Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Media Strategy: Call the Whistleblowers Nazis and Criminals

Godwin's law
Source: Godwin's law



Summary: A look at some of the lowest possible levels of smears against those who put at risk an abusive management inside the European Patent Office (EPO) -- abusive enough to cause staff to commit suicide

THE EPO has got a war inside of it. It's a war between staff and the clique of Battistelli, which is most of the top-level management following a multi-year coup.



A new article by Katja Riedel (we need a translation) builds on top of yesterday's radio, television and newspaper coverage in Germany. A lot of people commented on last night's TV programme, which I too watched (it can be streamed for the next few days at Bayerischer Rundfunk's Web site). As one new comment put it:

This evening on Bayerischer Rundfunk, Kontrovers news magazine, from about 11min 56secs in the programme http://www.br.de/mediathek/video/sendungen/kontrovers/kontrovers112.html An in depth report (in German) on the social problems at the EPO lasting 20 minutes. Too long to translate but it certainly appears difficult for the EPO to defend. The EPO provided statements but no interviews. The programme interlaced the statements with (necessarily anonymous) case studies. Even a doctor would not appear on camera in case it would let any patient be identified. The programme will be available online for about 5 days from 02.03.16.


The TV programme and other coverage from Germany has helped reinforce the correlation between EPO suicides and Battistelli with his 'Gestapo', the I.U. 3/3 is an EPO propaganda day (more on that later), so we need to write a lot of rebuttals today. As one comment put it yesterday, an EPO worker “committed suicide after having been subjected to an investigation by the infamous Investigation Unit.” Here is the comment in full:

There was a very critical news story on the Bavarian television this evening on the social conflicts at the EPO: http://www.br.de/nachrichten/europaeisches-patentamt-muenchen-vorwuerfe-100.html. Most interestingly, the report starts with an interview of the brother of one staff member who committed suicide after having been subjected to an investigation by the infamous Investigation Unit. No later than yesterday, in his public audition by members of the French Parliament Mr. Battistelli had justified the fact that no independent enquiry had been conducted in any of the recent suicides at the EPO with the argument that the families themselves had not claimed that there was any relationship whatsoever between the suicides and the EPO ...


Battistelli is of course blaming his victims, even those whom he illegally suspended or dismissed. He not only can be seen comparing his opposition to "Nazis" but also to criminals. Oh, the hypocrisy. Battistelli needs to watch out and be careful what he says or else staff will sue him for defamation. Telling utter nonsense to French politicians isn't acceptable and as this comment put it yesterday:

Curioser and curioser: so, criminal proceedings are open against staff representatives? On the basis of German law, I gather? I thought that German law (on human rights or data protection, for instance) was "inapplicable" in Eponia? Or is it applicable when it suits Benito Battistelli's purposes?


One asks: "Could anyone cast some light here?"

Here is more information, for those who don't understand French:

Dear Inspector Gadget, I think that you are confused or rather that BB's babble may have confused you.

The latest allegation raised by BB in front of the French Parliamentary Committee implied or insinuated that the dismissed staff representatives had been somehow involved or implicated in the sending of messages with "Nazi symbols" to German members of staff.

As far as I could decipher BB's babble, this does not mean that anyone is being accused of being a Nazi (in this particular case !) but rather that people have allegedly thrown "Nazi insults" at others.

According to BB such actions are in breach of German law and have resulted in the filing of a criminal complaint. It seems that national law is still respected by BB when it suits his purposes.

So far nobody has been able to obtain any information as to whether or not such a complaint actually exists and if so who is named in it as the accused. It is quite possible that the EPO did indeed file a complaint against "persons unknown" but in the absence of tangible evidence leading to the identification of the perpetrator(s), the State Prosecutor would probably close the file.



And finally there's this:

In this public declaration, made on 1 March 2016 in front of members of the French parliament, Mr Battistelli clearly justifies the dismissal of the SUEPO officials by accusing these of having uttered nazy insults against other EPO staff members, for which a criminal complaint has been filed.

This is too much for me.


