Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 14: The Notorious Revolving Door

Series index:

  1. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 1: How the Bundestag Was (and Continues to be) Misled About EPO Affairs
  2. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 2: Lack of Parliamentary Oversight, Many Questions and Few Answers…
  3. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 3: A “Minor Interpellation” in the German Bundestag
  4. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 4: Parroting the GDPR-Compliance Myth
  5. The EPO Bundestagate -- Part 5: The Federal Eagle's Disconcerting Metamorphosis
  6. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 6: Dr Petri Starts the Ball Rolling…
  7. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 7: Ms Voßhoff Alerts the Bundestag…
  8. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 8: The EPO's Tweedledum, Raimund Lutz
  9. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 9: A Veritable Virtuoso of Legal Sophistry
  10. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 10: A Faithful Lapdog Despised and Reviled by EPO Staff
  11. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag — Appendix (Benoît Battistelli's Vichy Syndrome): Georges Henri Léon Battistelli and Charles Robert Battistelli
  12. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 11: The BMJV's Tweedledee: Dr Christoph Ernst
  13. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 12: A Worthy Successor to His Mentor?
  14. EPOLeaks on Misleading the Bundestag -- Part 13: The Failed Promise of a “Good Governance” Guru…
  15. You are here ☞ The Notorious Revolving Door


A revolving door
Christoph Ernst is one of the many beneficiaries of EPO's notorious revolving door arrangement.



Summary: The Benoît Battistelli-António Campinos shuffle left some people in the EPO's upper management better off; they're being rewarded for complicity, so there's no incentive to do the right thing but to do the wrong thing

Like his mentor Raimund Lutz, Christoph Ernst is a beneficiary of the well-known - not to say notorious - revolving door arrangement between the Administrative Council and the senior management of the European Patent Office.



"The conflicts of interest which can arise as a result of this set-up became very clear in the case of Battistelli who was elected as Chairman of the Council for a three-year term starting in March 2009."It has often been argued by EPO insiders and others that this arrangement is detrimental to the governance of the organisation and that it significantly weakens the Council's exercise of its supervisory authority over the Office.

The conflicts of interest which can arise as a result of this set-up became very clear in the case of Battistelli who was elected as Chairman of the Council for a three-year term starting in March 2009.

Battistelli had hardly taken up this position when he decided that he wanted to be President of the Office after Alison Brimelow announced in May 2009 that she would not be seeking an extension of her appointment (due to expire at the end of June 2010).

The records of the Council show that, in June 2009, Battistelli was responsible for drafting the document which set out the details of the vacancy notice for the position of EPO President and the election procedure to be followed.

This document (CA/103/09) included the "candidate profile" and requested that all applications be sent directly to Battistelli in his capacity as Council Chairman - despite the fact that he was planning to enter the running along with the other contenders, including the "alpha males" of the Council, Roland Grossenbacher and Jesper Kongstad.

"The records of the Council show that, in June 2009, Battistelli was responsible for drafting the document which set out the details of the vacancy notice for the position of EPO President and the election procedure to be followed."Battistelli's conduct in this regard gave rise to a long and heated discussion during the marathon three-day 118th meeting of the Council held in Munich from 23 to 25 June 2009. Some minutes/extracts are archived here [PDF].

There were outraged protests from various quarters, including the Austrian delegation which announced that it was "perplexed that [the election procedure document] CA/103/09 had been drawn up by a potential candidate for the presidency".

The Austrian delegation called for the Council to put on record that if its Chairman (Battistelli) and deputy Chairman (Kongstad) became candidates they could not perform their duties, not only for the actual election but for all agenda items at all meetings until the election was over.

In the end, the election procedure document drafted by Battistelli had to be revised twice - a first revision on 24 June followed by a second revision the next day - and the Council compelled Battistelli to step aside as its Chairman, at least until the election procedure was concluded.

After the selection of an interim Chairman - the head of the Spanish delegation, Alberto Casado Cerviño - a protracted election procedure involving several rounds of voting took place.

"In the end, the election procedure document drafted by Battistelli had to be revised twice - a first revision on 24 June followed by a second revision the next day - and the Council compelled Battistelli to step aside as its Chairman, at least until the election procedure was concluded."In March 2010, after much intransparent backroom wheeling and dealing, Battistelli finally managed to secure the requisite three-quarters majority of Council delegates.

