Bonum Certa Men Certa

António's EPO is Dead, Long Live the EPC?

Video download link | md5sum f7c63b0c83179b925a12a011244c8b4a Green Light for Work-to-Rule Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: In spite of media silence and complicity (conspiracy of passivity), the EPO's staff commences a series of bold actions -- scheduled to last at least until summer -- in order to impose the EPC (and the Rule of Law) on the rogue employer; in a ballot which closed last night 84% voted in favour of industrial action comprising months-long slow-downs and several strikes (9 out of 10 employees in Munich, the EPO's headquarters, considered participating in such an action last month)

THE date 22/02/22 (it's around 22:22 CET and 21:22 over here) will be remembered as a key date, not just for its numeric significance but also historic significance at the EPO, Europe's second-largest institution. The call for industrial action was answered and in spite of risks associated with participation (reprisal/retribution in union-busting activities) about 17 out of 20 people voted in favour. The result of the ballot was advertised earlier today. The summary (accompanied by the image on the bottom left said: "Following a challenging ballot, during the worst pandemics in a lifetime 1100 SUEPO members voted. With 84% of them voting in favor of the actions."



"...EPO staff focuses on violations of labour/human rights and non-compliance w.r.t. the EPC."As an associate of ours pointed out today, "the staff [chose to] oppose the illegal maneuvering towards the illegal [misinterpretation of the] EPC," which basically gives the EPO its authority to grant patents in Europe without any competition (except national patent offices). At the moment we're seeing overt abuse of the authority; these same rogue actors who arrogantly violate the EPC are also stacking their courts while trying to illegally replace national (outside the EPO) patent courts with fudge factories in arbitrary court spaces speaking in random languages (foreign to the defendant). To quote FFII: "In July 2005, after several failed attempts to legalise software patents in Europe, the patent establishment changed its strategy. Instead of explicitly seeking to sanction the patentability of software, they are now seeking to create a central European patent court, which would establish and enforce patentability rules in their favor, without any possibility of correction by competing courts or democratically elected legislators."

There are many issues at stake, but EPO staff focuses on violations of labour/human rights and non-compliance w.r.t. the EPC. This deviation or departure from the law would ultimately render the EPO obsolete, leaving nothing but a pile of money earned by abusing the EPC. That money is misused for gambling.

EPO action plan approved"Additional information on how to participate in the "Work to Rule" action" was included in the text below, which is discussed in the video above. It's important to understand that staff not only exercises important rights; more importantly, the staff insists that the rules (the law) should be obeyed and operations not simply gamed by the President in order to fake so-called 'productivity'. The staff is indebted to the law, to the public (as in public services/servants), not to mention constitutions.

Here's the letter as HTML (to be converted to plain text and GemText in due course):

22 February 2022 su22011cp - 0.2.1

Dear Suepo members,

Following a challenging ballot, during the worst pandemics in a lifetime 1100 SUEPO members voted. With 84% of them voting in favor of the actions.

The Action Plan is therefore approved and active.

The president and the delegations will be informed of the results of the Ballot.

Your SUEPO central Committee

Please find below important information regarding how to participate in the Work to Rule action

Are industrial actions like Work-to-Rule legally covered at the EPO?

In the recent decision 4430, the ILOAT made clear that industrial actions like Work-to-Rule are legitimate forms of labour struggle at the EPO. This decision confers legal protection to staff members that take in part such industrial actions.

Could there be consequences for a staff member participating in a Work-to-Rule action?

In principle, any participation in an industrial action can lead to salary deductions. The prerequisite is that participation in the industrial action can be proven.

Should you announce that you’re taking part in a Work-to-Rule action?

Not, if you want to avoid a possible salary deduction.

What should you answer if you’re officially asked if you’re taking part in a Work-to-Rule action?

It should be sufficient to inform that you’re working according to the EPC, the Guidelines, and to the ServRegs and you’re committed to deliver the best quality possible.

