Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Hoards Billions of Euros (Taken From the Public), Decreases Quality to Get More Money, Reduces Payments to Staff

In Battistelli's own words (from the last Gazette):

Battistelli and SSP



Summary: The EPO continues to collect money from everyone, distributes bogus/dubious patents that usher patent trolls into Europe (to cost European businesses billions in the long run), and staff of the EPO faces more cuts while EPO management swims in cash and perks

SEVERAL months ago EPO insiders complained that the EPO had morphed from a service (monopolised even) into an "investment bank". It's actually a hefty tax on Europe. It's a large repository of cash which is often misused (it lacks transparency), e.g. to bribe media, allegedly 'buy' votes, SLAPP bloggers, corrupt academia and generally serve as the private cash cow of few top-level officials. It's just so ripe for corruption. Some of Battistelli's own loyalists have been put in charge of the budget -- clearly a recipe for disaster after Battistelli abolished auditory functions.



"And where does all that money end up other than Battistelli's town, penthouse, platoon of private bodyguards, bonuses and so on?"The EPO does not lack money; it's taxing the public and it has virtually no competition in Europe. But what it 'delivers', namely patents, can cost the public many billions (lawsuits, i.e. legal fees). If the economists at the EPO weren't Battistelli loyalists, maybe they'd speak out about this again. The former Chief Economist of the EPO warned that Battistelli's implicit policy of lowering patent quality (for the sake of quantity) would bring patent trolls to Europe -- something which is already happening. It's like printing/minting far too much money; it's economically absurd to do so.

"It's like printing/minting far too much money; it's economically absurd to do so."It's with that in mind that we share or express great concern*. And where does all that money end up other than Battistelli's town, penthouse, platoon of private bodyguards, bonuses and so on? It certainly looks like EPO staff, i.e. people who actually do all the work, faces cuts. Battistelli receives over half a million euros in yet another bonus, whereas examiners need to accept cuts?

There are, according to staff representatives, only 3 days left to appeal some of these cuts. "Defend your NPS/SSP rights," the representatives urged, "by 25 April" (that's Wednesday).

Citing the relevant PDFs [1, 2, 3] and this editable form, they warn that "[a]mended contribution rates to the NPS / SSP harm staff recruited after 2009" and add:

The President has amended the contribution rates to the NPS and to the SSP several times since 2009. The last amendment has taken place with effect from 1 January 2018, on the basis of an actuarial study (CA/61/17) and the Office comments (CA/62/17).

With CA/D 11/17, the Administrative Council modified Article 41(1) of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and set the contribution rate of the employees to 9.8%. With Circular 389 replacing Circular 349, the global contribution rate to the NPS and SSP was raised from 29.1% to 29.4%. The contribution rate to the NPS was increased by the President from 22.5% to 24.9% and the contribution rate to the SSP was decreased from 6.6% to 4.5% with effect from 1 January 2018.

The above decisions harm colleagues in the NPS in that especially the contribution rate to the SSP is substantially decreased and therefore the amount paid to the SSP every month into the SSP is substantially lower and will result in a smaller accumulated amount over the years.


There's still enough time (today is Sunday) to complete that form. It needs "to be filed by 25 April at the latest," said some internal communication. ____ * Not only are monopolies being granted sparingly; Battistelli strives to expand their scope with the UPC. Who would pay the price? The public of course.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Under the Guise of "MIT Technology Review Insights" the Site MIT Technology Review Posts Corporate Spam as 'Articles'
Some of the articles aren't even articles but 'hit pieces' against Free software and some are paid advertisements
Brett Wilson LLP Has Track Record in Scam Coin Cases (e.g. Craig Wright and More), Now It Works for 'Crypto' Scam Purveyors
But wait, it gets worse
Will Brett Wilson LLP Handle Its Own Winding Up Petition or be Struck Off for Overt Abuse of Process?
Today we sue not only the first Microsofter
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Sharing Code and Recipes
It helps explain the triviality of software freedom
How Many Women Has Microsoft's Alex Balabhadra Graveley Already Strangled and Where Does That End?
If you too are a victim of this man and wish to share information, contact us
"We Might Save Somebody's Life"
I follow the example of my father
 
Victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, Wanted to Sue Him But Lacked the Funds (He Attacked Their Finances)
Having spoken to victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
Links 17/07/2025: Science, Hardware, and Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: Staying in the "Small Web" and Back on ICQ
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Exclusive: corruption in Tribunals, Greffiers, from protection rackets to cat whisperers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/07/2025: Chip Bans and Microsoft’s “Digital Escort” Program
Links for the day
Revolving Doors: One Day You're a Judge, the Next Day You're an Attorney Paying Public Officials and Working for Violent and Dangerous Microsoft Employees
how the US justice system works
Slopwatch: Noise, Plagiarism and Even Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
What are we meant to do to prevent a false association or misleading connotations? Game the LLMs? No. Boycott slopfarms.
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Simple Web Browsing with TLS
Links for the day
Links 16/07/2025: Fascist Slop Takes "Intelligence" Clothing, New Criminal Case Against MElon
Links for the day
Why I am Suing the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, in the UK High Court This Week
Out of respect to the process and to the Court, I shall not share any pertinent details about the case
Links 16/07/2025: China’s Economy Grows Steadily, France Takes Action Regarding Harm to Children by GAFAM and Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
It is Not About Politics
Beware the people who try to make this about politics
Good Journalism Saves Lives
a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner
Recognition of Women's Contributions to Free Software
Being passive is not an option when bad things are happening
Slopfarms Are Going to Perish Because Public Opinion is Changing
Many slopfarms will simply go offline
19 Years of Standing Up for Justice, Equality, and Truth
This week we shall take it up a notch
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: Tmux and OCC25 Working TLS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Links 15/07/2025: LLM Pollution and Pushback in Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: xkcd, New Cert, and Alhena Gemlog
Links for the day
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders
Links for the day
Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day