Early March, SUEPO sent a letter to the Bayerische Landesärztekammer (BLAEK) asking questions about the obligations of medical doctors working for the EPO.We have now received a reply. We are very grateful to the Bayerische Landesärztekammer for providing us with timely and thorough answers, as well as the relevant regulations.

IAM Magazine comments on the lack of transparency and independent oversight of international IP offices such as the European Patent Office (EPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).It concludes that:

"No doubt, transparency and independent oversight look unattractive for many that work inside IP’s major institutions. Such reactions are understandable among people who, like most inside the IP world, entered the field when it had a very different, much lower profile. Nevertheless, I am afraid, that’s the way it has to be. We cannot hold off on doing the right thing because it discomfits certain people and interests.IP is too important for that."

Earlier in December 2014, Le Monde published an article on the French company, France Telecom, which initiated an alleged "modernisation process" and introduced corporate harassment against its employees.Several suicides took place among the employees of the company.

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

Saarbrücker Zeitung published an article on the governance crisis at the EPO."Der Verwaltungsrat hat beschlossen, aktiv zu werden", says the Federal Ministry of Justice in Germany.

A similar article was published in Stuttgarter Zeitung, "Der soziale Friede ist zerstört".

Le Monde, one of the reference newspapers in France,published an article on the deleterious social climate at the European Patent Office culminating with an authoritarianmanagement style and four suicides since 2012.Translation are available in English, German and Dutch by scrolling through the document

The article was published online on 6 April 2015 and then in the paper edition of 7 April 2015.Reader comments can be found here.

IAM Magazine comments on the government crisis at the EPO and the joint declaration proposing the formal recognition of trade unions within the office’s legal framework. It concludes that:

"Those on both sides of the argument might see this as the beginning of the end of what has undoubtedly been a destructive dispute. But if they also believe that it means thing scan go back to normal, hopefully they are very wrong. What observers and users of the EPO have learned over the last few months is how little they know about the ways in which it works and what lies behind the decisions that it takes. And that is just not acceptable."

"As the EU unitary patent regime and Unified Patent Court regime fast approach – and with them a much more important role for Europe in the patent world - it is time for the governance of the European patent system to embrace the modern age."

FOSS Patents comments on the joint statement by Benoît Battistelli and Jesper Kongstad calling for a social dialogue, and publishes the reaction of SUEPO Munich (also published by IPKat). Florian Mueller writes:

"So they say they're going to do something that happened in major EPOrg member states like the UK and Germany almost 150 years ago: to formally recognize trade unions.(Granted, EPO employees have always had the right to strike, so the current rules aren't medieval in all respects, but with recent changes that would require a strike to be approved by the president, the right to strike had also been effectively vitiated.)"

IPKat comments on the outcome of the meeting of the Administrative Council "which will certainly not be to everyone's liking". "Essentially, what is needed now is for the President and all the other parties involved to make sure that their first concern is the running of the Office, not the ruining of it."The reaction of SUEPO The Hague can be found in the comments.

Claudia Dall'Agnol, a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg, has posed questions to the President of the Chamber under the title "Social conflict at the European Patent Office".

FOSS Patents comments on the issues at stake for the Administrative Council meeting of 25 and 26 March 2015.These are also addressed in the SUEPO flyer announcing the coming demonstration. Florian Mueller analyses the governance crisis as follows:

"The national government delegates on the AC have reasons for backing Mr. Battistelli's controversial decisions and plans.The EPO is, indirectly, a cash cow for national patent offices (through renewal fees).Germany alone receives about 140 million euros per year in annual renewal fees for the German parts of patents granted by the EPO.National patent offices are given lucrative opportunities in the form of cooperation projects with the EPO, which the president controls.And AC members have frequently been (and some current AC members are rumored to be) given high-level posts at the EPO, where they usually get a much bigger paycheck than at home.More than enough reasons to favor stability over everything else.

IPKat has sent an open letter to the Administrative Council of the EPO.The letter concludes that:

"It is the function of the Administrative Council to hold the President and senior management of the EPO to account, and Europe is watching to see signs that [the delegations] are doing this. Members of the EU are also watching with concern since the EPO is crucial to the future success of the Unitary Patent."