Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO's Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part I: Let the Sunshine In!

Series parts:

  1. YOU ARE HERE ☞ Let the Sunshine In!


Collage for EPO scandal
A rogues' gallery showing members of the Administrative Council and the EPO's senior management who share responsibility for the adoption of the EPO's strike regulations in June 2013.



Summary: Benoît Battistelli's unlawful strike regulations, which are protected by António Campinos, will be explained in a new series about perpetrators, including the facilitators of these human rights and labour rights abuses in Europe's second-largest institution (the German government never really minded such abuses)

Earlier this year, on the 8th of July, Techrights reported that the Administrative Tribunal of the ILO (ILOAT) had finally overturned the notorious "Strike Regulations" which had been proposed by EPO President Benoît Battistelli and adopted by the Administrative Council back in June 2013.



Shortly afterwards, the Kluwer Patent Blog followed suit with its coverage of the story. Amongst other things, Kluwer commented on the massive delays with which EPO staff are confronted in their efforts to obtain justice:

The cases show, in the first place, how slow the means for redress are if you are an EPO staff member and get in conflict with management. Most of them date back to the period of deep social conflicts at the EPO under Battistelli’s leadership, during which several leaders of the trade union SUEPO or staff committees were fired or demoted on dubious grounds (see for instance here, here and here), and many controversial measures were implemented (see here and here). If it takes eight to thirteen years (case 4427) to get to a final decision in cases which directly affect the daily life of people, that is very worrying.


It's no secret that the means of legal redress which are available to EPO staff are seriously deficient and not fit for purpose. And it's also a matter of common knowledge that Battistelli and his cronies ruthlessly exploited the weaknesses in the system for their own nefarious purposes.

The report on the 136th meeting of the Administrative Council [PDF] which was published in the EPO's Official Journal refers to the adoption of the "Strike Regulations" in the following anodyne terms:

On staff matters, the Council noted the social report for 2012, and also approved a set of amendments to the Service Regulations aiming first at improving working conditions and well-being at the EPO and second at establishing a clear legal framework for strikes and unauthorised absence.


With hindsight, it would have been more accurate to describe the adoption of these regulations as the establishment of "a clearly illegal framework for undermining the right to strike".

But the members of Team Battistelli were masters of deception who were adept at concealing their audacious assault on the fundamental rights of EPO staff under a smoke-screen of bureaucratic double-speak.

Nevertheless, it seems that some chickens may finally - albeit belatedly - be coming home to roost for the powers-that-be at the EPO.

"...the members of Team Battistelli were masters of deception who were adept at concealing their audacious assault on the fundamental rights of EPO staff under a smoke-screen of bureaucratic double-speak."It's outrageous that the governing body of an international organisation such as the EPO could rubber-stamp regulations which breached the fundamental rights of its staff in this manner.

But what is even more outrageous is that such manifestly flawed regulations were permitted to remain in force without any effective internal review during a period of eight years before they were finally overturned by an independent external judicial review.

Following the delivery of the recent ground-breaking ILOAT judgments on 7 July 2021, it seems like a good time to have a closer look at the events of 2013 which led to this scandalous state of affairs.

Luckily, the EPO is a public service organisation which means that there are enough official records available that allow us to find out who exactly was responsible for this deplorable state of affairs.

"Luckily, the EPO is a public service organisation which means that there are enough official records available that allow us to find out who exactly was responsible for this deplorable state of affairs."Thanks to the available records we are in a position to identify the members of the Administrative Council and the Office's senior management team who were complicit in the adoption of the unlawful "Strike Regulations".

And so we invite readers to join us on a "deep dive" into the inner workings of the EPO and its Administrative Council in June 2013.

In the course of this "muck-raking" expedition it is intended to "name and shame" the culprits who facilitated Battistelli's infamous "reign of terror".

Some of those responsible have long since sailed off into the sunset of retirement, or advanced to new positions in the national administrations of their home countries.

Others have been obliged to depart due to becoming implicated in "irregularities" on their home patches, and the rest are still in their former positions on the EPO's Administrative Council.

"Others have been obliged to depart due to becoming implicated in "irregularities" on their home patches, and the rest are still in their former positions on the EPO's Administrative Council."It goes without saying that all of those responsible are able to shelter behind the cloak of "immunity" and need not fear having to face any consequences for their part in this inglorious affair.

But that does not prevent the identities of those involved from being revealed in order to ensure that their misdeeds are finally exposed to scrutiny in the court of public opinion.

