French toast leaves a sour taste for Battistelli on EPO's big day

The management of the European Patent Office has generally been able to count on public expressions of support and smiling photo opportunities with national politicians when EPO President Benoît Battistelli goes offsite on his travels. What a shock it must have been, therefore, for him to be pointedly reminded of his shortcomings by a member of the French government when visiting his home country.

Minister Lemaire, who rather
spoiled the feel-good vibe 
by calling on the EPO
to respect employee rights 

Readers may be aware that the 2015 Inventor of the Year Awards were announced a few days ago at a glittering ceremony in the beautiful Palais Brongniart in Paris. The showcase event did not go entirely to plan however.

First, the French Minister of Economy, Emmanuel Macron, snubbed the event, declining his invitation. In his place on behalf of the French government was French State Secretary for Digital Economy, Axelle Lemaire.

Second, Ms. Lemaire refused to join in the party mood and 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.

After her speech, Ms. Lemaire reportedly got a dressing down from one of Mr. Battistelli’s associates. However, even this did not go according to script: Merpel understands that the Minister sharply reminded the EPO manager that it was inappropriate to address a representative of the French Government in such a manner.

Third, the French newspaper Les Echos, chosen by the EPO as its media partner, acted like a newspaper rather than a "media partner" and initially released a report of the event including Ms. Lemaire’s criticisms. That quickly changed. The story was pulled and re-released in a more anodyne (and acceptable) form within hours, Ms. Lemaire’s comments disappearing from the edited report. Winston Smith would have counted it as a good day’s work. 

The video of the event hosted on the EU site, shows the full speech en francais (jump to about 1:09:00 for the criticisms) and the stony faced reaction of Mr. Battistelli a few minutes later, as the rest of the room appauds.

When the local parish hall just won't do
Palais Brongniart, the former French
 Stock Exchange (Photo by JLPC)

Merpel feels sorry for the EPO management. After all, if you’re spending about €2 million of applicants’ and patentees’ money on a showcase event, you’d expect everyone to know their place and bow the knee, non? More seriously, it is a very welcome sign that one of the major EPO member states is now publicly calling the EPO to account, and is publicly reminding the Office of its duty to uphold the rights of staff. Will other member states be as courageous, she wonders?

As ever, Merpel welcomes comments, but begs to remind readers of the following:

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