21/11/2015

[Merkur] Europas Patentamt schasst Gewerkschafter

Merkur comments on the suspension of three union executives. Translations are available in English, French and Dutch.

ex15423cp (pdf) published 19/11/2015

ex15423cpe (pdf) published 19/11/2015

ex15423cpf (pdf) published 19/11/2015

ex15423cpd (pdf) published 19/11/2015

ex15423cpg (pdf) published 19/11/2015

21/11/2015

[IPKAT] Plunging off the abyss -- or merely grinding to a halt? More bad news from Eponia

IPKAT comments on the governance of the EPO and sends a message to the members of the AC:

The institution for the governance of which you are legally responsible is teetering between malfunction and dysfunction. From being a highly praised and much-admired organisation it has become a hotbed of suspicion, rumour, allegations of corruption and insurgency, accusation and counter-accusation. It has lost the respect of a substantial number of users, employees and officers. Its public relations policy -- if indeed it has one -- has failed to engage with the issues that concern the intellectual property community and which form a large part of its current agenda. Its apparent inability to stem the exponential surge in staff disputes has all but brought the International Labour Organisation's mechanisms for dispute resolution to a grinding halt. Its integrity has been increasingly questioned and its image has become a laughing stock and a byword for a dictatorial management style that has no place in an open, democratic Europe.

You, as members of the Administrative Council, are responsible both for the approval and formation of EPO policy and for its execution. How many of you have sought and been given advice from your respective governments with regard to current events in Eponia? How many of you, in the light of your other commitments, have the time, the resources and the information to enable you to play an effective role within the Administrative Council? How many of you can honestly say that you are happy with the present state of affairs? And how many of you are simply too scared to be able to stand up to the EPO's management?

21/11/2015

[FOSS Patents] EPO labor dispute getting completely out of hand: three union leaders suspended, others pressured

FOSS Patents comments on the conflict between the leadership and staff representatives of the European Patent Office.

ex15421cp (pdf) published 18/11/2015

21/11/2015

[Frankfurter Rundschau] Europaïsches Patentamt: Den Brand sofort löschen

Frankfurter Rundschau comments on the divisions between the staff and the management of the EPO.

ex15427cp (pdf) published 19/11/2015

21/11/2015

[IPKAT] By Juve! The EPO responds to Professor Broß

IPKAT indicates that they received from the EPO an English-language translation of the Lutz rebuttal regarding Professor Broß's criticism.

ex15422cp (pdf) published 18/11/2015

21/11/2015

[IPKAT] Eponia: Land of Suspense and Suspensions

IPKAT comments on the suspension of three union executives.

ex15425cp (pdf) published 19/11/2015

12/11/2015

EPSU/FNV joint letter: Abuse of immunity by the European Patent Organisation on the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) which represents more than 265 unions, and the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV), the largest union in the Netherlands, have sent a letter to Mr Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The letter recalls that the judgment of Dutch Court of Appeal gave explicit instructions to the EPO which the EPO decided to ignore by raising an illicit immunity of execution objection: "breaches of fundamental workers' rights on the Dutch territory are a first serious embarassment for the Dutch government and that challenging the respect of these rights side by side with an obviously ill-run international organisation before the highest Court of the Netherlands is an even worse embarassment."

A copy of the letter was sent to the Dutch Foreign Office and Ministry of Economy, the Ambassadors of the 27 EU Member States in The Hague, Ver.Di (Berlin) and USF (Brussels).

Translations are available in French and German.

ex15417cpe (pdf) published 04/11/2015

ex15417cpf (pdf) published 04/11/2015

ex15417cpd (pdf) published 04/11/2015

03/11/2015

Motion by members of the Tweede Kamer of the Netherlands (Gesthuizen - SP and Kerstens - PvDA) concerning adherence by the European Patent Organisation to international legislation

Members of the Dutch House of Parliament (Tweede Kamer SP and PvDA) have proposed a motion (archive) concerning adherence by the EPOrg to international legislation. The motion was adopted on 15 October 2015:

"The House, having heard the deliberations, is of the opinion that the conduct of directors of international organisations which has no relationship to their international representation but which does result in a breach of national rules, should not be covered by diplomatic immunity; finds that in April 2014 the government presented a Plan of Approach with measures for taking more severe action against persons with diplomatic immunity who have breached the law of the Netherlands, finds that those measures only address traffic fines and criminal offences and do not address breaches of employee rights as established at the European Patent Organisation by the Court; requests the government, within the limits of the treaties, to do all that is possible to force the European Patent Organisation to adhere to international legislation, and proceeds to the order of the day."

Translations in English, French and German are available by scrolling through the document.

ex15415cp (pdf)

03/11/2015

Questions posed by a Belgian member of the European Parliament (Marc Tarabella - S&D) to the European Commission

Marc Tarabella, a Belgian member of the European Parliament has posed questions to the European Commission under the title "Graves problèmes de gouvernance à l'Office européen des brevets (OEB)".
Translations in English, German and Dutch are available by scrolling through the document.

ex15416cp (pdf)