Louis Brandeis quote
US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis recommended sunlight as "the best of disinfectants".



As US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once put it, "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants".

It remains to be seen how effective it will turn out to be in the case of the EPO but as the poet once said "hope springs eternal in the human breast"...

Recent Techrights' Posts

Double-Dipping the Docket for Microsoft Glory and Censorship of Microsoft Critics
same lawyer, same barrister, all US, all Microsoft
IBM: Less Than a Month's Severance for Each Decade of Service
Yes, decade!
The EPO, Europe's Largest Patent Office, Admits Outsourcing to Microsoft Slop
Their sole goal is to make more money
 
Microsoft's "FUD-as-a-Service" (Against Linux) Not Functioning Well
This is the kind of contribution companies like Microsoft and Google have to offer to society
Betanews Becoming a Slopfarm is "Betanews Growing Alongside You", According to Betanews
Their first 'article' in over two weeks is 52% "AI-generated" (slop), 33% mixed (edited slop), 18% human-written, says an advanced scanner.
Coffee Day and LLM Sloppers
The LLM slop "bros" are a lot like fake-money bros; they lie to people, they boast that they lie to people, and they're generally bad people, BS artists in colloquial terms
TheLayoff Censorship of IBM Threads Has Gone Truly Ludicrous
we do not argue that TheLayoff should not cull LLM slop
More Stallmanites Added to FSF Board and Summer Fundraiser Commences
There's some good news from the FSF
Gemini Links 17/06/2025: Consistency and Notes About NixOS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 16, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 16, 2025
July 2 2025 Would Not be First Big Wave of Microsoft Layoffs Before Major National Holiday
July 2 or 3 mark the start of a very long weekend in the US
IDG's NetworkWorld Seems to Have Just Become LLM Slop
If IDG (now controlled by China) does that in at least one site, why not the rest? Only a matter of time?
Gemini Links 16/06/2025: Free Lunches and Bookmarklet for Mastodon
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Turns 6 on Friday
Active (online) Gemini capsules are estimated by Lupa at over 3,000
Taking a Lesson From Denmark and Greenland? Iceland Shows New Lows for Windows, All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
If Microsoft sabotages systems of judges at the Hague (in order to appease the insane man who wanted to invade Greenland), why won't its neighbour Iceland take note?
BetaNews Has Just Deleted Its Latest 'Article' or Got Cracked Again and Restored From Outdated Backup Again
BetaNews seems to be in some serious trouble right now
Software Freedom is "Activism" Because the Corporate Agenda Revolves Around Bribery, Deceit, and Betrayal
At the end Software Freedom will win because it's on the same side as truth and lawfulness
Links 16/06/2025: EchoLeak and NASA Teaming up With India
Links for the day
The Better the Understanding or the More Nations Understand the Threat Posed by Microsoft, the Faster It'll be Eradicated
We believe that the thing to advocate is self-hosting and Free software... A lack of simplicity or absence of alternatives is a form of vendor lock-in
A Week of Sunlight
They say transparency is like sunlight to a vampire
"Linux" Sites That Went Astray
there are even worse things than shutdowns
Links 16/06/2025: Climate, Wildfires, Breaches, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Links 16/06/2025: Summer in Finland and Misunderstandings
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 15, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 15, 2025
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: Rainy Season and OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Military Games, Parade, and Actions
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, and Wars
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: "AI Fatigue and Crappiness"
Links for the day
When Abusive Law Firms (Working for Microsofters Against Us) Assert That Someone Writing in Social Media About Himself is Confidential Information
There was no reason to throw "GDPR" into 2 SLAPPs; they know it, but the goal was to increase the cost of a Defence and lessen the incentive to challenge the SLAPPs
Microsoft Attack Dogs Against Watchdogs and Guard Dogs in Software
Last year Microsofters hired attack dogs or "guns for hire"
Slop Cannot Replace Domain Expertise
All this "AI" hype (it's not even intelligence, it's all a misnomer, as many of us have insisted all along) will fizzle and be written off as a failed experiment
IBM's Fresh 'PIPs' (Action Before Layoffs)
At times like these, even once-reputable employers resort to PIPs and other procedures/tricks for denial of workers' rights
Microsoft is a Problem Not Just for Denmark
Every country should consider what Denmark is doing, why Denmark is doing it, and then do the same
The Slopfarms' Self Detonation
If more sites like BetaNews go under, then maybe we can still salvage some of the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 14, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 14, 2025