05/06/2014

WIPR: "EPO facing more strike action"

A few days ago, World IP Review published an article entitledEPO facing more strike action; yesterday, they followed it up withthe news that the President refuses to let the strike ballot go ahead.

03/06/2014

Unified Patent Court and the independence of the Boards of Appeal

The IPKat reports on thesurprising growth of support for Europe's Unified Patent Court.

Meanwhile,the EPO's Wikipedia entry has been updatedto take account of the recentdevelopments with regard to the independence of the members of the Boards of Appeal.

27/05/2014

IPKat Blog : More news of EPO unrest reaches the IPKat

The IPKat Blog has published a post (printable version) reporting on the latest developments regarding the problems of governance at the EPO. First is the call for a strike named the Unity Initiative, and the second is the stripping of the chairman of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of his administrative functions following decisionR 0019/12.

23/05/2014

New translations available

French parliamentarian Philip Cordery'sletterabout the social situation at the EPO is now available inDutch, Italian and Spanish (as well as the English, French and Germantranslations already published).

Also, Pierre-Yves Le Borgn'sblog article is now available inGerman, English & Dutch as well as the original French publication.

23/05/2014

Landmark DG3 decision on partiality

In interlocutory decisionR 0019/12, the Chairman of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (at the same timeVice-President of DG3, VP 3) had to be replaced by his alternatebecause a party's suspicion of partiality was found to be objectivelyjustified since VP 3 was too closely involved in the Office'sadministration, e.g. in the MAC or in the GAC.

The story has been picked up by German legal-issues website juve.de, the French Blog du Droit Européen and the EPLAW Patent Blog

07/05/2014

Question by a member of the European Parliament to the Commission about the situation in the EPO

Nikolaos Chountis, a Greek member of the European Parliament, posed thisquestion to the Commissionon the current situation at the EPO and what they can do about it.

30/04/2014

Questions in the Italian Parliament

A group of Italian politicians filedwritten questionsto ministers on the current situation in the EPO; the reply isnot yet available.

28/04/2014

IPKat Blog: The EPO Rules on Strikes Revealed to Merpel (Post of 24.04.2014)

The IPKat blog has publisheda post on the EPO's strike rules

23/04/2014

Letter to the Danish Business & Growth Minister

The SUEPO chairs sent this letter to Henrik Sass Larsen, the Minister of Business and Growth in Denmark

22/04/2014

General information upon the EPO

General information on the EPOand the present social conflict can be found in the following document:-
English original
German translation
French translation
Dutch translation