IT IS no secret (not anymore, but it was supposed to be a secret) that the Battistelli regime, having an unscrupulous party with EPO budget, pays over a million Euros per year to a US-based PR firm (notorious for its fracking lobby here and elsewhere in the world). They are silencing if not brainwashing journalists (even pushing 'material' to them). This PR firm is already funding a pro-UPC event in the US, which is probably an ethical breach for all sorts of reasons. This conscienceless, unprincipled management is a total disaster to what was once a reputable Office.
""Online Filing users," as the above puts it, pretty much must be Microsoft customers, i.e. paying clients of some serial abuser from another continent."The Battistelli-run EPO is still promoting software patents and the UPC. They have no sense of shame and in order to meet notorious goals (demolishing the EPC and patent scope) they'll even go abroad and do their lobbying behind closed doors (or hugely expensive entrance fees). The EPO promotes the above event every other day or so. There are at least two more such events (with "ICT") in the pipeline, based on the EPO's Web site. Another EPO event was mentioned by IP Kat yesterday. To quote: "EPO Online Services Workshops. A series of workshops introducing the new online filing service at the EPO will be held in London on 13-14 September, 18-19 October and 29-30 November. The workshops are aimed primarily at Online Filing users, professional representatives and support staff/records department staff who are familiar with the basic functions of Online Filing. For more information and to register, see here."
"Online Filing users," as the above puts it, pretty much must be Microsoft customers, i.e. paying clients of some serial abuser from another continent. The same goes for UPC. That's a despicable aspect of the EPO which we covered here several times before. It makes the word "European" abundantly farcical in the EPO acronym.
In other news, the EPO's PR strategy becomes ever more pathetic by the day. More EIA 2017 ‘spam’ (direct messaging that's repetitive) from the EPO can be seen in the account right now [1, 2, 3, 4], as if broadcasting to all people [1, 2, 3] is not enough for them. How low will these people stoop and when will they realise that the more they do to save face/cover up Battistelli's behind, the worse things will get? It has culminated in a crisis already and it's turning into a a full-blown ‘constitutional crisis’ at the EPO -- something from which the EPO might never be able to recover (even after Battistelli leaves). ⬆