This was despite the fact that, at the time in question, he held elected public office in France as a municipal councillor and deputy mayor for culture, and was actively affiliated to a political party, namely "Les Républicains".

It is recalled that at the time in question, this political party was led by Nicolas Sarkozy who in March of this year became the first former French President to receive a custodial sentence for corruption. Sarkozy is reputed to have strongly supported Battistelli's campaign to become President of the EPO.

Battistelli's holding of elected public office on a party ticket should have automatically disqualified him from being appointed to a senior managerial position in an international organisation.

But the Administrative Council remained oblivious to this unmistakable conflict of interest.

A conflict of interest
The Administrative Council appears to have difficulties recognising conflicts of interest.



Once Battistelli had secured the top job in the Office administration for himself, he proceeded to co-opt into his management team no less than three other members of the Council who had supported his candidature:

● Alberto Casado Cerviño, head of the Spanish delegation, who became VP1; ● Raimund Lutz, head of the German delegation, who became VP5; ● Željko Topić, head of the Croatian delegation, who became VP4.

At the same time, it is alleged by EPO insiders that Battistelli cemented his control over his successor as Council Chair, Jesper Kongstad. He reputedly did this by getting his HR dompteuse, Elodie Bergot, to place Kongstad on the Office payroll with a tax-free five-digit monthly salary equivalent to that of an EPO Principal Director.

A conflict of interest silo
The governance structures of the EPO create a situation with a huge potential for conflicts of interest.



As can be seen, the governance structures of the EPO together with the established practices of the Administrative Council create a very precarious situation in which there is a huge potential for unresolved conflicts of interest.

EPO bribes
The Council risks becoming overly preoccupied with divvying up the spoils.



The biggest risk here is that the Council as a whole may become so preoccupied with divvying up the spoils that ignores its statutory duty to attend to the proper governance of the organisation.

"It is abundantly clear that the existence of a revolving door arrangement between the Council and the upper ranks of the Office management creates a situation which is not at all conducive to "good governance"."In addition to this, individual Council delegates who set their eyes on one of the available senior management positions in the Office administration run the risk of allowing their decision-making to become unduly influenced by their own personal ambitions. If this happens, it is likely that they will fail to exercise their role as members of the supervisory body in an appropriately objective manner.

As can be seen from the case of Christoph Ernst, the potential for such conflicts of interest is likely to be particularly acute when it comes to the Council Chair who is supposed to direct the meetings of the Council in a neutral and impartial manner and in the interests of the organisation as a whole.

It is abundantly clear that the existence of a revolving door arrangement between the Council and the upper ranks of the Office management creates a situation which is not at all conducive to "good governance".

The problems inherent in the existing institutional structures and practices are aggravated by the lack of any effective system of checks and balances to safeguard against abuses.

The decision to set-up an Audit Committee in 2009 was a first step towards tackling these issues.

However, the Audit Committee which was established by the Council under the Chairmanship of Battistelli in March 2009, vanished from the face of the earth in 2011.

"Moreover, by agreeing to Battistelli’s misguided proposal to disband the Audit Committee, the Council left itself bereft of any independent source of advice and information."As is well known, the disbanding of the Audit Committee took place on foot of a proposal submitted by the very same Battistelli who, in the meantime, had managed to reinvent himself as the President of the Office and liege lord of the Administrative Council.

Moreover, by agreeing to Battistelli's misguided proposal to disband the Audit Committee, the Council left itself bereft of any independent source of advice and information.

The highly detrimental consequences of the Council's supine compliance with Battistelli's machinations in this regard are plain to see - at least for all those who are not inclined to turn a blind eye to them.

In the next part we will conclude our review of Christoph Ernst's disappointing track record in the area of EPO governance and indulge in a little speculation about how someone with more integrity and backbone might have ended up as head of the German delegation during the Battistelli era.

For the record, here's IAM's puff piece about the new EPO President [PDF]. No criticism of course, as the EPO pays IAM through PR firms and the reciprocity complicity is seemingly endless.

