Holland fights to market itself as safe haven for unaccountable (and often abusive) organisations

Summary: A recent decision on the EPO (from a high Dutch court) is now available for reading in English

OUR previous coverage on this subject, namely EPO management getting away with anything on Dutch territory, pretty much said everything that needed to be said. Here are 5 articles about it (there are more):

• Battistelli is an Autocrat Above the Law and It's OK, Holland's High Council Says
• EPO Abuses Now Make the Netherlands Look Like a Facilitator of Human/Labour Rights Abuses
• Media Blasts EPO Over Immunity Amid Suicides, Battistelli's Behaviour Compared to Dominique Strauss-Kahn's
• Leaked: Team Battistelli, Exploiting a Controversial Decision From the Netherlands, is Trying to Squash SUEPO
• The EPO's Freedom to Disregard the Law and Abuse Employees is “Being Taken up by the Council of Europe”

Yesterday afternoon we found this update in SUEPO's Web site. It said the following:

Judgment of the Dutch Court of Cassation issued on 20 January 2017

JUDGMENT OF THE DUTCH COURT OF CASSATION IN SUEPO v EPO ISSUED ON 20 JANUARY 2017 Dutch courts have no jurisdiction in European Patent Organisation dispute The European Patent Organisation can invoke jurisdiction immunity in a dispute with trade unions. That is the ruling issued by the Supreme Court 5 today, and means the Dutch courts have no jurisdiction to examine disputes brought before them between the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg) and two trade unions: the Trade Union of the European Patent Office (VEOB) and the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO). Previous rulings by the court in preliminary relief proceedings and the Court of Appeal in The Hague 10 have been set aside by the Supreme Court.

Original judgment text is in Dutch. English translation is available.

We have local [PDF] copies of both [PDF] English translations. We have uploaded these PDFs for long-term preservation (as SUEPO is under attack and sometimes pressured to censor itself). ⬆