Willy Minnoye the first among Team Battistelli to leave, with Kongstad and Battistelli next in line

Summary: Having severely damaged the EPO, in a selfish effort to make Europe attractive to patent trolls and bullies, Team Battistelli gradually goes away along with the UPC

THE "shenanigans" at the EPO -- as The Register labeled all these scandals earlier today -- are rumoured to be among the contributing factors in the demise of the UPC. We don't know for sure yet if the UPC will die, but it's not looking too good for the UPC and Team UPC keeps eerily silent on this matter (even this afternoon, more than 2 days later), which probably means it doesn't know how to spin its way out of it.

The Register, one of the very few sites which actually give a damn about what's happening at the EPO, said this:

The freeze on long-held plans to approve a single patent court for Europe is a result of the actions of the president of the European Patent Office, according to German media reports.

The Unitary Patent Court (UPC) has been in progress since 2012, but last month Germany's constitutional court unexpectedly ordered a halt to legislation ratifying it. The German government's approval is essential for the court to move forward.

Beyond the fact that an unnamed individual had filed a complaint with the court arguing that the UPC broke German law, little was known about the argument itself and why the court had taken it so seriously.

Now details have emerged and the reason for the freeze appears to be controversial changes pushed through EPO president Benoit Battistelli, largely in order to enhance his own office's power.

The complaint argues that changes made to the EPO's Boards of Appeal have effectively undermined its independence, meaning that there are now insufficient checks and balances within the system to adhere to German law.

Those changes were forced through by Battistelli after the Boards of Appeal stood up to him by refusing to remove a judge he had fired over allegations of leaking embarrassing documents and posting anonymous criticism of Battistelli and his team.

This whole attack on the EPO, orchestrated for years by Team Battistelli, can ultimately doom the whole Organisation, not just the Office.

See some of the comments about Battistelli. Here's one:

Very strange

I know the workings of many European institutions are a bit strange, and influenced by many external factors, but WTF has anyone continued to support this dangerous clown? Has anyone any good suggestions why the Danish bod was so keep to support him?

We need a lot more transparency about the people involved.

Here's another one:

Not a moment too soon It is high time this nutjob is brought back under control. Erase his tenure, burn his career, trash every one of his decisions and put in place someone who is capable of advancing the whole process, not derailing it. Oh, and can the nutjob have his pension revoked ? Please ? It would really be grating for him to get full benefits in retirement - he certainly doesn't deserve it;

Then referring to Trump, who is compared to Battistelli:

Tip of the iceberg This sort of attitude seems to be rather common, and is becoming more obvious as those in any form of power no longer seen to even attempt to hide what they are up to - just look across the pond.

The "golden parachute" reference (French) came back 2 years later:

Yup - the dickheads bully and ignore everyone, and everyone seems to be watching and wondering why their polite request was ignored.

This guy may go, but he'll end up awarding himself a golden parachute, and there'll be no justice or consequences.

They already reward themselves. Not just with PR (the whole EPO Web site -- virtually every section of it -- is a shrine to Battistelli and the media is paid to produce puff piece for/about him) but also with money. They basically loot the place before they're done destroying it. It's a very common modus operandi in sinking institutions. "Battistelli may finally face serious consequences," it was said, but as one of the comments correctly says: "I very much doubt it. Got paid a whack while in office, will have a huge life-long pension when he leaves. A glorious example of the complete and utter failure of management to manage management."

"With Battistelli on his way out within months (Kongstad has just a couple of months left before unemployment), expect the UPC to make virtually no progress."There are some more comments in there.

With Battistelli on his way out within months (Kongstad has just a couple of months left before unemployment), expect the UPC to make virtually no progress.

The UPC was a considerable threat with definite potential of making Europe another litigation hub for trolls -- something akin to east Texas where US patents enjoy crooked judgments from intentionally biased judges.

"The UPC was a considerable threat with definite potential of making Europe another litigation hub for trolls -- something akin to east Texas where US patents enjoy crooked judgments from intentionally biased judges.""Will East Texas be able to keep patent cases, despite the Supreme Court?"

This was today's headline from a trolls expert that rightly alluded to judge Gilstrap, who is being openly condemned by US politicians. Here are a couple of portions:

The top US patent court has been asked to consider an urgent appeal from a manufacturer of supercomputers that's desperate to escape an upcoming trial in the patent hotspot of East Texas.

The Eastern District of Texas has become known as a haven for the type of litigation shops sometimes derided as "patent trolls," but the district's strict discovery rules and tendency to favor jury trials has attracted operating companies seeking to enforce their patents, as well. In 2015, Raytheon filed a patent lawsuit in East Texas accusing Seattle-based supercomputer maker Cray Inc. of infringing four Raytheon patents related to supercomputer hardware and software.

[...]

Yet under the new rules, Gilstrap still wouldn't let Cray out of the district. Cray's only tie to the district was a single salesperson, who worked out of his home in the Eastern District. In the judge's view, though, that was enough to find that Cray had "regular and established" business in the Eastern District, and would have to face trial.

"With the UPC, the likes of Battistelli tried to do to Europe what Gilstrap did to his county (at the expense of his country)."Over the past half a decade we wrote a lot about Gilstrap's pattern of rulings whose sole goal seemed to be signaling to trolls, "come here! We love trolls!"

With the UPC, the likes of Battistelli tried to do to Europe what Gilstrap did to his county (at the expense of his country). So it's a good thing that they are failing. The fight for science and technology (an area which Battistelli has zero clue about, as he lacks experience) is not over. As always, there's a battle between those who actually make things and those who just prey on them (like Team UPC). ⬆