03/06/2016

All January Dutch video reports in one playlist

The demonstration in The Hague on 28 January 2016 led to an extensive media coverage in The Netherlands, including video reports that have now been grouped in a playlist in Youtube. All the video reports are now provided with translations in English, French and German (you simply need to activate subtitles in your preferred language):

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The actual video reports of the playlist are the following:

From 32’57’’, NOS nieuwsuur (nos.nl, 28/01/2016).
Video in the article "Protest tegen 'intimidatie' bij Europees Octrooibureau" (nos.nl, 28/01/2016)
Video in the article "Personeel protesteert tegen ‘intimidatie’ bij Europees Octrooibureau" (omroepwest.nl, 28/01/2016)
From 5’34’’ "TV West Ochtendnieuws" (omroepwest.nl 28/01/2016)
From 3’40’’ http://nos.nl/uitzending/12324-nos-journaal.html (NOS Journaal 28/01/2016, 09:00)
Video in the article "'De heksenjacht heeft nu ook Rijswijk bereikt'" (nos.nl, 28/01/2016)
From 6’25’’ "TV West Nieuws" (omroepwest.nl, 28/01/2016)
Video in the article "Hoe ver gaat de immuniteit van het Europees Octrooibureau?" (Nieuwsuur, 28/01/2016).
From 11’13’’ http://nos.nl/uitzending/12339-uitzending.html (NOS Journaal 28/01/2016, 20:00)

02/06/2016

May 2016 press articles

“Who should pay for the independence of the Boards of Appeal? Why the users, of course!” (IPKAT, 31 May 2016).
“Patent scandal: US outmaneuvered on UN agency investigation” (Fox News, 27 May 2016).
“EPO’s president has bike brakes ‘cut’” (WIPR, 27 May 2016).
“Euro Patent Office prez's brake line cut – aka how to tell you're not popular” (The Register, 26 May 2016). Translations are available in French and German.
“Despite a year of conflict, the EPO is still rated as number one for quality and service by IAM readers” (IAM, 26 May 2016).
[VIDEO] “Sinnloser Patentschutz” (ZDF, 24 May 2016).
[VIDEO] “La guerra dei brevetti” (RAI TV, 15 May 2016).
“Does the UPC spell disaster for the EPO Boards of Appeal?” (IPKAT, 12 May 2016).
“Do you want to be a UPC judge? Application process now open!” (IPKAT, 11 May 2016).
“Merpel prowls further around the corridors of the EPO” (IPKAT, 10 May 2016).

01/06/2016

Results of the 2016 European Patent Office Staff Survey

The results of the 2016 EPO Staff Survey by Technologia are now available. With a participation rate of 39% this third edition allows to assess reliably the current situation and the development of psychosocial risk among EPO staff under Mr Battistelli’s presidentship. The situation and the trend are worrying.

Most important findings are available in the “Executive Summary” (also available in German, French and Dutch). Other relevant information has been gathered in a summary presentation (also available in German and French).

The raw results to all questions (compared with the results of the 2010 and 2013 editions) are also available in three languages: English, German and French.

Summary (EN) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

Summary (FR) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

Summary (DE) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

Summary (NL) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

Presentation (EN) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

Presentation (FR) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

Presentation (DE) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

Raw results (EN) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

Raw results (FR) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

Raw results (DE) (pdf) published 01/06/2016

20/05/2016

Actions continue: next demonstration 9 June 2016

No progress has been made on staff’s claims (see e.g. last call for strike “Lawfulness at the EPO”). There is also no sign that Mr Battistelli intends to respect the March resolution of the Administrative Council. On the contrary: new controversial reforms are planned (EPO health insurance, dismissal procedure, post-employment obligations), some already for decision in the next meeting of the Administrative Council on 29-30 June. In order to flag the lack of progress to the Administrative Council, a demonstration at all four places of employment is planned for Thursday 9 June. The demonstration will coincide with the EPO European Inventor Award ceremony in Lisbon.

18/05/2016

[FICSA] Letter dated 27 April 2016 from FICSA to FFPE regarding signature of Memorandum of Understanding on 2 March

On 27 April 2016, the Federation of International Civil Servants' Association (FICSA) sent a letter to the Federation de la Fonction Pbulique Européenne (FFPE) regarding the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on 2 March 2016 between the EPO and the FFPE-EPO.

ex16082cl (pdf) published 27/04/2016

04/05/2016

Actions continue at the European Patent Office: next demonstration on 11 May 2016

On Wednesday 11 May 2016, a demonstration will take place in Munich (Germany) starting from the Kurt Haertel passage at 12.15h and ending at the French consulate.

