Raw: SUEPO Connected the Unitary Patent (UPC) to Abuses at the European Patent Office
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2017-12-25 06:22:36 UTC
- Modified: 2017-12-25 06:22:36 UTC
Summary: SUEPO's letter to the boss of Jesper Kongstad, a protector of Benoît Battistelli who allegedly got sacked a few years later
Mr Henrik Sass Larsen
Minister of Business and Growth in Denmark
Danish Ministry of Business and Growth - Erhvervs- og Vækstministeriet,
Slotsholmsgade 10-12, 1216 København K
min@evm.dk
Unitary Patent and European Patent Organisation - Your duty to safeguard the fundamental rights of EPO staff
Dear Mr Sass Larsen,
We are writing to you as the Central Chairs of the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO). Around 50% of the 7000 staff members of the European Patent Office are members of our Union.
At a time when Denmark is facing an important referendum on whether or not to join the Community Patent Court, it is important to ensure that no relevant factors that could potentially prove damaging are disregarded.
The Kingdom of Denmark is a member of the European Patent Organisation, whose supervisory body is the Administrative Council (AC) of the EPO. The current AC Chairman is the Danish representative, Mr Jesper Kongstad who is also concurrently Director General of the Danish Patent Office (DKPTO). As head of the Ministry of Growth and Business, all of Mr Kongstad’s actions fall ultimately under your responsibility.
There are well-reasoned concerns that suggest that the EPO is flouting established and internationally recognized principles of labour law. SUEPO has brought these concerns to the attention of the Administrative Council and Chair in a letter dated 3 March 2013 entitled “Social Democracy - Mr Battistelli's reform of the Staff Representation”. You will find a copy attached to this letter.
As executive President of the EPO, Mr Benoît Battistelli (FR) has adopted a dubious management style that may be characterized by authoritarianism and a complete disrespect for rights that are assuredly fundamental rights within a democratic country like Denmark. To give you just a few of many examples:
- Mr Battistelli has severely limited the right to strike: it is contingent on his accepting the grounds for striking and eventually approving the request to strike, all before he will then allow any industrial action to take place
- Freedom of speech is severely curtailed; staff who voice dissent are punished.
- Any staff member can be subject to an investigation by a newly created internal police force; they can neither keep silent nor be assisted by legal counsel.
- Access to independent justice is both limited and very ineffective.
All these unilaterally enforced changes have led to the worst social conflict at the EPO in its 40 years of existence. There is no indication of any improvement in the situation on the horizon - on the contrary, it seems the situation will only get worse. Not only are these changes one-sided, they risk emasculating the checks and balances in place to moderate EPO governance. We fear that in the medium term there will be heavy costs to pay in terms of the health and welfare of staff: such a regime will lead to stress, burnout or something worse. In the long term, legal inadequacies could pose problems of liability for the organisation itself, and for the Member States that fail to ensure that EPO employees enjoy the same fundamental rights as all other citizens of Europe.
Moreover, as a minister in a genuinely social-democratic government of a country that has a long-standing reputation for transparent governance, you should be concerned about the opacity of any available information concerning the EPO. The salary and terms of service of Mr Battistelli (in contrast to those of his predecessor) are kept secret. His accountability to the Administrative Council, and therefore the Member States, is limited. The perceived impartiality of one of the Auditors who, in theory, should work on behalf of the Administrative Council, might be questioned when the successful candidate happens to have been the closest associate of Mr Battistelli during his tenure at the French Patent Office (INPI). Indeed, Mr Battistelli has appointed to several key positions within the EPO a number of former associates from INPI, far exceeding the normal level of representation for France (please see http://suepo.org/public/su14062cp.pdf).
All of these changes have happened under the eyes of the Danish delegation and the Chairmanship of Mr Kongstad, both of whom have always supported Mr Battistelli.
Taking all the above information into consideration, we would ask you to take a position on your duty to safeguard the fundamental rights of EPO staff and brief your delegation and Mr Kongstad before the next AC meeting accordingly.
