06.10.16
Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 11:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
EPO is wasting huge amounts of money (EPO budget) for Battistelli’s private agenda (and large foreign corporations)
Summary: The EPO passes a lot of money to media companies under the cover of an awards ceremony, but the money seems to be going a long way further
THINGS cannot become any more embarrassing than this. It is embarrassing both for the Financial Times and for the EPO. The EPO is now buying (and thus corrupting) the media as part of a highly expensive publicity stunt which it hopes will distract from human rights abuses.
Last year we noted that the EPO’s PR agency pays IAM 'magazine' and/or its parent company for pro-UPC propaganda events in the United States. This IAM ‘magazine’ had already been a UPC propaganda rag that used even shaming tactics against politicians who had antagonised the UPC. It wasn’t so hard to see what was going on and yesterday the EPO used its buddies at IAM (propagandists) as a “source” or reference. This has been happening a lot recently and it seemed to be coordinated based on the citation patterns which we noted.
IAM is a London-based company which is small potatoes compared to the Financial Times (also of London), so we suspect that EPO bought more than just EIA2016 coverage from the Financial Times. Just look at the new article above (screenshot).
Right now they try to make the UPC sound desirable and its potential avoidance like a loss to the UK. The summary says “British exit would delay the birth of a common system and cost UK hosting rights” and the opening paragraph is a long series of promotional lies (as if it was ghostwritten by the EPO’s PR people or PR agency): “A Brexit vote would seriously wound the new “unitary patent” and its associated “unified patent court” (UPC). Having played a big role in developing both institutions, Britain would have to withdraw from the UPC and forgo hosting a division of the court ruling on life sciences and pharmaceuticals disputes. Under current agreements, the unitary system can only come to life if ratified by a minimum of 13 nations including France, Germany and the UK, the EU’s three biggest patentors. “I don’t think Brexit would necessarily torpedo the whole thing,” says Rob Williams, co-head of intellectual property in the London office of Bird & Bird, the international law firm, “but it would certainly delay its introduction while new arrangements are made”.”
This is of course nonsense. Another way to put it is, Brexit would help crush an undesirable patent regime that helps large foreign corporations and patents trolls.
This isn’t the sole example of Financial Times (FT) as EPO mouthpiece after receiving money to become “media partner”. Looking at the past day along, here we see the FT being used for UPC propaganda and pretense of examination quality (in reality it is declining). EPO cites its “media partner”. How convenient. Here we have the EPO piggybacking FT to promote software patents and give the illusion of growth, even if said patents are allegedly registered in no language other than Mandarin.
#FTinvent is currently a hashtag of paid-for EPO coverage, i.e. not journalism, so it is not too hard to track the EPO’s distortion of the media. The EPO, having paid the Financial Times a lot of money (if 1.5 million Euros went to CNN we can only guess how much went to the Financial Times), turns both itself and the Financial Times into a laughing stock. Here is the EPO and its “media partner” (i.e. paid mouthpiece) spreading the “SME” propaganda (reversals of truth in relation to the UPC). The EPO just cannot help perpetuating the “SME” myth, even though SMEs are complaining that their voice has been hijacked.
Paid-for ‘coverage’ from this EPO “media partner” can be found in many other places, e.g. [1, 2] (FT’s official account and “FT Reports”), so we suspect that Battistelli and his goons used this Lisbon stunt as an excuse for passing money to publishers, also for UPC promotion.
Watch one in the choir stating: “UPC needs ratified by 3 countries with most patents. If brexit Italy/NL ratifying would see UPC go ahead I think” (adding the #FTinvent hashtag and later excusing abusive litigation that UPC entails).
When Battistelli speaks of ‘improving’ the EPO what he really means is changing the EPO for the UPC, even eliminating the appeals boards in the process.
The latest UPC nonsense, which is of course being spread by those who stand to benefit from it, now says “LATEST ESTIMATE: UPC TO COMMENCE IN SECOND QUARTER OF 2017″ (each year they say “real soon now” or “the end of the year” or “later this year” and now it’s delayed again). We also saw that when it was labeled “community patent” or “EU patent”. It has gone on for nearly a decade and there was resistance/antagonism, resulting in rebranding (same modus operandi when attempting to pass controversial legislation).
