Bonum Certa Men Certa

Inside the EPO During Corona: António Campinos Running Europe's Monopolies-Granting Monopoly Like a Shop With Essentials While Crushing Those Who 'Stock the Shelves'

He didn't come from a patents background; he doesn't know what the heck he's doing

António Campinos patents cash



Summary: The EPO's very own 'Orange Dictator' (who isn't leaving the helm in January 2021) has been weaponising the deadly virus to undermine the election process and crush not only constituents (staff) but also their local representatives

THE patients in Europe rapidly grow in number, but who cares, right? More patents. MOAR and MOAR patents, everybody!



Patents are like food and medicine. If EPO staff dies in the process of granting them, so be it! It's the cost of war. Nurses and doctors only treat patients, they don't grant patents, do they?

When did a patent last save a life? No, not a drug with a patent on it but the patent itself...

"Let them eat patents!"As it turns out, neither Benoît Battistelli nor António Campinos ever cared to understand patents. Battistelli was only introduced to that domain some time in his fifties. Campinos used to do trademarks, but somehow he's a patenting expert now (never mind if patent law and trademark law are inherently different). No wonder he's advocating software patents in Europe even if European software developers say "No!" to such patents. Who cares... MOAR food! More patents. Let them eat patents!

"Campinos was apparently exploiting COVID-19 as an excuse for curtailing activity of staff representatives..."This kind of misguided attitude is what led to the collapse of quality and morale at the EPO. Examiners who are actually scientists (unlike Battistelli and Campinos) cannot stand the ignorance of their bosses, who surround themselves with old colleagues and friends rather than competent people.

Half a year ago the people who actually do all the work at the EPO (examiners, scientists) sought to alert their so-called 'president' (who was 'elected' by nepotism through his old friend and compatriot Battistelli) about a growing issue.

Campinos was apparently exploiting COVID-19 as an excuse for curtailing activity of staff representatives:

Campinos letter to CSC 2020, page 1

Campinos letter to CSC 2020, page 2

A week later a response was sent:

re20076cl

From: Joachim Michels On Behalf Of centralstcom Sent: 28 April 2020 17:27 To: PRESIDENT <president@epo.org>

Subject: RE: Future means of communication for the Staff Committee and organisation of the Staff Committee election

Dear Mr President, dear António,

Thank you for your letter of 22 April 2020. We understand the concerns you express about the forthcoming elections of the Staff Committee under the current exceptional circumstances. Indeed, candidates and staff would ideally expect adequate campaign and election processes.

At this time a postponement would imply the extension of our mandate. We feel it is not within our remit to request such an extension beyond the term laid down in the Service Regulations.

Thank you for your kind understanding,

Joachim Michels On behalf of all Staff Committees


The following polite (if not almost cordial) letter was sent:

Letter Campinos election

On the surface it may seem harmless and amicable, but privately the staff representatives (the Central Staff Committee) explained the ramifications as follows:

Forthcoming Staff Committee elections



Mr Campinos maintains the elections in June despite current pandemic

On 22 April, Mr Campinos wrote a letter to the CSC where he stated the following: “In light of the above, please send me your position in writing by 28 April at latest, on whether you are in favour of holding the election in June, or if you prefer to request a postponement. If this written indication does not reach my secretariat by this date, please be aware that it will be understood you are in favour of holding the Staff Committee election in June 2020, as foreseen.”

The local and central Staff Committees replied to Mr Campinos by email on 28 April, stating: “At this time a postponement would imply the extension of our mandate. We feel it is not within our remit to request such an extension beyond the term laid down in the Service Regulations.”

The President sent another letter to the CSC on 30 April where he stated: “I would like to confirm that I have received your reply on 28 April. As you know, your reply did not request a postponement of the staff elections and it is therefore understood that you wish the elections to take place in June.”

We are strongly disappointed that Mr Campinos tries to present his own decision as being ours, and that he took his decision without consulting EPO staff. We recall that, before the “social democracy” framework was imposed on EPO Staff in 2014, it was the Electoral Committee composed exclusively of staff members directly elected by staff, which was in charge of organising the Staff Committee elections.


So here again we see a public health crisis being 'weaponised' against EPO staff. The 'nice' and 'polite' (ignore all the shouting) new President is proving to be no better than his predecessor.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Rust is Eating Linux
That's a recipe for problems
Cindy Cohn (Executive Director of EFF) is a Millionaire, Earned Almost $30,000 Per Month Before Departing While the EFF Lost Money
EFF is "Big Business"
Microsoft XBox is Dying as More Retailers Stop Stocking It and Massive Layoffs Planned Again
Microsoft is circling down the drain
 
