, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, April 13, 2026
IBM Agrees With Microsoft That Slop is Just for "Entertainment" and "at Your Own Risk"
So what can IBM sell now?
Microsoft Windows "Market Share" in USA Down to 40% According to Government Sites or 31% Overall
The world is changing, so do Americans
SLAPP Censorship - Part 45 Out of 200: Garrett and Graveley Cases Inherently the Same, Their Legal Team Can Barely Even Distinguish (Full Timeline)
"million-dollar men"
Gemini Links 13/04/2026: Pronouns for an LLM, Fakecoins Promotion Piggybacking Iran, "Your Face is Now a Search Query"
Links for the day
Links 13/04/2026: Higher Costs Hurt Both Rich and Poor Country, a "Landslide Win to Oust Orban"
Links for the day
Tens of Thousands of Days of Strike at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Nobody in the Media Has Mentioned It
Since the "extraordinary general meeting"
SPAM That Mentions "AI" 16 Times (in "Security" Clothing, But Selling Back Doors), a Paid Placement in The Register MS
This will doom the reputation of the publication, The Register MS
At Least 23 Days of EPO Strikes
Why does the media not deem this newsworthy?
Links 13/04/2026: Impersonating ProPublica Reporter, More Attacks on the Press (Occupation With Little and No Compensation, Only High Risk)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 12, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, April 12, 2026
Gemini Links 13/04/2026: Freiburg, GUIX, and Announcing Satellite Antenna (SA)
Links for the day
Links 12/04/2026: Climate, Conflict, and Change in Hungaristan
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/04/2026: Passports, Science, and Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology
Links for the day
The Energy Crisis Will Likely Carry on and Kill the Slop Industry
To the slop charlatans, "this is the end, my friend..."
SLAPP Censorship - Part 44 Out of 200: Garrett and Graveley 'Copypasta' Sunday (Copy-Paste, Add One Word, Change 'T' to 't')
recycling text
EPO on Strike This Past Friday (All Major Sites), Massive Strike Continues Tomorrow
strikes have trebled, not trembled, compared to last month (in Munich)
Links 12/04/2026: SLAPPs Against Thai Journalists Who Expose High-Level Corruption, Maharlika (Philippines/Marcos) Threatens to Lawyer Up Against GAFAM to Demand Censorship of Critics
Links for the day
Racism and IBM
at IBM and Red Hat people who are hard-working and proficient are now being fired based on their ethnicity and nationality (or either)
When Cruelty is the Point (American SLAPPs in London, the United Kingdom, Europe)
Consider the following
Resistance to SLAPPs in the UK: Coalition Growing
thankfully awareness of SLAPPs in the UK is improving
Links 12/04/2026: Mass Rebellion Against Slop, UK Crackdown on Nudification by Slop
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/04/2026: "Objective Truth" and Flutter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 11, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, April 11, 2026
Red Hat: We Kill People, But Please Obey the CoC or We'll Banish You
From Red Hat's own site