Remember the real purpose of the event in Lisbon, where there’s talk about the notorious cooperation money. Smaller populations like Portugal or Bulgaria are being courted for purely political/strategic reasons and based on this short report [via Bastian Best], Bulgaria is the latest to give up and surrender to the UPC, perhaps having been brainwashed sufficiently by “media partners” like the Financial Times. “According to the website of the Council of the European Union,” says this post, linking to this agreement, “Bulgaria has now deposited its instrument of ratification (on 3 June 2016) to become the tenth country to complete its ratification formalities. Bulgaria joins Finland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Malta, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, France and Austria as one of the ten countries who have completed their ratification processes.”
How many more media organisations does the EPO need to buy in order to mislead the public, including many British businessmen who read the Financial Times? Are there no senses of ethics left at the EPO? And Battistelli dares justify his attacks on workers’ rights as being in the interest of eliminating conflicts of interest (while hiring his buddy’s wife to manage the staff [1, 2, 3, 4] and buying large media outlets)… █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 10:49 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Just like his extremely overpriced six bodyguards (allegedly for his bicycle)
Summary: Battistelli is not only destroying the EPO’s reputation and repelling talent but he is also draining its coffers and is destroying the integrity of European media, which he basically turned into PR agents of the EPO
THE EPO would be in very serious trouble if there was oversight and if someone was capable of firing management on the spot. The expensive publicity stunt which took place yesterday was a continental (not just national) embarrassment. Does Europe want thugs and madmen like Battistelli and his right-hand bulldog Željko Topić to represent it? What has this planet sunk to?
“Does Europe want thugs and madmen like Battistelli and his right-hand bulldog Željko Topić to represent it?”The event distorted European media and even US media like CNN. It helped demonstrate that ‘news’ is basically up for sale and Battistelli can just ‘buy’ the news without scrutiny, just as he allegedly 'buys' votes (cooperation money, see article above). Authoritarian, totalitarian, corrupt or whatever… these are the words that nowadays get used to describe the EPO, which relies on its reputation for survival (justifying the high cost of patent applications and renewals).
Battistelli’s silly festival did not attract media attention. It bought media. There are some puff pieces coming out of it (not many [1, 2]), and they are mentioning Battistelli in relation to the president whom he lobbied. That’s what it was all about: lobbying. The sideshow was some trophies (like high society swapping medals for mutual honour and self-congratulatory symbols) and it helped launder/paint this whole charade with the “science” brush.
“Authoritarian, totalitarian, corrupt or whatever… these are the words that nowadays get used to describe the EPO, which relies on its reputation for survival (justifying the high cost of patent applications and renewals).”Watch those who are (or have been) preparing European Inventor Award puff pieces. Do they realise they’re being exploited by the likes of Battistelli, who delusionally thinks that he’s some kind of modern-age Nobel (recall what he said to the sponsored crowd yesterday)?
The whole thing was staged. It was corny, lame, and above all expensive and corrosive to European journalism. I never received a dime for my articles about the EPO, but some media organisations that were hired as “media partners” are estimated to have just received millions of Euros (or just over a million, it’s hard to tell for sure due to Battistelli’s notorious secrecy).
“The whole thing was staged.”Battistelli handing over a “European Inventor of the Year” award is like Miss Universe doing this. Battistelli is not a scientist, he is just megalomaniac bully whose employees hate him with a passion.
The EPO’s PR drones, who must be blindly loyal to Battistelli, were very busy yesterday (they are relatively quiet today). They played along with the script [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. They probably know (deep inside at least) that today’s EPO, under Battistelli’s regime in particular, is built on top of a colossal pack of lies (or “PR”) and attacks on people who dare say the obvious truths (using defamatory remarks against these people). But then again, they need to pay the mortgage, so they play along, as does Battistelli’s friend in the UK (who is notorious here not just for taking distant selfies with Battistelli but for sucking up to Monarchy).
“Battistelli handing over a “European Inventor of the Year” award is like Miss Universe doing this.”The EPO’s winner ceremonies lasted no longer than an hour [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13] and the PR people captured some responses [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] (there were not so many), but how much did this whole charade cost? Some estimates say 3-7 million Euros. For just a few hours! What’s even more disturbing, as we shall show in our next post, is that this whole charade distorted the European press, including some British media. █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 9:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Perhaps what Battistelli is up to was all along the plan of some ‘higher’ agenda?
Summary: Remarks on conspicuous inaction from the Commission in the face is very serious abuses at the EPO’s management
THE EPO continues to come under fire from European politicians, who are powerless when it comes to taking action against EPO managerial thugs, due to the misguided way the EPO had been set up (like a state within a state).
