Would you trust this man near judges?

Summary: Benoît Battistelli, who openly disregards and refuses to obey judges (while intervening in trials and delivering 'royal decrees' whenever it suits him), may soon gain direct control over the judge he hates most

THE EPO is in shambles and we welcome Dr. Thorsten Bausch's criticism of this whole situation. If only more of his colleagues and others in his professional domain found the courage to speak out...

Yesterday Bausch published "Quo usque tandem, Battistelle," soon to be recommended or at least also cited by JUVE's Mathieu Klos‏ and Dr. Luke McDonagh, who wrote (and cited the Irish Times along with Bausch's post): "The European #Patent Office’s labour practices have become incredibly controversial: of interest to the #ECHR (via a complaint made against the Netherlands by its trade union) and the International Labour Organisation (#ILO)..."

Nobody is happy about it. We saw one personal attack on a dismissed staff representative (the typical pretense that EPO staff is rich and spoiled), but everything else is very unflattering to Battistelli and the EPO. Bausch said that Battistelli "is a powerful person, no doubt. But he is not above the law, and he should not be. It must be possible that courts or tribunals set limits to his powers and at times even vacate decisions that he has made. The same is true for the Administrative Council. Both the President and the AC are bound by the European Patent Convention, which has to be interpreted, as the case may be, by an independent court or tribunal."

More from his article:

If a recent report by JuVe is correct – and they are normally well informed – then Mr. Corcoran has not only won his cases before the ILO, but also before the Regional Court of Munich and the Office of the State Prosecutor in Munich. This is at least what Mr. Corcoran’s attorney told JuVe: “Denn durch die beiden ILOAT-Urteile und diverse Entscheidungen des Landgerichts München und der Staatsanwaltschaft München wurde nun von dritter Seite zweifelsfrei bestätigt, dass die Vorwürfe von Herrn Battistelli gegen meinen Mandanten unbegründet sind” (in English: “The two ILOAT judgments and several decisions of the Regional Court of Munich and the State Prosecutor of Munich have confirmed without any doubt that Mr. Battistelli’s accusations against my client are unfounded.”) – If the EPO has different facts to report, then let us hear them. Otherwise I hope that the decisions by the Munich court will become public some day. They could be interesting.

In any case, the plot seems to thicken. Maybe Mr. Battistelli is really a case for „Krampus“. If he does not change course now and if he continues refusing to do what the ILO ordered the EPO to do, he should be sacked. Otherwise, the Administrative Council risks a serious loss in reputation of the European Patent Office, and I cannot imagine that the German Federal Constitutional Court would firmly close its eyes to such a breach of the constitution and the EPC. Let it not be forgotten that the rule of law is the fundament of the EPO member states’ constitutions and the European patent system as a whole.

And, ceterum censeo, dear Administrative Council, please finally fill the gaps in the technical members of the Boards of Appeal! There are still more than 20 unoccupied positions shown in the business distribution scheme and the duration of appeal proceedings has become truly unbearable.

Someone in the comments then pointed out, correctly, that "ILO decisions in re Judge Corcoran probably mark the beginning of Mr Battistelli’s end."

To quote:

The recent ILO decisions in re Judge Corcoran probably mark the beginning of Mr Battistelli’s end. A number of cases of harassement and violations of fundamental rights by him and his minions against various victims are still pending before the Tribunal of the ILO, which expressly justified the extraordinary public announcement last Wednesday by the fact that it would apply the very same considerations in several decisions to come. The decisions also illustrate how Mr Battistelli made a fool of the AC, bringing both the EPO and the UPC to a point of rupture, with disastrous consequences to be expected from the pending constitutional complaints before the GCC. Any new proposal from Mr Battistelli in his last months of service is therefore likely to be dumped immediately by the AC. And once he will have lost power, influence and intimidation capacity, expect dozens of new stories and scandals to emerge. Has he for example really got the Chair of the CEIPI Board tby virtue of his outstanding legal knowledge and brilliant achievements in intellectual property matters rather than perhaps by massively threatening the CEIPI to put a brutal end to EPO’s cooperation and substantial financial support, if he was not elected?

