27/11/2014

Social conflict at the European Patent Office

General information on the EPO and the present social conflict can be found in this document.

21/11/2014

Süddeutsche Zeitung, "Aufstand gegen den Sonnenkönig"

The social unrest at the EPO continues as described in the article of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, "Aufstand gegen den Sonnenkönig".
A similar article was published in the paper version of this newspaper. A translation in English can be found by scrolling through the document.

On Thurday 20 November, 700 employees of the EPO marched in the streets in Munich and demonstrated in front of the French consulate.

19/11/2014

The staff of the EPO want: The Rule of Law, Freedom of Association, Honest negotiation of reforms

The staff of the EPO has voted in a strike ballot organised by the office with a majority of 85% and an overall 52 % participation. Staff of the EPO will therefore be on strike in November and December 2014 for

  • The Rule of Law,
  • Freedom of Association,
  • Honest negotiation of reforms.

More details can be found in the SUEPO publication What does EPO staff want ?.
Translations in French and German are available.

19/11/2014

Strikes at the EPO - Information to Patent Attorneys

SUEPO has addressed patent attorneys and recommended them to ask for a postponement of the Oral Proceedings if any are scheduled on one of the strike days.A sample letter which has been addressed to them can be found here.

13/11/2014

Jean-Yves Le Conte, "Gouvernance et stratégie de l'Office Européen des Brevets"

Earlier this year, Mr Jean-Yves Le Conte, member of the French Senate, published in his blog the letter he addressed to French Ministers in France.
In his letter, Mr Le Conte expresses his concerns regarding the problems of governance and stategy at the EPO: "The level of the remunerations for the personnel of the EPO cannot serve as justification for the degradation in their working conditions, in the exercise of employees’ rights, and the protection of the private lives of individuals, which are currently under attack."
A copy of the document can be found here as well as translations in English, German and Dutch by scrolling through the document.

10/11/2014

UN Commissioners address WIPO

Following the suspension of Mr Kateb, President of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) staff council, United Nations commissioners sent a letter addressed to Mr Gurry, President of WIPO.The UN commissioners speak in their capacity as Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and as Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

In its article of 11.11.2014 titled "Gurry urged to reinstate axed WIPO staff representative", World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR) reports on this letter.

05/11/2014

"EPO suspends former staff committee member"

World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR) published an article on 04.11.2014 about the suspension of a former member of the Internal Appeals Committee (IAC). The IAC is the body that oversees disputes over decisions that affect staff members. But in recent months, management at the EPO and staff have disagreed on the way it should be run.

It is not known what the exact reason for the suspension is but it is "linked to the former activities" of the staff member in the IAC.

"As a reward for hard work and his commitment to justice and a fair appeals system, Mr Battistelli has now suspended him in what looks like an act of revenge." says SUEPO.

05/11/2014

Philip Cordery, "Office européen des brevets : renouer avec le dialogue social"

Philip Cordery, member of the French Parliament, has published an article about the new policy of Mr Battistelli concerning staff unions at the EPO and especially the confiscation of the Office rooms used by unions.

In his view, this decision is a severe attack against the rights of staff unions and asks the EPO administration to reconsider its decision and enter transparent and construtive dialogue with union representatives.

Until now, Mr Battistelli has refused to talk to SUEPO and rejected a conciliation procedure in Court.

23/10/2014

EPO union hits back in defamation row

In an exclusive interview with World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR) at the AIPPI World IP Congress in Toronto on September 17, President Battistelli said the EPO’s staff union has mounted a defamation campaign against him.
SUEPO has answered to these accusations in an open letter sent to WIPR.

In this article, WIPR reports on the rebuttal of SUEPO.

17/10/2014

IPKat Blog, "Apples and Oranges in the IP5 Statistics, or how to make your patent filing statistics look more fruitful"

The IPKat Blog analyses in its post of 17.10.2014 the EPO’s annual report which shows that the office bases its filing statistics on the number of direct European patent applications PLUS the number of international-phase PCT applications (EPs + PCTs). This is the case whether or not these PCT applications subsequently enter the European regional phase.

Technically, of course, a PCT application that designates the EPO is equivalent to a regular European application (according to Article 153(2) EPC). However, it is also clear that many PCT applications are filed by applicants who ultimately have no interest in entering the European regional phase.

IPKat concludes that"this seems a perverse basis on which to calculate the total number of European filings [...] as this is not a true gauge for actual desire for European patent protection" [...] It is troubling that statistics such as these may be relied upon by [IP5] stakeholders when it comes to important decisions on the patent system.