Euro Patent Office commanded to reinstate 'Nazi judge' it attacked

The European Patent Office (EPO) has been commanded to immediately reinstate a judge it suspended two years ago and pay him tens of thousands of euros in compensation and damages. In an extraordinary judgment delivered in public by the president of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva, the patent organization, …

[Chairman of the Bored]

If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

This is one area where EU governance is light years ahead of USA. When I was a govt worker on the left side of the pond, I discovered that it is essentially impossible to pursue a libel or slander case. Basically if a person is a total dirtbag on govt time they cannot be sued. The gov't gets sued in the dirtbag's place ... if and only if the govt decides it will let you sue it. Care to guess how often that happens?

The only effective defense Ive seen is when a supervisor (of know psychopathic tendencies) secretly accused a subordinate of child molestation when interviewed for his clearance reinvestigation. He found out about is when he foia'ed his clearance investigation records. Feds pursued the manager for making a false statement, which is a very light felony. My employee ended up keeping his job, and the manager was promoted to a sinecure

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

The EPO is a European organisation, but not an EU one, and the ILO is an international part of the UN with 187 members including the US. This has nothing to do with EU or US governance. It's an international labour dispute taken to an international court.

Dismissing Battistelli can only be done by the EPO administrative oversight committee, which has representatives from all member coutries, and it has so far been unwilling to act.

[Danny 14]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

i think one of the points being skirted is the makeup of the members of this committee, hence the lack of action.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

I wondered who the boss of this total Computer User Non-Technical was, so thanks for clearing that up. Time they got rid of the prick, but he's probably in the same lodge as the oversight committee members hence he's still there!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

"ILO is an international part of the UN with 187 members including the US"

But the EPO is not a member and is independent of the jurisdiction of any member state. Sounds like someone just wasted a lot of time and money to me on a judgement that will likely be ignored.

[BebopWeBop]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

It is important to keep the pressure on.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

Battistslli has done a sterling job of sorting out a bunch of jobsworth unionised Germans and should be congratuled for that.

As far as I am aware, the ILO has no jurisdiction over the EPO and will simply be ignored.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

See Article 13 EPC

Disputes between the Organisation and the employees of the European Patent Office

(1)

Employees and former employees of the European Patent Office or their successors in title may apply to the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization in the case of disputes with the European Patent Organisation, in accordance with the Statute of the Tribunal and within the limits and subject to the conditions laid down in the Service Regulations for permanent employees or the Pension Scheme Regulations or arising from the conditions of employment of other employees.

(2)

An appeal shall only be admissible if the person concerned has exhausted such other means of appeal as are available to him under the Service Regulations, the Pension Scheme Regulations or the conditions of employment.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

See EPC Article 13

Disputes between the Organisation and the employees of the European Patent Office

(1) Employees and former employees of the European Patent Office or their successors in title may apply to the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization in the case of disputes with the European Patent Or- ganisation, in accordance with the Statute of the Tribunal and within the limits and subject to the conditions laid down in the Service Regula- tions for permanent employees or the Pension Scheme Regulations or arising from the condi- tions of employment of other employees.

(2) An appeal shall only be admissible if the person concerned has exhausted such other means of appeal as are available to him under the Service Regulations, the Pension Scheme Regulations or the conditions of employment.

[mine'saHalf]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

Unionised? Hardly.

Germans. Certainly not.

A good display of ignorance.

Any other factually inaccurate gems you'd like to share with us - you know, to really display your stupidity.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: If the reporting is accurate the manager definitely requires dismissal

"To date, it remain unclear what EPO staff were referring to"

A photo of Battistelli?

[Doctor Syntax]

Perhaps they should have added that the moral damages should be paid out of Battistelli's own pocket and not reimbursed to him.

[Fazal Majid]

St Germain en Laye

Is an exceedingly tony suburb of Paris, as befits the birthplace of Louis XIV, and as much a part of Paris as Hampstead would be in London. This is not at all to minimize the brazen and repeated abuses of power Mr Batistelli committed while in office. I hope his departure will lead to reforms in the EPO's governance.

[Lars]

Easy there

One nazi in the text, but in bold in the header, So easy there, idiot, the rhetoric in both the UK and the USA has been more nazi than anywhere else in Europe but perhaps in one East European country.

