Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO's War on Justice and Assault on the Law -- Part 9: Squeezing Out the Lifeblood of Democracy?

Previously in this series:



EPO discourse
Not much sign of a lively Habermasian discourse at the EPO's Boards of Appeal in Haar these days.



Summary: The lack of public discourse at the EPO (where tyrants like Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos make up the rules and then have them rubber-stamped by kangaroo courts) helps explain an atrocious policy and moral abyss, which recently led to acceptance of European software patents and mass surveillance disguised as "access to justice"

EPO sources relate that, in his capacity as the Thane of Haar, Carl Josefsson is extremely reluctant to allow any staff committee or union activities on the Boards of Appeal premises.



According to the EPO Staff Regulations, staff have the right to be represented by a local staff committee "where more than fifty staff members are in active employment in a place of employment".

"...Carl Josefsson is extremely reluctant to allow any staff committee or union activities on the Boards of Appeal premises."At the end of 2020 the Boards of Appeal had a total of 256 staff, comprised of 196 persons working as chairs and members of the Boards and 60 ancillary staff in various management/administrative support positions.

On this basis, EPO staff members in Haar clearly have a statutory right to be represented by a local staff committee.

But inside sources report that Josefsson has stubbornly resisted the establishment of such a local committee, despite repeated requests from the EPO's Central Staff Committee.

In addition to this, the once highly active Association of the Members of the Boards of Appeal (AMBA) appears to have become almost completely defunct during Josefsson's tenure.

"...inside sources report that Josefsson has stubbornly resisted the establishment of such a local committee, despite repeated requests from the EPO's Central Staff Committee."AMBA was formed in 1999 to protect the interests of the members of the Boards of Appeal.

According to its statute, the aims of the association include "monitoring issues of relevance for the judicial function of the members of the Boards of Appeal with a view to safeguarding their independence" and "promoting the members' self-government as members of a judiciary".

At the bottom of the home page on the Association's website there is a "Timeline of Independence" which is supposed to show "the most important events in the history of the boards".

This timeline contains a total of 45 entries starting in September 1973 with the "Travaux Préparatoires" for the European Patent Convention (scroll to the bottom of the page).

"AMBA was formed in 1999 to protect the interests of the members of the Boards of Appeal."The timeline ends in December 2016 with "Carl Josefsson appointed President of the EPO’s Boards of Appeal" (scroll to the bottom of the page).

It seems that, as far as AMBA is concerned, the appointment of Carl Josefsson in December 2016, is the "End of History". Francis Fukuyama, eat your heart out!

The AMBA website hasn't been updated to register Josefsson's reappointment in December 2020.

The most recent postings on the website are links to:

● the 2020 Annual Report of the Boards of Appeal (which was released on 12 April 2021); ● the revised Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal (dated July 2019). ● a communiqué about the 159th meeting of the Administrative Council held on 27 and 28 March 2019.

All of the above relate to information that is already publicly available via the EPO's official website, here, here and here. (Warning: epo.org links)

"The AMBA website hasn't been updated to register Josefsson's reappointment in December 2020."It seems like the AMBA website has been reduced to nothing more than a selective "mirror" of the official EPO website.

As a matter of fact there haven't been any postings originating from AMBA itself since December 2016 when it issued a statement [PDF] about a "Resolution Against the Relocation of the Boards of Appeal to Haar" which had been endorsed by the majority of its members. Here it is:

AMBA Statement on the Reform of the BoA page 1

AMBA Statement on the Reform of the BoA page 2

It's well known inside the EPO that, during the Battistelli era, AMBA did its best to keep a low profile.

According to reliable sources, the members of its executive committee were afraid that they might end up being targeted by Battistelli's Investigative Unit and suffer the same fate as SUEPO officials, such as Laurent Prunier.

"According to reliable sources, the members of its executive committee were afraid that they might end up being targeted by Battistelli's Investigative Unit and suffer the same fate as SUEPO officials, such as Laurent Prunier."But although AMBA was more or less reduced to operating underground during those days, it still continued to function and it was capable of organising petitions and resolutions to protest against Battistelli's abuses, even if these were routinely ignored by the Administrative Council.

Nowadays, under Josefsson's regime, AMBA seems to have been completely neutered. Indeed, if appearances are to be believed it has been effectively killed off as a functioning association representing the interests of the members of the Boards of Appeal.

"Nowadays, under Josefsson's regime, AMBA seems to have been completely neutered."To borrow a phrase from Josefsson's old buddy, the radical Swedish journalist, Per Wirtén, one might well ask: What happened to the "cascades of debate, quarrel and chatter" that make up "the lifeblood of democracy"?

