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THE EPO President António Campinos is scheduled to appear before the Legals Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (known as the JURI Committee) on Monday 12 April.
"...it is not clear what exactly this "exchange of views" is supposed to cover."According to the draft agenda, the purpose of the hearing is an "Exchange of views with European Patent Office (EPO)". However, it is not clear what exactly this "exchange of views" is supposed to cover.
The last time the JURI Committee of the European Parliament took an interest in the EPO was back in 2015 when the UPC project looked like it was ready to take off.
On that occasion, in May 2015, a delegation of MEPS from the JURI Committee went on a junket to visit the EPO headquarters in Munich where they were wined and dined by Benoît Battistelli and "Mrs UPC" Margot Fröhlinger.
Of course the MEPs didn't make any effort to speak to EPO staff or to the Staff Union SUEPO so all they got was one-sided PR spin from Team Battistelli.
Some time later in June 2015, Battistelli appeared before the JURI Committee. (warning: epo.org link)
"Some MEPs have been briefed about ongoing governance deficits at the EPO, in particular the lack of GDPR compliance and the sell-out of "digital sovereignty" to Microsoft, but it remains to be seen whether or not they will dare to bring these issues up during the hearing."Battistelli was given a very easy ride by the MEPs most of whom didn't appear to have much of a clue about what was going on at the EPO.
The only critical question came from the Greek MEP, Kostas Chrysogonos, who asked about the state of labour relations at the EPO.
Battistelli just brushed this aside with his usual bluff and bluster. A recording of that hearing is available on the website of the European Parliament.
Battistelli appeared for a further hearing before the JURI Committee on 23 March 2017 [PDF] to report on "The Unitary Patent: state of play". Once again Battistelli was given a very easy ride by the MEPs.
So it will be interesting to see what happens on Monday when Campinos appears before the JURI Committee. Will it be business as usual or is somebody finally going to start asking the questions that need to be asked?
Some MEPs have been briefed about ongoing governance deficits at the EPO, in particular the lack of GDPR compliance and the sell-out of "digital sovereignty" to Microsoft, but it remains to be seen whether or not they will dare to bring these issues up during the hearing. ⬆