SUEPO now highlights the questions from Agnes Jongerius (covered here days ago) and translations are available in French and in German from SUEPO’s Web site.
Interestingly enough, SUEPO found another question from Marc Tarabella (same party as Jongerius), whom we mentioned here last year. It turns out that months later he asked this:
Parliamentary questions
2 February 2016
E-000938-16
Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 130
Marc Tarabella (S&D)
Subject: EU representation in the European Patent Office
Written Questions E-009256/2015 and E-010497/2015 drew the Commission’s attention to the appalling situation at the European Patent Office (EPO).
Following the implementation of the 2010 plan to increase productivity, a ban on trade union activity, repeated privacy violations, harassment and unachievable productivity targets which make a mockery of European workers’ rights have put the EPO’s 7 000 staff in a very difficult position. Since 2012, four of them have committed suicide.
The Commission has a representative with observer status on the EPO’s Administrative Council who rarely intervenes, despite the governance problems.
What is the exact role of the Commission representative?
Does he/she report back to the Commission on the management problems?
This is an interesting point because the EPO has just published this piece of nonsense (warning: epo.org link) which says “Benoît Battistelli greets Carlos Moedas” (there is also a photograph). That’s basically Benoît Battistelli lobbying Carlos Moedas (European Commission), as we noted yesterday. It seems to have worked. As we noted here in previous years, the Commission was unwilling to step in despite requests, so what does it make the Commission if not complicit in all these human rights abuses? Not only the Administrative Council should be contacted perhaps… █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 9:34 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Cannot say the truth even outside the EPO (Office) without severe consequences
Reference: Ministries of Nineteen Eighty-Four
Summary: More information about the hearing that is just 4 days away and deals with people who allegedly blew the whistle and tried to expose seriously abusive actions taken by Battistelli and his team
AS last noted yesterday, in a few days there may be a major event which relates to a defamed and suspended judge. As secrecy cannot be assured this time around, there is opportunity for judicial oversight, but EPO management “was again creative in finding way to circumvent the effective presence of the public,” according to this new comment which suggests that Team Battistelli chose a very small room:
Indeed, the public announcement of the oral proceedings in Art. 23 1/16 at the entrance of the Isar building indicates the hearing is public.
It is also known room 131 is a very small one! If the EBA as it seems in fact decided to held a public hearing, the administration was again creative in finding way to circumvent the effective presence of the public…
Somebody responded as follows:
Ah yes, the famous “Hitchhiker’s Guide” approach to public proceedings:
M. BATTISTELLI: But, Mr Dent, the notice of the hearing has been available in the EPO for the last week!
ARTHUR DENT (PATENT ATTORNEY): Yes! I went round to find it yesterday afternoon. You’d hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to pull much attention to them have you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.
M. BATTISTELLI: The announcement was on display.
ARTHUR DENT: Ah! And how many members of the public are in the habit of casually dropping around the EPO of an evening?
M. BATTISTELLI: Er – ah!
ARTHUR DENT: It’s not exactly a noted social venue is it? And even if you had popped in on the off chance that some raving bureaucrat wanted to fire a member of the Board of Appeal, the announcement wasn’t immediately obvious to the eye, was it?
M. BATTISTELLI: That depends where you were looking.
ARTHUR DENT: I eventually had to go down to the cellar!
M. BATTISTELLI: That’s the public area of the Office.
ARTHUR DENT: With a torch!
M. BATTISTELLI: The lights, had… probably gone.
ARTHUR DENT: So had the stairs!
M. BATTISTELLI: Well you found the notice didn’t you?
ARTHUR DENT: Yes. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying “Beware of the Leopard”.
Maybe someone should bring a recording device to the meeting on Tuesday and help ensure there’s a proper record of everything that goes on there. Transparency begets oversight and accountability.
The retaliation or demolition of the boards was mentioned here before. According to Alexander Esslinger, it may proceed to the next stage as early as 3 weeks for now. To quote Esslinger: “The EPO published a new notice concerning the opposition procedure coming into effect on July 1, 2016. The aim is to reduce the average duration of opposition procedures before the EPO to 18 months.”
Battistelli does not seem to want oppositions. These probably seem to him like an ‘obstacle’ on the path to ‘production’, even if it’s essential for maintenance of patent quality. Battistelli is selfishly nuts. █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 5:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: In spite of terrible weather conditions at the site of the EPO’s main (and far bigger) ‘branch’, many people still attended, expressing solidarity and support for their staff representatives who are under attack from the Battistelli regime
“The participation in the solidarity demo in the center of The Hague was good today,” a source told us. “Between start and end point, where staff representatives made brief speeches, between 550 and 650 EPO protesters marched about one hour along the French, Portuguese, UK, Swiss and Spanish embassies.”