02/05/2016

[Philip Cordery] OEB : maintenir la pression pour une réforme de la gouvernance

The French MP Philip Cordery, reported in a blog post dated 25 April 2016 about a joint letter (written with other French MPs: Pierre-Yves Le Borgn', Richard Yung, Claudine Lepage, Jean-Yves Leconte and Hélène Conway-Mouret; link to an archived version), dated 21 April 2016, to the French Minister of Economic Affairs Emmanuel Macron. The letter was sent "in order to demand once again that France take action towards a reform of the management of this international organization".

Translations of the blog post are available in English, German and Dutch (by scrolling through the document).

Translations of the letter are also available in English, German and Dutch.

ex16078cp (pdf) published 25/04/2016

ex16079cp (pdf) published 21/05/2016

ex16079cpe (pdf) published 21/04/2016

ex16079cpd (pdf) published 21/04/2016

ex16079cpnl (pdf) published 21/04/2016

27/04/2016

April 2016 press articles (last update on 27 April)

“Patentamtsstreit beschäftigt auch Audi” (Donaukurier, 20 April 2016), only in paper version. Translations of the interview with the former constitutional judge Siegfried Bross are available in English, French and Dutch.
“Arbeitnehmerrechte: Landtag erhöht Druck auf Europäisches Patentamt” (BR, 20 April 2016).
“Abendschau”, starting from 08′00″ (BR, 19 April 2016 18:00).
“Les retards de l’Office européen des brevets inquiètent la France” (EurActiv France avec l'AFP, 18 April 2016). Translations are available in English, German and Dutch.
“EOB: Bastion van tirannie en angst” (Praktijkblad Ondernemingsraad, 13 April 2016). Translations are available in English, French and German.
“Der Streit im Europäischen Patentamt eskaliert” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 11 April 2016), only in paper version.
“More than 2,600 join EPO strike” (WIPR, 8 April 2016).
“Euro patent office strike” (The Register, 7 April 2016).
“Europäisches Patentamt: Streik gegen Entlassung von Gewerkschaftern” (Heise, 6 April 2016). Translations are available in English, French and Dutch.
“Strafanzeigen im Patentamt - Der Aufstand im Paradies weitet sich aus” (Handelsblatt, 6 April 2016). Translations are available in English, French and Dutch.
“EPO responds to ‘regrettable’ strike” (WIPR, 05 April 2016).
“Strike! EPO staff to walk out this Thursday” (The Register, 4 April 2016).
“EPO strike confirmed for April 7” (WIPR, 4 April 2016).
“Personeel Europees Octrooibureau gaat staken; wantrouwen tussen top en werknemers loopt op” (omroepwest.nl, 4 April 2016). Translations are available in English, French and German.

21/04/2016

Les décisions Perez et Klausecker rendues par la CEDH

L’érosion de l’obligation, pour les Etats membres, de garantir le droit d’accès au juge au sein des organisations internationales ?

See here for a critical commentary Ms. Anne-Marie THEVENOT-WERNER on two recent ECHR judgments that concern violations of human rights in international government organisations. The article is in French.

Résumé

In its decisions Perez and Klausecker rendered on 6 January 2015, the European Court of Human Rights reaffirms its case law derived from the decisions Waite and Kennedy and Bosphorus. However, the way it applies the principles allowing the Court to engage a State’s responsibility for violations of the human rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights may lead to an erosion of the obligation of a State to protect these rights, as the Court seems to require implicitly their protection to be “manifestly deficient”, including in the framework of the proportionality test developed in the decision Waite and Kennedy. In the end, the Court protects in any way possible the autonomy of International Organisations. This might lead however to the hardly desirable consequence that International Organisations and their Member States are free not to apply the same standard of human rights protection as the Convention offers to acts and omissions of the Organisation – even to Organisations where all Member States are a Party to the Convention.

08/04/2016

[EPSU] letter of support from EPSU to the Staff Union of the European Patent Office

The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) represents more than 265 unions. This week, its General Secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan sent a letter of solidarity to SUEPO, whose members take industrial action on Thursday 7 April.

The letter reads:

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to send you solidarity greetings from EPSU for your action on 7 April. We hope that the strike is solidly supported across all the European Patent Office sites. We have been following the dispute and keeping our affiliates informed (www.epsu.org/a/11984).

A victory in this dispute will be important not just for EPO employees and the two trade union representatives who were dismissed in January but will have broader implications in terms of social dialogue and collective bargaining rights in international institutions. It is a matter of major concern that the EPO management has been arguing that European and international rights do not apply to bodies like the EPO. A successful outcome for SUEPO will send a clear message that employees in international institutions will not be denied these rights.

Yours,

Jan Willem Goudriaan, EPSU General Secretary