As we are going to show later today (this afternoon), there is even worse propaganda right now. Battistelli is fighting for survival and bamboozling journalists with the PR team; this appears to be the latest media strategy, aided by massive budget.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft: Our "Goodwill" Gained Over 51 Billion Dollars in the Past Nine Months Alone, Now "Worth" as Much as All Our Physical Assets (Property and Equipment)
The makeup of a Ponzi scheme where the balance sheet has immaterial nonsense
FSFE (Ja, Das Gulag Deutschland) Has Lost Its Tongue
Articles/month
Ian Jackson & Debian reject mediation
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
How to get selected for Outreachy internships
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
 
Lucas Kanashiro & Debian/Canonical/Ubuntu female GSoC intern relationship
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Pranav Jain & Debian, DebConf, unfair rent boy rumors
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Links 27/04/2024: Kaiser Gave Patients' Data to Microsoft, "Microsoft Lost ‘Dream Job’ Status"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/04/2024: Sunrise Photos and Slow Productivity
Links for the day
Almost 2,700 New Posts Since Upgrading to Static Site 7 Months Ago, Still Getting More Productive Over Time
We've come a long way since last autumn
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 26, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, April 26, 2024
Overpaid lawyer & Debian miss WIPO deadline
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Brian Gupta & Debian: WIPO claim botched, suspended
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Microsoft's XBox is Dying (For Second Year in a Row Over 30% Drop in Hardware Sales)
they boast about fake numbers or very deliberately misleading numbers that represent two companies, not one
[Meme] Granting a Million Monopolies in Europe (to Non-European Companies) at Europe's Expense
Financialization of the EPO
Salary Adjustment Procedure at the EPO Challenged
the EPO must properly compensate staff in order to attract and retain suitably skilled examiners
Links 26/04/2024: Surveillance Abundant, Restoring Net Neutrality Rules (US)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/04/2024: uConsole and EXWM and stdu 1.0.0
Links for the day
Red Hat Corporate Communications is "Red" Now
Also notice they offer just two options: MICROSOFT or... MICROSOFT!
Links 26/04/2024: XBox Sales Have Collapsed, Facebook's Shares Collapse Too
Links for the day
Albanian women, Brazilian women & Debian Outreachy racism under Chris Lamb
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Microsoft-Funded 'News' Site: XBox Hardware Revenue Declined by 31%
Ignore the ludicrous media spin
Mark Shuttleworth, Elio Qoshi & Debian/Ubuntu underage girls
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Karen Sandler, Outreachy & Debian Money in Albania
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 25, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, April 25, 2024
Links 26/04/2024: Facebook Collapses, Kangaroo Courts for Patents, BlizzCon Canceled Under Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/04/2024: Music, Philosophy, and Socialising
Links for the day
Microsoft Claims "Goodwill" Is an Asset Valued at $119,163,000,000, Cash Decreased From $34,704,000,000 to $19,634,000,000 and Total Liabilities Grew to $231,123,000,000
Earnings Release FY24 Q3
More Microsoft Cuts: Events Canceled, Real Sales Down Sharply
So they will call (or rebrand) everything "AI" or "Azure" or "cloud" while adding revenues from Blizzard to pretend something is growing
CISA Has a Microsoft Conflict of Interest Problem (CISA Cannot Achieve Its Goals, It Protects the Worst Culprit)
people from Microsoft "speaking for" "Open Source" and for "security"
Links 25/04/2024: South Korean Military to Ban iPhone, Armenian Remembrance Day
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2024: SFTP, VoIP, Streaming, Full-Content Web Feeds, and Gemini Thoughts
Links for the day
Audiocasts/Shows: FLOSS Weekly and mintCast
the latest pair of episodes
[Meme] Arvind Krishna's Business Machines
He is harming Red Hat in a number of ways (he doesn't understand it) and Fedora users are running out of patience (many volunteers quit years ago)
[Video] Debian's Newfound Love of Censorship Has Become a Threat to the Entire Internet
SPI/Debian might end up with rotten tomatoes in the face
Joerg (Ganneff) Jaspert, Dalbergschule Fulda & Debian Death threats
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Amber Heard, Junior Female Developers & Debian Embezzlement
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
[Video] Time to Acknowledge Debian Has a Real Problem and This Problem Needs to be Solved
it would make sense to try to resolve conflicts and issues, not exacerbate these
Daniel Pocock elected on ANZAC Day and anniversary of Easter Rising (FSFE Fellowship)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Video] IBM's Poor Results Reinforce the Idea of Mass Layoffs on the Way (Just Like at Microsoft)
it seems likely Red Hat layoffs are in the making
Ulrike Uhlig & Debian, the $200,000 woman who quit
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day