“Another source reported that there were about 600 colleagues in Munich under a pouring rain and also about 600 colleagues in The Hague under a blue sky.”
Indeed, another source — sending us additional photos (which we have blurred further) — said “ca. 600 colleagues in Munich under a pouring rain and also about 600 colleagues in The Hague this time under a blue sky.”
This seems to be the consensus regarding this round of protests. If weather conditions were better, the usual participation of well over a thousand if not two thousand Munich workers would probably be expected, so this lower turnout shouldn’t mistaken for pacification.
We have a lot more EPO coverage on the way today. █
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06.09.16
Posted in Europe, Patents at 8:38 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Battistelli cannot tolerate dissent, as his actions demonstrate, not even from outside the Office (like Erdoğan in Germany)
Summary: ‘Sun King’ Battistelli is losing the plot and is apparently, as recent actions serve to suggest, brewing a new set of vicious attacks of people whom he already sacked based on extremely dubious allegations and a bogus ‘trial’ (where the accuser is the jury, judge, executioner and so on)
THE EPO is worse than abusive. It’s probably, at least at the moment, Europe’s most abusive institution (unless someone can point out to us one which is worse). Mr. Battistelli staying inside the EPO means sustained damage to the Office’s (and Organisation’s) reputation; this translates into brand erosion and jeopardised demand for European Patents (EPs) in the long run, or decreased (perceived) value, even for patents granted over a decade ago. What would happen to people’s pensions, inventors’ protection, and so on? Examiners are right to be worried. Even the EPO is milking itself dry right now, with untold millions of Euros spent on things which have nothing whatsoever to do with examination (waste of money, corruption). Consider bodyguards, purchased media, secret private contracts with dubious firms for the purpose of PR, union-busting, censorship and surveillance. What on Earth has the EPO become? It’s a state within a state, even with its own police and military. Maybe Battistelli took the job title “President” way too far.
“When will Battistelli throw truth-telling staff representatives and judges into the lion’s den for his entertainment purposes?”EPO staff protests started about three hours ago in The Hague and in Munich. We wrote about these protests even yesterday. These are justified protests, even if some provocative comments at IP Kat try to discredit the protesters/examiners, portraying them as spoiled millionaires with high-end sport cars (we don’t wish to link to these smears). Is that a compromise strategy after trying to just block the whole of IP Kat (this backfired pretty badly)?
A few days ago we said that EBoA can decide whether the illegally-suspended judge will have his case heard openly. We believe he was serious defamed and the Munich State Attorney was reportedly considering criminal charges against the European Patent Office over this. “An announcement of the oral proceedings in Art. 23 1/16 can be found in the public area of the Isar building,” said this one comment in IP Kat. One response to this was: “Public? If the accused him or herself is banned from the building?”
That’s a good point actually. Medieval/Ottoman notion of 'justice' is prevalent under Battistelli; even worse — it dates back to the Roman Empire. When will Battistelli throw truth-telling staff representatives and judges into the lion’s den for his entertainment purposes? Will he pay “media partners” to broadcast such an event in some Portuguese Colosseum?
“We are entering phase two of the Battistelli strategy to “improve” the EPO,” one comment noted, explaining the current situation as follows:
Oh dear. The EPO used to be a “golden cage”, where employees were trapped by the generous salary and benefits package. Now the golden bars are apparently not enough, and require steel reinforcement.
I fear that this is a very ominous sign. We are entering phase two of the Battistelli strategy to “improve” the EPO:
1) decapitate the staff representation
2) block all the exits
3) do whatever you want to the staff, because you’ve got them exactly where you want them, and there’s b****r all they can do about it.
That’s an excellent point actually. It was further expanded on by this comment which said, “as soon as the new rules will enter into force, petty vindictive Battistelli will use them to bar the dismissed Mrs. Hardon to collaborate with SUEPO.” As a reminder (of what we covered here before), Hardon was re-elected to SUEPO leadership, even after Battistelli had fired her, wrongly believing she would be history thereafter.
