Bonum Certa Men Certa

Weeks Later, British Media Writes About British EPO Worker That Committed Suicide and the Administrative Council's 'Coverup'

Related: EPO's Elodie Bergot Calls Staff Suicide Just 'Passing Away', Pretends to Care

EPO on suicide



Summary: The contempt/disregard for human life and for the health of employees at the European Patent Office extends to the Administrative Council (European Patent Organisation)

THE news about changes at the EPO may have begun circulating in German media and even British media. Earlier today The Register covered some of the latest events, including last week's meeting, Battistelli's expected departure, the suicide of a British examiner in Munich, and various other things. Among the key points (with highlight on what's new to us):



Perhaps more significantly, the Administrative Council named its new chairman after its current chair, Jesper Kongstad, unexpectedly resigned from his position of chairman of the Danish patent office.

Kongstad was widely credited with supporting and protecting Battistelli at the council, repeatedly blocking efforts to have him kicked out of the job early. In his place, from October, will be German Christoph Ernst, who has been a critic of several of Battistelli's more controversial reforms.

The selection of Ernst has been widely seen as a public rebuke of Battistelli for his crusade against anyone opposing his plans – a situation that has led to a complete breakdown in communication between staff and management.

At its recent meeting in Munich, the Administrative Council was asked by the EPO staff union to launch an independent investigation into the circumstances behind the recent suicide of an examiner: the sixth such death in just five years. They declined to do so.

[...]

Battistelli famously storms out of meetings if he doesn't like what he hears.


IAM's editor believes that Battistelli's friend Antonio Campinos may take over. It seems plausible.

"We referred to Nouvel as a "death trap" last night because of the fire risk -- a subject for which we can hopefully leak hard evidence one day."Regarding some of Battistelli's latest proposals, one person said: "If these sort of changes are passed it shows that it isn't just the top that is rotten. What a toxic place to have to work at.."

"So the penthouse suite," added another person. "Is it included as a benefit?"

The EPO does not even want anyone to speak about the penthouse's very existence. As we pointed out before, the money for it was apparently taken from the budget of TBI Holding, which had been tasked with construction of Nouvel, a building which we wrote about last night. TBI Holding wanted to sue the EPO. But guess what... it cannot. Immunity!

Thanks to the notorious immunity, Dutch authorities are unlikely to investigate such irregularities (or potential felonies). We referred to Nouvel as a "death trap" last night because of the fire risk -- a subject for which we can hopefully leak hard evidence one day.

"It's one of the many things that make the EPO an undesirable employer that tends to cover things up rather than make up."Regarding the accident this week, we later received additional information about it from Dutch people. One person said, "please be careful when commenting on the accident."

Another person, a native Dutch speaker, said that it was not as serious as the headlines (or automated translation of these) may suggest. "A worker fell from the building's highest floor three meters to the floor below," one person said. "He was injured and needed to be brought to a hospital. But it was an accident and has nothing to do with Nouvel or Battistelli. Such a thing can happen everywhere. Let's hope that the guy is not severely injured and will get better soon. What is strange is that the labour inspection can investigate what happened when someone gets injured but is not allowed to enter EPO premises when someone comes to death by suicide."

It's one of the many things that make the EPO an undesirable employer that tends to cover things up rather than make up. Introspection is simply not an option.

Recent Techrights' Posts

LLM Slopfarms: LinuxSecurity.com and FUDZilla Doing 'Linux' (Fake Articles)
It's 2025. Everything on the Web is getting worse, except SPARTAN.
Red Hat's Bluewashing to be Further Completed This Year
Do not wait for some announcement from redhat.com - it's already covered by IBM
LLM Slop is Now Filling the Web With Pure Fiction/Fabrication/Misinformation About Linux
The timing of this lie/fiction is curious because Torvalds is being brigaded for defending C
FUDZilla Has Turned Into LLM Slop and Machine-Generated FUD (New York Times Has Also Just Admitted Moving in That Direction)
Failing news sites, instead of calling it quits with some remaining dignity, are handing control over to LLM slop (pretending to still be active)
By Buying Twitter, MElon and Cheeto Now Control EU Politicians, Even at the Highest Levels
"the top level politicians make the egregious mistake of trying to treat Xitter as if it were a communications medium"
How to 'Sell' Software Freedom to People
In my experience, it helps when one speaks about control, not freedom, including confidentiality
 