We wrote about CEIPI in the following posts:

• Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos Playing Musical Chairs at CEIPI
• How CEIPI in Strasbourg is Allegedly Facilitating Another Battistelli 'Scam' Surrounding the Unitary Patent (UPC)
• French Disgrace: Teachers at CEIPI Not Happy About Benoît Battistelli as Upcoming President of the CEIPI Administrative Board
• The EPO Relies on Media Cowardice and Complicity (to Not Report Obvious Issues With Battistelli at CEIPI)
• Another Day of EPO Injustices in Europe and Campinos/Battistelli Connections at CEIPI
• CEIPI and EPO: The Story So Far

Teachers at CEIPI were complaining about Battistelli's appointment before they even knew about the ILO judgments.

Thorsten Bausch told the above commenter: "Then let us just hope that this reinstatement will also be accepted by the President of the EPO, not just the President of the Boards of Appeal. If so, it would be good news for the rule of law."

Battistelli and the Office, as we've just noted, have said nothing whatsoever about it. Only Carl Josefsson did.

But mind the next comment, which adds new information/speculation (highlighted in yellow below):

Mr Corcoran was today in Haar (DG3) but it is still unclear whether he can enter other EPO premises (eg Isar, Pschorr Höffe)

I just heard from usually well informed sources that the plan is to now let Mr Corcoran in DG3 until 31.12.2017 and from 01.01.2018 to have in [sic] (him?) back in DG1 under Battistelli !

Suspended 3 years, charges with nothing, a professional life and a reputation totally destroyed by a system incapable to acknowledge its own mistakes plus, cherry on the cake, the brilliant demonstration of the “independence” of the DG3 : Merry Xmas Mr Battistelli !

Can anybody verify/confirm the highlighted text above? We do need independent verification.

Over at The Register many of the comments are not on topic (as usual), but here's one that is:

Does the ILO's court have the ability to hand out contempt of court rulings and fines?

Does the ILO's court have the ability to hand out contempt of court rulings, fines and to jail those individual persons who ignore or unduly delay enacting its rulings? You know, like real courts can do. If so, then now is the time it is the time for the ILO's court to start putting individual people in jail until the obey its rulings. Benoit Battistelli Benoit Battistelli's blindly obedient servant, the head of the EPO's security* And if that doesn't do it, then next week the EPO's executive committee * Since when did, "I'm just doing what my boss told me to do" justify refusing to obey a court order?

See this reply:

I thought the procedure was that the recipient of the decision could go to the national court to enforce it. In that case the immunity of the organisation would not apply. I could be wrong. Of course the EPO has won a case before the Dutch Supreme Court which was partly based on the EPO’s recognition of the ILO as being a legitimate source of justice for the staff (contrary to the staff’s assertion to the practical application of the right). Failure to apply the ILO decision could well bring that decision back to the table, particularly as the staff Union is currently appealing it to the higher European court for human rights. Ultimately it may rely on the national government (Germany, country of the EPO Chairman) taking steps with regard to the immunity. A ridiculous diplomatic conflict may ensue? For the want of a nail...

It is going to be interesting to see the ramifications/knock-on effect at ECHR. Some of the comments are even less polite and suggest law enforcement ought to get involved:

The guy should turn up with a couple of friendly policemen in tow and the minute he is refused access, the police should arrest and handcuff anyone who stops the guy. Start with the security oik and when he says he has been told to do it, go arrest the person who issued the instruction. Cart them off to a holding cell and remind them that if they repeat it, then they will be arrested again. Proceed ad finitum until the cops run out of handcuffs and the organisation gets the hnt.

Imagine that. And read the reply:

Except... the EPO buildings are inviolable so any police raid would lead to a call from the EPO to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for back-up. Could lead to a stand-off. And don’t forget BB has personal bodyguards.

Insiders have told us they believe things will get nasty pretty soon. It's also hard to believe that Corcoran under direct control of Battistelli (and his circle) will be in safe hands. We're less optimistic than SUEPO and deem Campinos to be an extension of Battistelli's "circle" (or "swamp" as they nowadays call it across the pond). ⬆