Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO President António Campinos Speaks of “Greater Transparency,” But He's Even More Secretive Than Battistelli and He Lets Patent Quality Slip Further

At least with Battistelli the workers could see how bad he was

No comments for EPO



Summary: The EPO is still becoming a laughable, corrupt, rogue institution where nepotism runs like water and patents are granted on nature in collaboration with the French/France-based Community Plant Variety Office (CPVR); As for António Campinos, he's looking more and more like Battistelli each and every week because there's only pretense of transparency or quality and everything is controlled entirely by one person

THE European Patent Office (EPO) often issues press releases -- or "news" -- late on Fridays, both internally and externally (internal communications to staff and public statements to everybody else). Just before the weekend there was a Battistelli-like piece with photo ops and quotes from António Campinos, the new "king" of the EPO. The formula of it was indistinguishable from Battistelli's.

"Textbooks about corruption could easily be modeled based on it."Once again, as several times before (see what we wrote about CPVO in the past), the EPO is pretending to solve problems that they themselves create; if patent monopolies on seeds were not granted in the first place, this spin would not be needed.

Here they go again: (warning: epo.org link)

The EPO and the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) today took a further step forward in their support for innovation in the plant sector by renewing their cooperation agreement for a further three years.

Looking ahead, the two Offices are considering how to expand the positive achievements of their co-operation to a broader public. This will include measures for sharing training tools with the public and for providing access to CPVO documentation via the EPO’s databases.

“The co-operation between our Offices creates a sound and reliable basis for effectively furthering innovation in the plant sector through greater transparency and a deeper understanding of each other’s roles”, EPO President Antonio Campinos commented. CPVO President Martin Ekvad welcomed the considerable progress that has been made to strengthen the interinstitutional relationship. He also remarked that “the CPVO is happy to continue the good co-operation with the EPO on the technical and policy level”.


It's like Campinos is a marketing person; he says "co-operation, "innovation" and "greater transparency," but today's EPO stands for none of that. It's all about self gain and graft by top management. They rob the Office. Speaking of transparency, Campinos has still not disclosed his salary. Battistelli too made and kept it a secret after his processor had disclosed hers. It's like nothing at all has changed. Battistelli also secured himself a massive bonus upon departure. The Office and the Organisation never spoke about that publicly. How's that for "transparency"?

As we've noted in many past writings about CPVO, there's a French connection illustrated below:

The French connection



In spite of recent VP changes, the EPO remains very French or France-centric.

Remember that Campinos left his position at the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) to Battistelli. CEIPI is French, just like those two President, and there's a lot more to this connection. This merely reinforces the perception that the EPO is a corrupt institution. The fake 'boss' of Battistelli (Ernst) will become an 'assistant' to Battistelli's 'assistant' after Christmas. How is that for oversight or separation of powers? It's more like a dictatorship. Textbooks about corruption could easily be modeled based on it.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Richard Stallman's Talk at Georgia Tech is Just 2 Days Away
We're still curious to see how malicious people (or trolls) in social control media will try to slant his talk as "bad"
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part VII - The Industrial Actions Began Yesterday, Here's Why
The "Alicante Mafia" might not last much longer
 
Google News Still a Feeder of Slop About "Linux", Which Became Rarer in 2026
Our main concern these days is what happened to Linuxiac. Bobby Borisov became a chatbots addict.
Links 21/01/2026: "Snap Settles Lawsuit on Social Media Addiction" and Attempts in the US to Revive Software Patents
Links for the day
Links 21/01/2026: Microsoft 'Open' 'Hey Hi' in More Trouble, US Has "Brown Shirts" Problem
Links for the day
Yesterday Afternoon The Register MS Published Paid Microsoft SPAM Disguised as an Article About "AI PCs"
The Register MS cannot help itself, can it? [...] Follow the money.
Microsoft's XBox is in Effect Dead Already, Now It's a Streaming and Advertising Platform
Expect many layoffs soon
EPO's Web Site Misused for Propaganda About Illegal Kangaroo Courts to Distract From EPO Scandals and Judicial Crisis in Europe
UPC is illegal and unconstitutional
Gemini Links 21/01/2026: Edible Circuits and "Sayonara HTTP"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 20, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, January 20, 2026
IBM Hides Its Own Destruction (and Red Hat's)
It's like scenes out of '1984', which is what a now-famous advertisement from Apple compared IBM to
LLM Slop Not Dead Yet, Examples of Slop About "Linux"
We wish to see the totals down to zero
Links 20/01/2026: Cheeto Blackmails France Into 'Peace' While Looking to Annex EU, Mass Layoffs in Capgemini (Microsoft Reseller/Promoter) in France
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/01/2026: Boxing and "Inbox Zero" Success
Links for the day
Windows and Slop Declining While Microsoft Silences Critics
Microsoft tries to suppress facts while faking 'demand' by imposing slop on everybody, everywhere
openai.com Traffic Said to Have Fallen 50% in the Past Three Months, Reports Say It Nearly Ran Out of Money to Borrow
After the slop frenzy all we'll have left is environmental destruction
IBM Kills OzLabs, Signalling An Attack on Free Software (a Sign for Red Hat)
ibiblio also appears to have died (or experiences critical issues)
Red Hat Vice President Leaving After Nearly Two Decades
IBM's culture of secrecy is not compatible with Free software
Links 20/01/2026: "ChatGPT Health" (Latest Distraction From Being Insolvent) Flops and Raises Concerns, "The U.S. Military Faces a Reckoning on Greenland"
Links for the day
Rudeness and Vulgarity Won't Stop Journalism About Free Software
we seem to be on the right path
Readers Pleased With Layout Changes
Two days ago we began improving clarity and accessibility in the site
IBM Plans for Layoffs Becoming Clearer With "Employee Reviews"
Of course this impacts Red Hat as well
IBM is Outsourcing Red Hat's Fedora to Slop to 'Save Money'
If IBM cared about quality rather than alleged "cost savings" (cutting corners), it would assign more IBM staff to Fedora, but instead the exact opposite happened, with the likes of Cotton and Miller removed from the project
European Patent Office (EPO) Industrial Actions Formally Start in Two Hours
As per the latest (revised) action plan, today workers will slow down their work and limit patent grants
Microsoft Under Fresh Investigation by the Italian Competition Authority
In 2025 we kept a running tally of 30,000+ Microsoft layoffs, so 40k this year would not be unthinkable
The "Alicante Mafia" - Part VI - More Strikes Planned at the EPO, Starting This Month
Yesterday we said that friends of Berenguer or inside Berenguer's circle may have left
Gemini Links 20/01/2026: New Tea, Using a Roku at a Hotel, and "Voltage-Based Power Management for Any Raspberry Pi"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 19, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, January 19, 2026