A Gift That Keeps on Giving: Microsofters Reveal a Campaign of SLAPP, Seeking to Censor Critical Information About Lawsuits Against Microsoft
All they can get here or mockery and ridicule
Two Years After Issuing Ridiculous Threats and Choosing a Law Firm in Debt (Probably Desperate for Clients) Matthew J. Garrett Gets Help ('Bailout') From Microsofters
The karma won't be good
How Americans View 'Free Speech' in Practice
"No good deed goes unpunished"
Threats Against Techrights Always Come From Outside Britain
Over the coming days we shall write about an example of our own and we'll show how Americans have the audacity to bully people using a foreign (to them) court
Links 18/02/2025: More DeepSeek Bans and Supreme Court Patent Challenges
Links for the day
Links 18/02/2025: FAA Layoffs and EU Betrayed
Links for the day
On Technical Contracts of Employment and Why People Must Read Before Signing
The wave of layoffs under MElon will worsen prospects of finding alternate/better employment
Gemini Links 18/02/2025: Reading Books and Oneiric Monk
Links for the day
Swiss corruption, Greens, Liip & Debian human rights violations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Swiss police TIGRIS unit, World Cat Day, Swiss-corruption.com & Debian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/02/2025: “Hey Hi Video Surveillance” and YouTube at 20
Links for the day
The Washington Post (Jeff Bezos) Dies in Darkness
spread it on
Gemini Links 18/02/2025: Downloading Gemini Files with Emacs and Elpher, Gopher on Devuan
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Confirms His Next Talk, "Free/Libre Software and Freedom in the Digital Society" (Next Monday in Free University of Bozen-Bolzano)
He could already advertise this more than a week ago
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 17, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 17, 2025
IBM's Chronic Neglect Won't Save Anything and It Might Even Get IBM Sued
The problem is likely a lack of manpower, not deliberate shoddiness
Gemini Links 17/02/2025: Ideal OS, AuraRepo Alpha, and Simple Code
Links for the day
The "Cool Kids" Are Already Using GNU/Linux, Microsoft is Just Cheating
The future and the present are Linux
Links 17/02/2025: War on Dissent and Bloggers, Nationalism a Growing Theme
Links for the day
IBM Going International (and India)
It's Monday and a national holiday
GeekWire: Microsoft Bribes Us While We Cover Microsoft Affairs (Spin Doctoring), Hence We Are "Independent"
What good is a "journalist" sponsored by the very same company he or she writes about?
The Attacks on LinuxQuestions.org
Going to Clownflare only worsens the problem
The GNU Manifesto Turns 40 Next Month
The guardian of Free software (definition, licences, philosophy, hosting and so on) has managed to endure and persevere for 40 years. Very few others can say the same.
Microsoft Lunduke Belongs in 4Chan
Assuming Microsoft Lunduke is aware of the full context, he is now trolling not one but two decent organisations
In Europe and in India Richard Stallman Need Not Duck Anymore, People Trying to Cancel His Talk Have No Sway
the last time a talk by Dr. Stallman got canceled was about a year ago
Back From a Short Break
We can now resume and try to stick to the usual pace
Links 17/02/2025: LLMs Failing and Patreon Support Becoming a Burden to Bloggers
Links for the day
Links 17/02/2025: Blogroll Conundrum; Research, Scientists Under Siege
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 16, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, February 16, 2025
Links 16/02/2025: Nostalgia for Physical Media and the US Government Actively Promotes Pro-Kremlin Politicians in the EU
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/02/2025:Life, Cynicism, and languages
Links for the day
Links 16/02/2025: Oligarchs "Collect Your Data and Control Your World", Global Temperatures Shoot Up
Links for the day
Promoting Microsoft Windows With LLM Slop
What is the policy at BetaNews regarding LLM slop?
Alex Oliva, the Potential 'Successor' of RMS, Has a New Web Site
More freedom for Alex Oliva
Links 16/02/2025: "Microsoft Is Laying Off Employees" and Internal Dissent Brewing at Facebook Over Regime Complicity
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 15, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 15, 2025