For staff involved in search and patent grant procedure, what concrete steps to watch out when participating in a Work-to-Rule?

i) Focus on search actions ii) Stick to your priority list in the Landing Page iii) Apply thoroughly the EPC, case law and internal instructions, particularly when granting patents iv) Keep a record of your actions and other work-related activities v) Object reshuffling of Divisions and redistribution of your stock. Request a written confirmation if it happens; and vi) Defend against interference with the Division


The very initiation of this kind of action -- not the first strike under the Campinos regime by the way -- sends a strong statement already. Suffice to say, it merits attention from the media, but as we've repeatedly said lately [1, 2] blogs which claim to cover patent issues are intentionally ignoring such EPO affairs. There are rare exceptions, a token mention here and there, but there's no real concern for the integrity of the Office or the rights of staff. It got a lot worse after Benoît Battistelli had left; they used him like a sort of 'scapegoat', paid half a million euros and thrown under the bus for the impression of "concession" or a "new beginning" even when it's "business as usual" as before.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Punching People Doesn't Work
It makes nobody any safer
This is How Microsoft's XBox and Entire Consoles (If Not Gaming) Ventures Will Ultimately Die
Ensure you can blame "Tariffs" (politics)? If not "hey hi", the fashionable go-to excuse when businesses fail?
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part II - UK SLAPPs for Americans, SLAPPs for Profit
Brett Wilson LLP has a track record of this kind
Cloudflare Gives Us All Another Reason to Boycott Cloudflare
If Cloudflare wants to use its vast surveillance network (which is what it does as a CDN) to foist paywalls and maybe something worse (like DRM on top), then Cloudflare should be more widely rejected as a company
 