Yours sincerely,
[Omitted]
Recent Techrights' Posts
- EPO Staff Representatives Confront the President Who Says 'F--king' in Front of Female Workers Over Measurable Discrimination Against Female Colleagues
- Central Staff Committee versus Lukashenko's sponsor
- IBM Layoffs in 'RTO' Clothing Reported by Thomas Claburn
- This "hey hi" (AI) nonsense is just a go-to excuse that IBM and GAFAM (and many others) use
- Still Waiting for the EU to Abolish the Illegal and Unconstitutional Court Linked to EPO Corruption and Lobbyism by the Patent Litigation Industry
- Sadly, all the blogs that used to talk about those issues have been infiltrated and then completely hijacked by the very perpetrators of the illegality
- [Video] Richard Stallman Questions and Answers Session in Google's YouTube or Invidious
- From last night
- Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles Published by Bots, Dominating Google News
- So a lot of the Web is Microsoft chatbot-generated anti-Linux FUD
-
- Gemini Links 13/02/2025: gwit and Restart
- Links for the day
- Links 13/02/2025: Algorithm Bots and 'Teleport' Breakthrough
- Links for the day
- Social Engineering of the Free Software Movement is a Corporate Takeover With Code of Conduct (CoC) to Drive Out or Expel Dissent
- Richard Stallman (RMS) covered "cancel culture"
- Links 13/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Google (Disguised as "Buyouts"), Telecoms Price Hikes as Collusion/Price-Fixing
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 13/02/2025: Broken Watches and Naming Types
- Links for the day
- Corrupt Bill Gates Worming His Way Into Richard Stallman Videos in Google's YouTube
- Reputation laundering riding other people's names?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, February 12, 2025
- Links 12/02/2025: Crytek Layoffs, Security Holes, and Giving Ukraine to Russia
- Links for the day
- Relaying GAFAM Talking Points and Lies Using GAFAM LLMs, or Slop Pasted in by Brittany Day
- linuxsecurity.com is relaying slop, i.e. misinformation
- Photos From This Evening's Talk by Dr. Richard Stallman in Torino, Maybe a Video Soon
- The talk that Dr. Richard Stallman gave today (a few hours ago) was recorded and streamed
- IlSoftware.it Covers Richard Stallman's Visit to Give Talks in Italy
- The publication is in Italian, the talk was in English
- Macho Patent Office
- At the EPO there's always room for women in top roles
- Gemini Links 12/02/2025: "Bream Gives Me Hiccups", Making Chinese Tea, and More
- Links for the day
- This is Why Codeberg Issues an Apology Today
- This response was clear and relatively swift
- The Register Studies (to Affirm) Reports of IBM Layoffs "at the Finance and Operations business unit"
- something about that specific unit
- Links 12/02/2025: SSL FUD, DEI Phase-out, Felonies Committed by MElon (Data Breaches)
- Links for the day
- Italian Media Covers Richard Stallman's English Talk Ahead of Tonight's Public Appearance
- article in La Stampa
- Destruction and Distortion of Information, Including Facts About Linux (Bonus: This is Destroying the Planet)
- All that LLMs have going for them is hype, and moreover media that intentionally misrepresents them and their supposed capabilities
- Google Seems to Have Just Killed All Instances of Invidious
- YouTube is rapidly becoming just "another Neflix"
- Microsoft Skype in a Freefall: About 20% Decrease in Site Traffic in 3 Months (Amid Microsoft Phasing Out Credits)
- Microsoft axing more services/features may mean that now they scrape the bottom of the barrel and Skype will simply die, discontinuing service (like ICQ) in a matter of years
- Gemini Links 12/02/2025: Depression, Gabbro, WikiTok, and More
- Links for the day
- Links 12/02/2025: Health, Security, and Monopolies
- Links for the day
- Gemini Protocol is Increasingly Important to the Net
- Gemini Protocol will turn 6 this summer
- Former EPO Manager Warns That the Illegal 'Court' for "Unitary Patents" Enables “Law Shopping”
- Daniel X. Thomas opposed the very existence of the UPC, which any honest person could recognise was both illegal and unconstitutional
- Like GAFAM, the EPO is Passing the Financial Pains to Staff
- the EPO is operating illegally at this point
- Morale at Microsoft Ruined by the Company Labelling Thousands of Workers 'Low Performers', Sacking Them on the Spot and Denying Them Basic Benefits
- people laid off as "low performers" go to social control media to bemoan the label
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, February 11, 2025
- Links 11/02/2025: Current state of the Internet and Smallnet Information Services (SIS)
- Links for the day
- Conservative Estimate: Over 10,000 IBM Workers to Be Laid Off in the Next Two Waves
- The morale is low and layoffs are expected soon, with mass layoffs likely happening next month and then again later
- Links 11/02/2025: Trade Wars and "Crisis for American Universities"
- Links for the day
- Parasitic LLM Slop Sites Destroy the Ability to Find "Linux" News in Google News
- Remember that Google News laid off lots of its workers
- Richard Stallman's English Talk in Italy Less Than 24 Hours Away (Torino) and Then Another Talk in Italy Scheduled (University of Bozen-Bolzano)
- He's active and he travels a lot in spite of his medical condition
- IBM Layoff Rumours, Large-Scale Implementations Weeks Ahead (in March 2025)
- There are some people corroborating
- Links 11/02/2025: Nutritional Poverty, Closure of USAID, More Fictional 'Valuations' Around Buzzwords
- Links for the day
- Perl Programming Leftovers
- recently in perl.org
- Microsoft in Africa: From 98% to Less Than 10% in Just 16 Years
- Microsoft being on less than 1 in 10 Web-connected devices in Africa is a very big deal
- Almost as If MElon Reads Techrights
- The joke we started appears to be spreading
- Microsoft Blasted for Adding Insult to Injury: Workers Laid Off Without Prior Notice, Without Severance Payment and Basic Coverage (Like Health), Then Stigmatised as Bad Performers So They Cannot Find a Job Elsewhere
- Such stereotypes end entire careers
- Gemini Links 11/02/2025: NeoVim and Deploying Other People's Code
- Links for the day
- BetaNews is Still Publishing LLM Slop/SPAM About "Linux"
- Assuming it is indeed LLM slop, it seems clear BetaNews has no intention of improving or is simply unable/unwilling to improve
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 10, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, February 10, 2025