While we are waiting for "Calle" to answer that question, in the next part we will try to figure out what exactly he gets from the "Faustian pact" that he has concluded with the EPO.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Macho Patent Office
At the EPO there's always room for women in top roles
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: "Bream Gives Me Hiccups", Making Chinese Tea, and More
Links for the day
This is Why Codeberg Issues an Apology Today
This response was clear and relatively swift
Destruction and Distortion of Information, Including Facts About Linux (Bonus: This is Destroying the Planet)
All that LLMs have going for them is hype, and moreover media that intentionally misrepresents them and their supposed capabilities
Google Seems to Have Just Killed All Instances of Invidious
YouTube is rapidly becoming just "another Neflix"
 
Gemini Links 13/02/2025: Broken Watches and Naming Types
Links for the day
Corrupt Bill Gates Worming His Way Into Richard Stallman Videos in Google's YouTube
Reputation laundering riding other people's names?
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles Published by Bots, Dominating Google News
So a lot of the Web is Microsoft chatbot-generated anti-Linux FUD
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Links 12/02/2025: Crytek Layoffs, Security Holes, and Giving Ukraine to Russia
Links for the day
Relaying GAFAM Talking Points and Lies Using GAFAM LLMs, or Slop Pasted in by Brittany Day
linuxsecurity.com is relaying slop, i.e. misinformation
Photos From This Evening's Talk by Dr. Richard Stallman in Torino, Maybe a Video Soon
The talk that Dr. Richard Stallman gave today (a few hours ago) was recorded and streamed
IlSoftware.it Covers Richard Stallman's Visit to Give Talks in Italy
The publication is in Italian, the talk was in English
EPO Staff Representatives Confront the President Who Says 'F--king' in Front of Female Workers Over Measurable Discrimination Against Female Colleagues
Central Staff Committee versus Lukashenko's sponsor
The Register Studies (to Affirm) Reports of IBM Layoffs "at the Finance and Operations business unit"
something about that specific unit
Links 12/02/2025: SSL FUD, DEI Phase-out, Felonies Committed by MElon (Data Breaches)
Links for the day
Italian Media Covers Richard Stallman's English Talk Ahead of Tonight's Public Appearance
article in La Stampa
Microsoft Skype in a Freefall: About 20% Decrease in Site Traffic in 3 Months (Amid Microsoft Phasing Out Credits)
Microsoft axing more services/features may mean that now they scrape the bottom of the barrel and Skype will simply die, discontinuing service (like ICQ) in a matter of years
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: Depression, Gabbro, WikiTok, and More
Links for the day
Links 12/02/2025: Health, Security, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol is Increasingly Important to the Net
Gemini Protocol will turn 6 this summer
Former EPO Manager Warns That the Illegal 'Court' for "Unitary Patents" Enables “Law Shopping”
Daniel X. Thomas opposed the very existence of the UPC, which any honest person could recognise was both illegal and unconstitutional
Like GAFAM, the EPO is Passing the Financial Pains to Staff
the EPO is operating illegally at this point
Morale at Microsoft Ruined by the Company Labelling Thousands of Workers 'Low Performers', Sacking Them on the Spot and Denying Them Basic Benefits
people laid off as "low performers" go to social control media to bemoan the label
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Links 11/02/2025: Current state of the Internet and Smallnet Information Services (SIS)
Links for the day
Conservative Estimate: Over 10,000 IBM Workers to Be Laid Off in the Next Two Waves
The morale is low and layoffs are expected soon, with mass layoffs likely happening next month and then again later
Links 11/02/2025: Trade Wars and "Crisis for American Universities"
Links for the day
Parasitic LLM Slop Sites Destroy the Ability to Find "Linux" News in Google News
Remember that Google News laid off lots of its workers
Richard Stallman's English Talk in Italy Less Than 24 Hours Away (Torino) and Then Another Talk in Italy Scheduled (University of Bozen-Bolzano)
He's active and he travels a lot in spite of his medical condition
IBM Layoff Rumours, Large-Scale Implementations Weeks Ahead (in March 2025)
There are some people corroborating
Links 11/02/2025: Nutritional Poverty, Closure of USAID, More Fictional 'Valuations' Around Buzzwords
Links for the day
Perl Programming Leftovers
recently in perl.org
Microsoft in Africa: From 98% to Less Than 10% in Just 16 Years
Microsoft being on less than 1 in 10 Web-connected devices in Africa is a very big deal
Almost as If MElon Reads Techrights
The joke we started appears to be spreading
Microsoft Blasted for Adding Insult to Injury: Workers Laid Off Without Prior Notice, Without Severance Payment and Basic Coverage (Like Health), Then Stigmatised as Bad Performers So They Cannot Find a Job Elsewhere
Such stereotypes end entire careers
Gemini Links 11/02/2025: NeoVim and Deploying Other People's Code
Links for the day
BetaNews is Still Publishing LLM Slop/SPAM About "Linux"
Assuming it is indeed LLM slop, it seems clear BetaNews has no intention of improving or is simply unable/unwilling to improve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 10, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 10, 2025