“As a reminder (of what we covered here before), Hardon was re-elected to SUEPO leadership, even after Battistelli had fired her, wrongly believing she would be history thereafter.”These comments make perfect sense and every single member of the Administrative Council should be made aware of it. Here are the contact details for members of the Administrative Council. It seems rather apparent, as our previous post serves to indicate, that the EPO’s staff union (not the yellow one which increasingly acts racist) is still under extreme attacks from Battistelli and his thugs; only the strategy changed a little bit. █
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Posted in Europe, Patents at 7:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Worse than doing none of what the Administrative Council demanded
Summary: “Last week,” says Dutch media, Laurent Prunier from SUEPO in The Hague “got delivered its final report. Conclusion: guilty of “misconduct” that undermine Battistelli’s leadership.”
THE EPO is busy distracting from today's protests which we'll expand on in our next post. But not all the media received money from the EPO (at Battistelli’s request), nor does it drink that silly EIA16 Kool-Aid.
As one person pointed out in IP Kat the other day, “the EPO is back again in the NL reputable press” (pointing to this new bit of negative publicity from the Dutch mainstream media).
Well, “translations welcome,” we said, and we believe the article was well overdue because of the latest protests (to be covered later). Only a day later SUEPO added a link to this article and Petra Kramer, a native Dutch speaker, prepared a translation for us and remarked: “Not one bit of progress has been made.”
Here is the full translation with important bits highlighted in yellow:
Private war between CEO and and the union of the patent office is not over yet
Labour conflict Again there is hassle in the European Patent Office. The ruthless nature of CEO Battistelli is a concern for Member States.
Eppo König
June 9, 2016
Earlier this year it seemed or Battistelli President of the EPO would resign.
The war between President Benoît Battistelli of the European Patent Office (EPO) and its trade union continues. While the Frenchman Thursday in Lisbon rewards the inventor of the year, his staff in The Hague holds a protest march along the embassies of EU Member States. “Our management is bullying and intimidating trade union and works council members in a manner that would be unacceptable in your country,” they wrote to the ambassadors.
The patent office (38 States, 7,000 employees) is the largest intergovernmental organization in Europe, after the European Commission. The agency reviews patent applications and grants European patents. Headquartered in Munich, inter alia, an office in Rijswijk.
Early this year, tensions at the EPO were so high that it seemed as if Battistelli (65) would resign. The highest body of the Agency, the Management Board representing the 38 Member States, forced Battistelli to hold back against union SUEPO.
The intervention followed the dismissal of two trade union leaders, the Dutch Els Hardon, union president in Munich, its German predecessor Ion Brumme. Treasurer Malika Weaver is cut in her salary. The official accusations are conspiring against Battistelli and bullying a member of the council who was pro-Battistelli.
Guilty of misconduct
But the president is not finished with the union, which represents half of the employees. The own research unit of the EPO completed the research of union secretary Laurent Prunier, who was too stressed to work and has been on unpaid leave for five months. Last week he got delivered its final report. Conclusion: guilty of “misconduct” that undermine Battistelli’s leadership.
“Either you have not understood the resolution of the Member States or you ignored it from the beginning,” Prunier’s lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld wrote in a letter to all Member States and Battistelli last week. The president was indeed summoned to suspend all pending proceedings against trade unionists. He needs the review the ‘disciplinary procedures’ to ensure that they are fair and that the are seen that way by the outside world.
The point is that the patent office as an international organization is not covered by national labour law. We are immune to our rules and can not be judged through Dutch eyes, says Battistelli. In refusing to recognize trade union SUEPO he is in defiance of the Hague Court. Employees with a labour dispute should go to the International Labour Organization, a slow UN body in Geneva. The office in Rijwijk uses a Belgian company doctor that is not registered as a doctor in the Netherlands.
Just as the agency has its own research unit – which hears employees without a lawyer present, is the criticism of the union. Even independent research confirms that the “integrity” and “ethical behavior” in this package can be improved. A “very clear” definition of misconduct must be drawn up, according to a report from May. The service should clearly explain how e-mail and computers are investigated. And above all: the unit must operate independently of the president.
“The research unit will answer without a lawyer workers there”
The case Prunier can end up as a sensitive issue this month as the management board meets again. Major countries, such as Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden and Switzerland, have heavily criticized by Battistelli, according to sources. The negative publicity about the conflicts harm the reputation of the agency, which has outstanding patent researchers. The incidents embarrass host countries such as the Netherlands because intervention is almost impossible.
