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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
World Intellectual Property Review published an article about the new call for strike "Unity - still!". In this petition, staff claims that they want timely access to justice, freedom of communication for unions and other staff members, changes with respect to the investigation guidelines and the strike regulations. They also express concerns relating to the alterations to starting salaries and career prospects.
Some 10 days ago the Chairman of the Staff Union at WIPO was suspended without pay. Last Friday 19 September he was summarily dismissed in retaliation for whistleblowing.
For background information, see the article of IP Watchdog, Will Scandal Cost Francis Gurry a Second Term at WIPO?. Needless to say, Mr Gurry was nevertheless re-elected.
Please find a statement of the person concerned and his letter of defence. More information can be found in this article of the UNOG Staff Cooordinating Council.Staff unions of the UN system around the world wrote a letter of support.
The parallels with the EPO are striking. SUEPO is doing what it can to support our colleague at WIPO. In the mean-time we will continue our efforts to introduce some measure of accountability for Heads of International Organisations.