IAM on new EPO President

Recent Techrights' Posts

We Covered UEFI 'Secure Boot' Scandals. The World Listened.
To hell with UEFI 'secure boot'
Fake News With Fake Numbers About Microsoft
"This is what happens when the world's economy is governed by sick old men"
Slopwatch: "Google News" is Fast Becoming a Mashup of Slopfarms, Linux Journal ("LJ") is a Dump of LLM Slop
Well done, Google News. Google itself can flourish as a slopfarm mashup.
Torturing Users Who Just Want to Run GNU/Linux on Their Own PC
"Linux does not want to install"
European Authorities, Already Bribed and Infiltrated by Microsoft, Won't Help You Find BigBlueButton, Jami, Ring, and Jitsi
Because they're paid by Microsoft and are Microsoft 'addicts' themselves
Moving From Content Management Systems (CMSs) to Static Site Generators (SSGs) Saves You Time, Makes You a Lot More Productive
try to reduce the cost (financial and computational) of running your site
Leak: European Patent Office (EPO) is Now Attacking Amicale Clubs
corruption has become the norm and scientists are robbed of any dignity
Oracle Fraud (or Defrauding Shareholders)
"the obvious [lie] is that watts are (wasted) electricity [and] and FLOPS are computing capacity"
Explaining (in Length and Depth) the Damage Matthew Garrett Did to Linux and to GNU/Linux Users
no matter how many threats we receive
 