In substantive terms critical Member States do agree with Battistelli. They support the reforms he has implemented, such as investment in IT and bonuses for performance instead of seniority. The Member States’ concern lies primarily with the ruthless, irascible character Battistelli. He seems to wage a private war against a union, which is just as war-like as the president himself. The conflict thereby is also hindering business operations, such as the reform of the pension system.
As the president of the EPO Battistelli has a lot of power, the 38 Member States can not do much. There is no impeachment procedure in the regulations, apart from the question of whether or not a majority of the Member States would support it. The more time passes, the closer Battistelli gets to the end of his term. That could mean two long years of conflict, lawsuits and bad publicity.
The patent office does not respond to individual cases, said a spokesman. The agency says that the management board is regularly informed on the reform of investigations and sanctions.
As we are going to show in our next post, it’s likely that not only Prunier is under additional attacks from Battistelli, who is truly crazy and detached from reality (perhaps he feels like he’s totally unsackable). Is Jesus, who reportedly suffered mental breakdowns due to the vicious attacks on him (and apparently his wife too came under veiled attacks), next in Battistelli’s firing line, for the alleged ‘crime’ of helping to conduct a staff survey? Based on patterns of the EPO's actions against SUEPO, The Hague is next, after all the attacks in Munich (which still exacerbate further). █
Correction (10/6/2016): The “NRC Translation,” a reader told us, had a “factual error” as follows:
I spotted an important factual error from the document translated that requires clarification to best illustrate how the current regime acts:
Laurent Prunier is not on unpaid leave contrary to what is here written. The current administration cut 100% of his remuneration since January (!) although Laurent has been certified sick by his treating GP and by the GP designated as Arbiter. This is of course nothing else but a harsh disciplinary sanction, this time without even a board of discipline! That’s very different than being on unpaid leave 
Thanks for correcting this small but important detail!
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Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 7:31 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
UPC ratification and other favours among the real motivations and paid-for media the means
Summary: The truly terrible reality behind EIA16, which is nothing other than self-serving Battistelli propaganda which costs a lot of money and distorts European media
THE EPO (Organisation) as a whole merely embarrasses itself with the silly (and risky) EIA16 charade, which is somewhat like a beauty pageant dressed up as “science”. It mirrors what Blatter was doing at FIFA in his last days.
Just over an hour ago the EPO's PR folks retweeted the following from Carlos Moedas (with the photo at the top): “Inspiring #EIA16 opening ceremony with EPOorg President Mr. Battistelli and Prime Minister Costa” (Moedas is European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, so he too is being lobbied and was perhaps invited to be brainwashed).
“Battistelli, who had the EPO cover the costs for this charade of his, is about as crazy as Blatter (totally out of touch with reality).”Mr. Battistelli is lobbying Portugal very much as expected, as correctly predicted in our previous coverage of this. To use the words of someone from the EPO who saw that: “My stomach churns as this theater is absurd!”
The EPO shows us that not only politicians can buy the media. Mr. Battistelli does the same thing; he literally paid an estimated millions of Euros to the media (the exact number is unknown to us, but we can extrapolate based on last year).
Battistelli, who had the EPO cover the costs for this charade of his, is about as crazy as Blatter (totally out of touch with reality). He apparently said: “Our ambition is that the European Inventor Award becomes the Nobel Prize for innovation” (who does he think he is, Alfred Nobel? No wonder he wastes a fortune on six unnecessary bodyguards, demonstrating his megalomania and having the EPO cover all the costs with dubious pretexts).
“EIA2016 may not effective enough a distraction (e.g. from today’s protests), but does Battistelli care? He doesn’t pay a dime for this. He’s draining the Office dry just to cover his own behind right now.”viEUws, which is a media partner of the EPO this year (we assume it got paid by Battistelli’s EPO, but we don’t know how much), continues to to do puff pieces, having already produced some for Battistelli several months ago (as it already did a softball questions ‘interview’ with Battistelli). How much was spent on this? The EPO certainly paid a lot of money to the Financial Times (London) to play along with this charade and it still shows. More EPO-sponsored propaganda from the Financial Times can be seen today and it’s part of a broader wave of puff pieces in France, in Germany, and several other countries (the EPO paid another half a dozen media companies).
EIA2016 may not effective enough a distraction (e.g. from today’s protests), but does Battistelli care? He doesn’t pay a dime for this. He’s draining the Office dry just to cover his own behind right now.
The EPO is collapsing while spending millions of Euros hiding this collapse. Battistelli has totally destroyed the EPO and if he’s not ejected later this month, there will be serious consequences. Board 28 certainly knows this. █
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