Bonum Certa Men Certa

Brain Drain at the EPO: Qualified Patent Examiners Leave in Droves, Young Ones Blindly Loyal to Management Reduce Patent Quality

Some people vote with their feet, not just in the streets

Munich EPO protest



Summary: Patent quality at the European Patent Office is being abandoned under Battistelli's regime (in the name of so-called 'production') and "highly qualified A4s leave the Office," according to a source of ours

EARLIER this week there was a spontaneous protest at the EPO. Staff went out in protest and passionately demonstrated in the streets of Germany. Whereas we have published photos from protests in The Hague and in Munich a few days before that (a scheduled protest, not a spontaneous one for the aforementioned reasons), we still have no photos from the spontaneous protest, but here are some details:



Staff unrest:

- despite being organised for a second time in less than a week in MUNICH, between 1000 and 1200 EPO colleagues spontaneously demonstrated in front of the EPO building on Monday and in Berlin [the following morning]. In both sites resolutions have been adopted requesting the following:

o “to stop the repeated, egregious abuses of power by Mr Battistelli, and

o to reinstall Ion Brumme and Malika Weaver in full, pending an independent investigation into the disciplinary and other sanctions imposed by Mr Battistelli on Ion Brumme and Malika Weaver, and on other staff representatives.“


None of this has happened. Every demand, even from the Administrative Council (which can in theory fire Battistelli as it should), falls on Battistelli's deaf ears. This isn't an indication of thick skin (watch him lose his mind when criticised) but megalomania. He has come to believe he is above the law and nobody can tell him what to do, not even the supervisory board. This kind of Hubris is unheard of in much of Europe, even in Cecilia Malmström's notorious department.

It recently came to our attention that with or without Battistelli leaving, there seems to be infighting in Team Battistelli (cracks in the 'cult') and the most valuable workers of the Office are leaving [1, 2, 3, 4], including top managers. Someone shared some numbers with us.

"It recently came to our attention that with or without Battistelli leaving, there seems to be infighting in Team Battistelli (cracks in the 'cult') and the most valuable workers of the Office are leaving, including top managers."Surely, if the Office lost all workers except Team Battistelli, that would leave the Office in disarray. It would get the message across, but it's definitely not ideal as it makes the EPO, which Battistelli has put at existential risk, effectively defunct. What we're seeing right now is not just profound decline in patent quality but also examiners. Now that "the pension reform is upon us," told us one person (this is expected next year), "that will lead to a lot of people leaving the office [...] one would need honest people at the top and this is hard in an institution where people are selected for their willingness to serve the top management [...] the thing is that the young will feel pressured to produce much from the very beginning (which is already happening) [...] they also have short-term contracts."

As we shall show in later posts, Team Battistelli uses searches as yardsticks, not actual quality. They treat people like robots. Patent "quality will not be the same," the person told us, "especially if the highly qualified A4s leave the office [...] I've seen some names on the retirement lists and I know them as less than 60 and top examiners" (that's about 1% of examiners, but they're the "top examiners", not some arbitrary new starters). They are very much necessary, but "they leave anyway," we are told. Patent "quality drop is also not very visible because there aren't so many oppositions anyway," we were told, "probably about 4% [...] and dealt with by UPC" (if that ever becomes a reality at all, in which case the appeals professionals will get crushed).

“I've seen some names on the retirement lists and I know them as less than 60 and top examiners...”
      --Anonymous
The person added: "it wouldn't surprise me to see Battistelli jumping from EPO to UPC, especially if the Socialists lose the elections and Sarko comes to power" (Sarkozy and Battistelli are politically connected and there's precedence at FIFA with Michel Platini).

"I can't say there's much hope," we got old, "but it's our duty to stand up for the right thing [...] for me the worst thing is not the financial loss but his nepotism that starts the whole avalanche."

It does not help when Battistelli chooses to bring over, into a Vice-President position, a man who faces many criminal charges in his home country (where the alleged crime reportedly even led to suicide).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
 
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Motorcycling in Central Oregon, Protocol Styles and the Flag of Sark
Links for the day
Links 30/09/2025: Death Sentences, Internet Censorship, and Internet Shutdowns
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Social Control Media and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Richard Stallman About to Give More Talks in Europe, Some Confirmed Already
In Göteborg
Links 30/09/2025: CERN in "Have I Been Pwned" and More Windows TCO Blunders
Links for the day
Microsoft Canonical is Selling Mass Surveillance and Back Doors as "Security for Ubuntu"
If you are looking for a GNU/Linux distro to use, just remember that Microsoft has Ubuntu in the bag
Justice for Wildlife
animals cannot speak to humans who hate animals
Cowboys Gonna Be Cowboys (on the Internet, They're Not a New Problem)
Boys will be boys
Cowboys of the "Left" and Cowboys of the "Right"
Don't believe the lie that this is some "leftist" thing
When Codes of Conduct Serve to Protect Criminals From Much-Deserved Scrutiny
CoCs are typically unfit for purpose because enforcement lacks context and suitable understanding of the full background (the "full story")
It Took the Open Source Initiative (OSI) 4+ Years to Address the 'Data Breach' or Data Protection Violation Reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) in March 2025
We may never know the dialogue or its nature
Even Microsoft's Biggest Boosters (and Media Operatives) Are Turning Against Microsoft
Expect many more layoffs before the fake "results" next month
GNU Was Right 42+ Years Ago
Since then the abusive, user-hostile technology has spread like mushrooms
Old Isn't Always Inadequate
How many gadgets manufactured today (in 2025) will still work in 2075?
The Monkey Business of Rust People
Compatibility won't matter
Almost Half of the FSFE's Money (the Fake 'FSF', Misusing the Brand) Comes From Vodafone
That money always comes with strings, even if they're invisible to most of us
Microsoft Lunduke Spreads Deliberate Lies to Incite Online Mobs
Has he lost his reading comprehension skills?
Our 19th Birthday (in Just Over 5 Weeks From Now)
We meanwhile have ongoing, solid plans to cover patent-related issues when the FSF turns 40
British GNU/Linux Distro FydeOS Tops DistroWatch
That seems like a decent site and decent effort to keep an eye on
We'll Soon Have 75,000 GemText Pages
avoid many perils of today's Web
Google Used Free Software to Build a Monopoly. Now Google Kicks Free Software to the Curb
The "G" in "Google" does not stand for GNU. It never did. It's just another greedy company.
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Retro Hardware, Federated Fragmentation, and Nex Server Written in C
Links for the day
4 More Days Till "4 decades, 4 freedoms, 4 all users"
We are now just 4 days away from the rare anniversary
Two Months After Merging to Hide GitHub Losses Microsoft is Doing It Again (This Time Windows)
Merging those two together is not a sign of strength but a tightening of budget
Speculations About the Next Large Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs
the mass layoffs are likely to happen on week 3 or 4 in October
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 29, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 29, 2025