Summary: Alexandre Benalla and Vincent Crase end up in prison; will French investigators bother checking Benalla's past with Battistelli as well as other Battistelli scandals (incidents of law-breaking and of corruption)?

ABOUT a week ago we [cref 115725 argued] that the EPO's President, António Campinos, should hold accountable the person who gave him this job, in light of some recent developments, including:

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We think it is extremely unlikely that Campinos will audit what Battistelli did, let alone hold him accountable. Had that ICC judge been put in charge, things would be different, but Battistelli rigged the election/selection process in favour of Campinos, installing an obedient compatriot and longtime friend while swapping seats with him in CEIPI. This is just the hallmark of corruption, but this kind of corruption is 'small potatoes' compared to other things Battistelli did. He keeps getting away with it. Battistelli enjoys a circle of enablers, immoral/amoral opportunists like a bunch of fish joining the shark, staying in its vicinity for leftovers of prey (or EPO money in the case of Battistelli).

"Battistelli enjoys a circle of enablers, immoral/amoral opportunists like a bunch of fish joining the shark, staying in its vicinity for leftovers of prey (or EPO money in the case of Battistelli)."Yesterday we saw a Battistelli entertainer, James Nurton, suddenly contributing to Watchtroll, a site of patent extremists. He now has this author page, aligning with extremists (albeit his first article, "EU Reaches Copyright Reform Agreement But Opposition Remains," is not about patents). Nurton had done several puff pieces with and about Battistelli in Managing IP. We have meanwhile also noticed IPPro Magazine mentioning Battistelli, who as expected (or scheduled) rears his ugly head again. IPPro Magazine mentioned this upcoming event beforehand (we wrote about it at the time) and now again we see the outcome. The International Trademark Association and CEIPO give this thug a platform in which to spread his lies about "quality" -- a subject we shall touch later today. Later on the same/following day it was picked up by SUEPO (some time on Thursday), which probably pointed this out for Battistelli having the audacity to still talk about "quality" even when [cref 115754 his system is being abandoned]. The key part:

He said that during his time at the EPO, as well at the French National Industrial Property Institute (INPI) he wanted to focus on quality and efficiency. Battistelli explained that he had instructed both offices to develop tools “which allow[ed] us to increase the quality”.

He did exactly the opposite, but this is not a crime. His crimes, however, are other things. We wrote a lot about those. Will he ever be arrested? These public appearances are an opportunity to detain and investigate. We have meanwhile been contacted by a reader, who wrote about Benalla being in prison. "Do I need to remind that Benalla might have once said the truth when he declared to be a great admirer of Benoit Battistelli? Obviously Mr Benalla had the wrong friends. Morality: there are limits to the immunity and impunity. Guess who's next?"

"...Battistelli strictly refuses to even comment (in any way) about his relationship with Benalla and that underworld (to which he funneled a lot of EPO funds)."Techrights will be publishing another series of articles about Benalla and Battistelli (and others whose infamy may result in additional arrests in the coming days). Might they share a prison cell one day? Here is a related article in English and another in French, with a translation below:

Mediapart sends Alexandre Benalla and Vincent Crase to prison

The judges in charge of the case considered that by meeting on 26 July the two former Elysée employees had violated their judicial control. The online media site Mediapart had revealed audio recordings of their conversation on 31 January. Alexandre Benalla has just spent his first night in the Santé prison. He was remanded in custody on Tuesday evening, 19 February. The former Elysée head of mission allegedly did not comply with the conditions of his judicial control in the investigation of the violence of 1 May. His judicial review prohibited him from contacting Vincent Crase, a former employee of La République en Marche. The latter was also imprisoned on Tuesday evening in the Bois d'Arcy prison. Clandestine recordings broadcasted by Mediapart on 31 January prove that the two men had met and talked to each other. Their lawyers will appeal. A violation of their judicial control They entered the Paris courthouse free on Tuesday morning and left in handcuffs in the evening, with a warrant of arrest, heading for the prison. The decision was taken by the freedom and detention judge, referred to him by the investigating judges in charge of the case. The judges considered that there was a violation of their judicial control. While the mystery remains as to the conditions under which the conversation was recorded, the content certainly weighed on the judges' decision. Mediapart had handed over seven audio recordings to the courts. A contract worth more than €6 million between Benalla and China We don't know more at the moment but the editor-in-chief of Valeurs Actuelles, Louis de Raguenel, announced on LCI on Tuesday evening, 19 February, that his newspaper would reveal in a few days the existence of a contract about more than 6 million Euros between Alexandre Benalla and China. To be continued ...

We shall post another articles index at the end (to bind it all together). It's possible that there will be more arrests. As the links at the top indicate, based on press reports, Battistelli strictly refuses to even comment (in any way) about his relationship with Benalla and that underworld (to which he funneled a lot of EPO funds). â–ˆ