Links 06/10/2025: Grokipedia as Malicious Slop, US 'Martial Law' a "New Normal"
Links for the day
Fake Economics and Clown Computing Circuses
who's gonna pay for these scams?
Nobel Prize in Economics Does Not Exist, It's Propaganda From Sveriges Riksbank
"It is that time of the year when it is important to remind people that there are no Nobel Prizes for professional wrestling, astrology, or economics"
Non-Denying Denial From Microsoft (Again) Regarding the End of XBox Consoles
It's kind of hilarious that even the site chosen by Microsoft to relay its BS, based on past loyalty, isn't quite buying it
Bringing Back Lost Articles From the 1990s: Microsoft Products Leave Door Open to NSA
Nothing has changed since then
When the Slop Bubble Pops People Will Say Richard Stallman Was Right (Again)
What was once known as Computer Science turned into "IT"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 05, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 05, 2025
Links 06/10/2025: Science, Hardware, and Andrej Babis Making a Comeback
Links for the day
Links 05/10/2025: Slow News Day and Wondering About the Canada Post Walkout
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/10/2025: Telnet Debugging and The Programmer’s Brain
Links for the day
More Than "Just a Rumour": XBox Seems to Have Just Died
At this point, why would any studio out there target or partner with XBox?
How to Tell Your Community, Project or Company is Being Infiltrated by Saboteurs
How to identify nefarious social engineering
The Fortieth Birthday of the FSF Made Us Extremely Happy
It feels like the 'hacker community' is regrouping to discuss things and prepare for the next Big Challenge
Chat Control 2 Them, Not 2 U
Follow the advice of Dr. Patrick Breyer
Mozilla: Throw Away Your "Old" PC and Enable "Digital Rights Management (DRM)"
This is heading in a bad direction
Controlling Our Computing for Another Forty Years
40 years of freedom
Motivational Small Place to Run Large Sites
We deem this scenery motivational and inspiring
Techrights' Text Version (Daily Bulletin) Turns Five This Month
our plain-text bulletins are turning 5 this month
We'll Continue Covering the Moribund OSI and Other Dysfunctional if Not Hostile Institutions
Stefano Maffulli's departure is due to his defection and due to him failing the mission in pursuit of money (his salary)
Links 05/10/2025: Lufthansa Layoffs (4,000) and More Spotify Woes (Aside From Massive Debt)
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation's Livestream Has Ended, Video/s Might be Online Next
I've asked whether they'll upload video of some of the event; I still wait for an answer
The Register MS Does Not Know the Difference Between Microsoft GitHub and GitLab
At the time of writing (October 5) the article from "Thu 2 Oct 2025" remains uncorrected
Linux and the Freedom Paradox
Linux is losing freedom if some external actors who only use Microsoft tools for development wrest control
"Bullshit Generators" (What RMS Calls LLMs) and Fake Images Already Target the FSF
Why does Google News promote fake articles about the FSF while omitting all the real ones?
Software Patents as a Bubble
Don't invest resources in hype; if you detect a bubble, run away from it
Links 05/10/2025: Political Leftovers, Climate Change, and Security Incidents
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 04, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 04, 2025
Watch the FSF Party Live (via Livestream)
It's in WebM format, which is widely supported by now
Advocacy of Software Freedom Changed, LUGs Became Less Relevant
The way we see it, support groups like LUGs sort of outlived their usefulness when it became easier to install GNU/Linux
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims or says can be trusted
When Microsoft "Integrates" Something With "AI" It Means It's Losing Money and Is Generally Hopeless
how did Bing fare after 36 months of LLM slop being hyped up as "replacement" for search?
Most Certificates Don't Improve Security, They Mostly Increase Downtime (for No Good Reason)
The 'Gemini sites' (capsules) are a growing force
The statCounter Site Has Data Integrity Problems
Maybe we'll get back to statCounter when its data becomes more "stable" again
10 Ways to Combat Software Patents
software patents are loathed also by proprietary software developers
"Just a Little Bit of Meat..."
Free software "absolutism" is not a radical stance, more so if the only "radical" belief the user possesses is that he or she must be in control of his or her software, and by extension his or her computer
Compromised by NVIDIA Proprietary Library
Meanwhile in Boston there are "[r]oundtable talk with FSF volunteers (both in-person and online)"
Red Hat is Ignoring the Free Software Community, It's a "Fortune 1000" Vendor
Red Hat's blog also participates a lot in promoting of Wall Street's latest pump-and-dump "AI" scheme
Free Software Foundation Party Has Begun
We shall be focusing a lot on software patents today
Former Head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Lina Khan Knows Whatever Microsoft Touches Will Die
Just like Skype (as recently as months ago) [...] When Microsoft grabs things, or when it buys things, it almost never ends well
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About LibreOffice in Austria and Wine 10.16
very short
Links 04/10/2025: "attempted Coup" Noted in Facebook, Russia Kills Journalists via Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Anesthesia and Baudpunk
Links for the day
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
Links 04/10/2025: "Privacy Harm Is Harm", Criticism Outlawed in US
Links for the day
Garmin Uses Linux for Some of the Garmin Products, Now It's Sued by Strava Using Software Patents
Software patents should never have been granted in the first place
Richard Stallman Will Give a Talk in Sweden in 6 Days
Dr. Stallman, despite his battle with cancer is still alive and mentally sharp
FSF Turns 40
We'll be focusing on patent-related topics this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Distro Hopping and "Part Time"
Links for the day