And your explanation for that header, Kieren McCarthy.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: Easy there

Did you read the whole article? The explanation for the header is in the text "journalists digging into the case were told by EPO staff that they had discovered "Nazi memorabilia" in Corcoran's office, in an effort to undermine him."

[Lars]

Re: Easy there

@ Phil O'Sophical

"Did you read the whole article?". Well that is my point, the header.

And the header is "Euro Patent Office commanded to reinstate Nazi judge.." when you read just the header and not the article.

So let me explain, if I can, why when you write a header you should contemplate what the header implies without reading the article. (a Nazi judge was not reinstated by ...)

I knew guys who wrote for different IT magazines and they told me about the rules Microsoft demanded they stick to. The main rule was to never write a negative header no matter what. Suppose for instance that say three departments out four was in the red then the header had to be like "Microsoft still increasing ..." while in the article more details was allowed. Associating viruses to Windows was a red line too. You will hardly find a header like "yet new errors found in Windows enabling more viruses,,,".

The reason is that most people scan more headers than read the texts. And this is used for propaganda too. I would claim the "Enemies of the people" regarding the judges in Britain as such a use of a header.

My favourite header from those times, early Linux, is this which went "One million Europeans will lose they jobs if people turn to Linux".

So perhaps I am just stubborn but easy with the headers, they should not give the wrong impression when just scanned.

And please Kieren, no hard feelings. And the appropriate icon this time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Easy there

The header did have 'Nazi judge' in single quotes, which should have made it clear that it wasn't to be taken literally.

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

I bet Battistelli . . .

. . . did Nazi that coming.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I bet Battistelli . . .

I bet Battistelli did Nazi that coming.

You, Sir, are evil, and I congratulate you :).

[Anonymous Coward]

It Just Doesn't Matter

Do I read correctly that his term ends in 2018 anyway? So essentially too little, too late, and I imagine he will long continue to be a tapeworm in the organization's fiscal gut.

[Chairman of the Bored]

Re: It Just Doesn't Matter

Tapeworm in fiscal gut... excellent turn of phrase, sir! I'm going to borrow this. Have a pint.

[Alan Brown]

Re: It Just Doesn't Matter

"Do I read correctly that his term ends in 2018 anyway?"

Yes but he's been angling to ensure that he gets renewed.

[Joe User]

If Battistelli is going to act like a junior Napoleon, they should put him in charge of the branch office in St. Helena....

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly Mr Battishitcrazy...

[Rob Foster 1]

Can I just highlight the consistent miss-spelling of Labour in the article. No spell checker?

[Big_Boomer]

Labo\ur

It is spelt "Labour" in English, not our fault y'all decided to omit the u,... and it is "misspelling" without the hyphen, Herr Spellink Nazi! <LOL>

As for Battistelli, sounds like abuse of power sits high on his CV. Can't comment on the EPO, but they can hardly be worse than the USPO. I mean, fancy granting a "Patent" for a flat screen with rounded edges,.. <LOL>

[Alan Brown]

Re: Labo\ur

"fancy granting a "Patent" for a flat screen with rounded edges"

It's a DESIGN patent for "trade dress" - what in the rest of the world would be a Registered Design or Trademarked design.

This goes back to the original meaning of letters patent as granted by royal decree which had nothing to do with protecting inventions and usually granted exclusive use of a technology or business area to the entity named on the patent.

EG: For over 200 years the East India Company had a patent assigning exclusive trading rights between the UK and India, noone else was allowed to try and muscle in on the action, by law(*)

The USA is about the only country who still use "patent" as a term for this kind of stuff. The rest of the world moved on long ago to assuming that Patents were for new inventions.

(*) And the result was what you usually expect for a legal monopoly. It grew agressive and inefficient, eventually being dissolved by parliament in the 19th century after demanding a bailout for the 3rd time.

[TheVogon]

Yep, it's the International LABOUR Organisation.

i.e. it's in ENGLISH. Not any sub dialect.

[Chris G]

Labo/ur

Labor is spelt correctly for its point of origin; Kieron McCarthy in SF.

[TheVogon]

Re: Labo/ur

Not when quoting the name of an organisation that is clearly erroneous it isn't!

[Chris G]

Re: Labo/ur

Yank spell checker, plus why give a damn it's Yanklish!