'Cancel Culture' Isn't About Enforcing Ethics (and It's Done by People on the Right, Not "The Leftists")
Smarter folks would leave social control media
Russia's Attack on Europe (and NATO) Will Worsen Censorship and Corruption in Europe
Can we still debate issues that predate the invasion of Crimea?
Lawyers Should Permanently Lose Their Licence (and Worse) for Using Chatbots in Legal Work
They not only waste people's money and time. They pollute the literature with falsehoods. They commit perjury. [...] Brett Wilson LLP sent the Judge nearly 1,000 pages of material (mostly mine, copied without proper permission) shortly before a short Hearing, which lasted less than an hour
GAFAM and MATA (Mythical, Metaphor) as Explained by analognowhere.com
They're instruments of suppression that sponsor the oppressor
We've Already Mentioned Who Nowadays Funds Garrett's SLAPP Against Us (Not Garrett), Let's Examine Who Sponsored His Litigation Partner (Other Than Microsoft Salaries There's a Buddy of Bill Gates)
it's alleged that the Serial Strangler from Microsoft got money from him
Florian Müller: Using Software Patents to Attack Software Developers, Agitate Against Patent Reform
He also promotes attacks on the German Constitution and laws
Reliance on Typepad Seems to Have Doomed the Voice of Software Patents and Patent Maximalists in PatentDocs
Follow the money
UEFI 'Secure Boot' is Potential Mayhem to the Environment (Older and Leaner Distros Stop Working)
creating new problems, disguised as "solutions" to problems that do not exist
Sometimes 'Cancel Culture' Backfires Badly
There's no such thing as "too much" coverage
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 24, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Links 25/09/2025: Jimmy Kimmel Returns to Air (With Limitations) and London Stansted Airport Latest to Have Incident (Fire)
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Fake Articles, SPAM With Slop, and Google News Directs People to Read Slopfarms
why does Google News insist on still linking to prolific slopfarms?
Gemini Links 25/09/2025: New Game for Gemini Protocol, Eleven, and Network Solutions Woes
Links for the day
Look Ma, No "Cloud"
So far this year we've had an almost perfect uptime
Links 24/09/2025: Autism Blame-Shifting and Typhoon Ragasa Enters China
Links for the day
Buying From Oneself is Not Business Success
This isn't at all a joking matter even if you already laugh at the whole thing because your pension, savings etc. are tied to this scam at some level
What They Really Hate David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) for
Nothing to do with code
Smart People Won't Buy 'Smart' Cars
Imagine trying to sell someone a house (proper home) while insisting that it'll need to be demolished 5 or 10 years later, then rebuilt again from scratch on the same vacant lot
The Relationship Between IBM Red Hat and Microsoft, Visualised
This metaphor goes a long way (projects, collaborations, and outsourcing
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part III - Spying on Reporters' Families, Chaining Cases for Microsoft Employees Who Demand Censorship of Facts (Even Politely Expressed)
the time seems right to wrap up this introductory series
Links 24/09/2025: "NASA Moving Out of Entire Buildings as It's Gutted" and Purge of Online Critics (Opposing Fascism Becomes Unlawful)
Links for the day
Science is Under Attack
Oligarchy prefers a dumbed-down population
Someone Expiring Certificates on the Day of the 9/11 Attacks is Not Someone I Would Want Controlling My PC (or Deciding What's Authorised for Booting)
"social justice warriors"
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has Reportedly Failed People With Wrong Advice
At the moment the SRA has a PR blunder
The Man Suing Brett Wilson LLP and Gervase de Wilde (5RB)
Now he's probably using the (almost) 200,000 pounds he's supposed to receive to sue Brett Wilson LLP and former colleagues/partners
More Microsoft-Red Hat Cross-Pollination as the Company Loses a Managing Director
some people move from Microsoft to Red Hat and some do the opposite
Slopwatch: A World Wide Web That's Rotting for Companies That Won't Even Exist in a Few Years
some of the junk Google News is promoting
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 23, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Links 24/09/2025: Qt Creator 18 Beta, Microsoft Cannot Bail Out "ChatGPT" Anymore, China and US Intensify Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/09/2025: Gemlogs and Politics
Links for the day
Links 23/09/2025: Japan Limits Uses of Skinnerboxes ('Smartphones') With Toxic "Apps", Fentanylware (TikTok) Tapped by "MAGAts"
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Been Sued (by Their Own Clients!)
Vladimir and Alla Yanpolsky sued Brett Wilson LLP in BL-2025-001167 at the end of last week
Mayday: Optus emergency calling crisis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/09/2025: Massive Data Breach, Slop Versus Productivity, and Vista 11 Update Breaks Things Again
Links for the day
Code of Censorship
Extortion is peace
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Un-cancelled the Best People, Just in Time for the Big 4-0
Mr. Oliva should have been there all along (since 2019)
Most "Modern" Technology Makes You Slower and Dumber
Because proprietary software makes you worse off
"What Comes After Free Software?" Wrongly Insinuates We've Reached the Goal (Prison is Not the Goal)
The oil tycoons use similar tactics against environmentalists, giving them fake "wins"
Making More Work Space
I learned the hard way that less is more in circumstances where more means distraction
MAHA is a Lie, Public Officials Never Valued Citizens' Health (They Still Value Private Businesses, Their Sponsors)
Reject demagogues
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Press Kit for the Weekend After Next Weekend (40th Anniversary)
miles better than social [sic] media [sic] quips, moderated by narcissists and oil tycoons.
Microsoft Had Two Waves of Mass Layoffs This Month (That We Know of) and It'll Get Worse for Microsoft Soon
Will the axe fall again by month's end?
Gemini Links 23/09/2025: Happy Equinox, Photronic Arts, and Perception Cognition
Links for the day
Lessons We've Learned After 17 Years of American Hosting
GAFAM is "all-in" with the "Trump agenda"
Back to Normal Now, We Plan to Do More In-Depth Series (or Multi-part Stories)
Articles (or series thereof) that contain philosophy are important to us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 22, 2025
Microsoft Media is Panicking Amid Mass Layoffs Every Month, H-1B Fees, and "Seattle’s Tech Scene in Trouble"
In "late stage Microsoft", copyleft becomes proprietary
The Next Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs Being Discussed Already
Red Hat is sort of disappearing the way Tivoli did
New Techrights Turns 2
Today starts the third year of the SSG-based Techrights