Vive la republic.
sans text
The staff union of the European Patent Office on Tuesday applied to the European Court of Human Rights in an effort to force greater accountability on the organization and its president, Benoit Battistelli. The EPO has carried out a years-long campaign of surveillance, intimidation and disciplinary hearings against staff who …
No organisation, and certainly no individual, should ever have that much power. It's utterly obscene, especially given that the organisation in question is just a glorified business operation, not some life-or-death public utility.
Not only does the totalitarianism of the EPO urgently require intervention, but the whole concept of "immunity" from any sort of accountability, due to some bogus and outmoded diplomatic protocol, needs to be not just reviewed but summarily abolished.
"No organisation, and certainly no individual, should ever have that much power. It's utterly obscene, especially given that the organisation in question is just a glorified business operation, not some life-or-death public utility."
Totally agree. It's a massive issue in public utilities too - we need to get rid of some of the UK unions to deal with similar problems here ...Especially the train / tube drivers.
Unions provide the collective bargaining power required to defend otherwise powerless individual members of the working class majority against exactly the sort of unaccountable tyrants the EPO typifies.
Conflating the two is highly disingenuous, since the former actually redistributes power to resolve social injustice, whereas the latter abuses power to cause it.
I just don't get how this Batistelli is still in charge. Even if he did nothing wrong and his staff is just out to get him, his position has become unsustainable. Announcing now that he won't be attempting to renew his position in 2018 would already be a step in the right direction.
From the "failed to achieve" link in the article:
closed-door meetings between government representativesThere's your problem, right there.
Frankly, no official meeting between any democratically elected representative and anyone else (or for that matter a meeting between any parties where the outcome directly influences the public interest) should ever be behind closed doors, as a matter of democratic principle. I don't care if it's supposedly a "matter of national security", one of those sinister "trade deals", or in this case a glorified vending machine for state-protected monopolies, operated by white-collar gangsters with "diplomatic immunity".
Public servants do not get to keep private secrets with public money. Period.
>If you quote the more useful GDP per person, ... below the UK on 13th.....
With the UK also lower than the US state of Oklahoma (only 13 other states are lower, most of whom are the most hostile to unions coincidentally) per capita that might not be the best measure to use.
Quote from OA
"The situation has grown so bad that the ILO's management felt obliged to warn its governing body earlier this year that the backlog of complaints it had against the EPO was impairing its ability to function. No less than 73 per cent of the hundreds of cases it was reviewing resulted from EPO actions."
I thought that as well. Any situation where a relatively tiny organisation is causing a bottle neck in an important international conflict resolution org needs sorting out.
could interfere with plans to vote in a suitable replacement for Battistelli when his term runs out in 2018:
By which time Battistelli wil have re written the rules so that only people whose surname starts with a B and have been approved by the current President can stand.
Considering Batty's telly has little interest in the law,and correct procedure, I can recommend a couple of blokes in a pub I know, who, for a small consideration and a couple of air tickets, could go and have a word in his shell like. They could point out how easily things can get broken and encourage him to do, he right thing.
There was something about a hedgehog as well.
I think it's clear that the EPO is horribly injured and should be humanely euthanised.
Like people on a poorly led open source project, if the staff in the EPO were given the option to move to a new organisation I imagine they would take it.
I can see the talk in capitals around Europe being along the lines of "well, whatever we do let's not setup another supranational organisation like the EPO".
>I can see the talk in capitals around Europe being along the lines of "well, whatever we do let's not setup another supranational organisation like the EPO"."
It's outside of Europe, but I still have the same feeling of dejja vu:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/09/icann_latest_screw_up/
hmm, as far as I know even the UK is continueing with ratifying the UP-agreement, which would set up another of these international organisations (the Unified Patent Court)...
Although it is debated whether the UPC is voluntary part of the EU (and thus only accedeable by EU members)...
Also, regarding the bike: from what I last heard, the bike brake pads were simply totally worn out and thus did not brake anymore. No tampering detected by the expert, despite the insistance of the upper management.
No apology towards staff either, but that would destroy the narrative that BB is the victim, which needs to be upheld in front of the CA.
hmm, as far as I know even the UK is continueing with ratifying the UP-agreement, which would set up another of these international organisations (the Unified Patent Court)...
Although it is debated whether the UPC is voluntary part of the EU (and thus only accedeable by EU members)...
This all despite the WIPO and the EPO debacles.
There is something about power in an environment meant to create monopolies....
Also, regarding the bike: from what I last heard, the bike brake pads were simply totally worn out and thus did not brake anymore. No tampering detected by the expert, despite the insistance of the upper management.
No apology towards staff either, but that would destroy the narrative that BB is the victim, which needs to be upheld in front of the CA.