18/06/2015

IPKat Blog, "French toast leaves a sour taste for Battistelli on EPO's big day"

IPKat reports on the European Inventor Award 2015 ceremony which took place on 11 June 2015 in Paris.Axelle Lemaire, French State Secretary for Digital Economy used her keynote speech as an opportunity to comment on the social conflict in the EPO and her government's concerns for the rights of EPO staff. She said:

"Innovation is an imperative, an economic imperative. And what's true for technology is also true for public innovation, modes of governance, and social innovation. Under this heading, while it’s not the object of our meeting this morning, the French government knows of the social difficulties that are expressed within the EPO and in this regard, the Office has an exemplary duty of absolute transparency in the rights of employees working there."

The video of the event is hosted on the European Commission A/V services and shows the full speech in French (starting from 109:40 for the criticisms).
Les Echos, the French newspaper acting as communication partner for the Office, initially released a report of the event including Ms Lemaire's criticisms, but later removed them.