Microsoft is Rapidly Dropped From Web Servers, Shows Survey
Microsoft lost about 8% "market share" in just 3 months
Many GNU/Linux Users Report MOK (Machine Owner Key) Issues in Recent Days
many people don't report this online and never post in Reddit
Links 13/09/2025: Escalations in East Europe and POTUS’ Health Cover-Up
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/09/2025: Lagrange Turns 5 and Lagrange 1.19.2 Released
Links for the day
Microsoft Inside Your Linux: "Security vulnerability that allowed an attacker to bypass UEFI Secure Boot."
2 hours ago
A New Low for "Linux Journal": Promoting MICROSOFT WINDOWS Using LLM Slop
They've just jumped the shark entirely
The Register MS Still Takes Money to Hype Up "AI" in Articles by Microsoft Resellers With the Term "AI" 30+ Times in Them
Notice how many times they mention "AI"
The Apache Logo News is VERY Old, Racists and 'Anti-Woke' Bigots Look for Something to Incite Other Bigots With
Nothing to see here, move along
Linux Mint 9/11: "4th One Today..." (in Reddit)
Remember that not everyone having an issue reports it to social control media like Reddit
Nepal Will Fall Without a Single Shot Fired, Thanks to Social Control Media
Or very few shots (by the authorities)
European Corruption in the European Patent Office (EPO) Targets Culture
"In reality, the project includes a new “legal instrument” shifting administrative burden and liability on EPO staff while creating new uncertainty and externalising Amicale activities."
UEFI Secure Boot Failing, as Expected for Nearly 15 Years Already (Techrights Said This Since 2012)
in the media
Debian 9/11
people report this issue
Gemini and Web Links 13/09/2025: MElon's Slop Grift and "Autonomous Trains"
Links for the day
Pursuing Peace Through Violence
You cannot "see" a person's mind, until the mouth opens
Can We Please Stop Celebrating Shooters?
"An important point to hammer on is that CoCs were never intended for uniform or symmetric application"
Geminispace is Growing Faster in 2025 Than It Did in 2024
What matters is that corporations haven't ruined it and LLM slop is extremely rare
Links 13/09/2025: China Punishes for 'Negative' Posts, US Police Unable to Find Shooter
Links for the day
Who's the Mystery Financier of SLAPP Against Techrights and Is That a Millionaire/Billionaire?
Whose idea was it to fund meritless lawsuits against my wife and I?
Slopwatch: Slow Slop Day
This distracts from or may take traffic away from the original articles, actually written by actual people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 12, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 12, 2025
CoC Gone Wrong: Celebrating Murder OK, Complaining About the Celebration Gets You Banned
Hopefully the NixOS Foundation will have a word with (maybe replace) the moderator/s
Gemini Links 12/09/2025: Familiarity and Secondary Dominants
Links for the day
Links 12/09/2025: "Bad Reviews" as Extortion Weapon, "Free Speech At Risk in America’s Schools" According to ACLU
Links for the day
Only One Speaker Does Not Do Sharecropping for MElon (in X.com)
The man who puts principles before PR/optics
The Mind of the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI'
in a nutshell
A Day After "UEFI 9/11": UEFI Secure Boot Bypass
In the news today (right now), as published in the past few hours
Links 12/09/2025: Slop Code as Liability, Microsoft Outlook Down for Many
Links for the day
It's Still Not to Late to Turn Off "Secure Boot"
If people reboot their PC or server today, and it relies on "Secure Boot" on Sept. 12 or later, then depending on the firmware there may be trouble ahead
Links 12/09/2025: Shira Perlmutter is Back, “Software Per Se” Patent Rejections in In re McFadden
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux Plagiarism, Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News, Many Images Are Fake
Google is promoting plagiarism
"This Morning Might Turn Out to be an Interesting One for System Admins Who Haven't Updated Their Devices' Secure Boot Certificate" (If They Reboot)
Who asked for this anyway?
Gemini Links 12/09/2025: Metric System, Dumping Windows, and Software Architecture is Dead
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 11, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 11, 2025
Microsoft Admits the Workers Have Lost Trust (Endless Layoffs, 12-13 Rounds of Layoffs This Year), So Now It's Trotting out Its Peter Bright-Like Media Prop Jordan Novet
What they don't want people to pay attention to right now
Links 11/09/2025: Windows TCO and Russian Drones Invading Poland (EU/NATO)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/09/2025: xkcd, misfin, and Alhena 5.3.2
Links for the day
Repetition of Last Summer (Microsoft Breaking Dual-Boot Systems)
UEFI 9/11 is about to kick in
UEFI 'Secure Boot' Boiling Frogs (Cannot Turn Off 'Secure Boot')
"MSI laptop is locked on Secure Boot and doesn't allow me to turn it off"
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part IV: The 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' and His 'Hideout' Holiday (Retreat From Reality)
Let's keep an eye on what matters
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part III: Mr. 'Secure Boot' (Shim) and His Fake 'Holiday' (Sending My Wife and I Threatening E-mails on 9/11)
despite being on holiday, according to him, he finds time to instruct lawyers to contact my wife
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part II: "The SecureBoot Thing Got Out of Hand."
The next few weeks might be... interesting
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part I: "I Believe This Affects Thousands of Devices... Because Multiple Devices I Checked, Whether Client or Server [...] Affected."
Most people aren't even aware that this is happening or about to happen
The UEFI 9/11 - Part X - An Outline of the Series About Microsoft Sabotaging GNU/Linux (With Ramifications to Unfold Online in Coming Weeks as People Reboot)
Today is UEFI 9/11 (9/11/2025)
Ron Wyden: Microsoft Should be Held Accountable for Security Breaches (He Has Said This for Years Already, It Never Happens)
Negative media coverage isn't a fine and it does nothing to compensate Microsoft's billions of victims
Culture of silence: Ubisoft harassment convictions, Mozilla, Sylvestre Ledru & Debian make no comment
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Disable 'Secure Boot' (If It Lets You)
it doesn't put you in control
Links 11/09/2025: "Hey Hi" Ponzi Schemes at Oracle (Unpaid Contracts) and Cindy Cohn is Leaving the EFF
Links for the day
Longtime Red Hat Staff: Maybe Just Disable 'Secure Boot'
A refreshing take from Adam Williamson
Gemini Links 11/09/2025: Playdate Console, Dichotomy between the Real and the Digital
Links for the day
A Dozen Observations About "UEFI 9/11" Deflections
What we are expected to see, tentatively
The Microsoft AstroTurfing and Microsoft-Led Blame-Shifting Tactics Are Ahead of Us
Of course it has nothing to do with security, it's about control, i.e. them controlling everything
Celebrating Assassination is Bad Because It Legitimises Assassination of the People You Like, Too
Condoning or even celebrating political assassinations is bad optics (and taste)
The World's Richest Ponzi Scheme (Faking Value Using Net Waste)
The higher they go the harder they fall
We Could Dual-Boot Back in the 1990s, Why Has This Become So Difficult?
And prone to breakage
Being Conditioned to Accept Unreliable Computer Systems That Fail With Black Screen of Death (BSoD)
Welcome to 2025
Slopwatch: Google News is Still Promoting Many Fake Articles About "Linux", in Effect Rewarding Misinformation and Plagiarism
things continue to deteriorate
New Series: The Coup Against GNU/Linux Has Begun
today, this year in particular, we shall also focus on Secure Boot, which is sold based on a lie and tortures many computer user
New Paper on "BYOVD, but in firmware. Signed UEFI shells, vulnerable modules offer new paths for Secure Boot bypasses."
One might say digital "security theatre"
Links 11/09/2025: Oracle Layoffs, Drunk Pilots in Japan Airlines, US-Korea Tensions Grow
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 10, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 10, 2025