istock-458950297-sjo-4
28 November 2017Patents

Battistelli’s tenure positive but heavy-handed: Administrative Council chair

Benoît Battistelli’s tenure at the European Patent Office (EPO) has been “undoubtedly positive” but there has been a “heavy-handed approach”, the chairman of the Administrative Council has said.

Christoph Ernst was interviewed in November by legal news website JUVE, which asked him the following question: “The EPO is constantly dogged by infighting between the Council’s management and its staff; the launch of the Unified Patent Court is clouded with uncertainty. The outlook is rather dismal, isn’t it?”

His response was that the situation was “certainly not as bad as that”.

According to Ernst, Battistelli has initiated a large number of necessary reforms during his time in office, with the Administrative Council’s approval.

“In doing this, he has significantly strengthened the EPO‘s position overall … In addition, Battistelli has initiated a number of social reforms that were also necessary on a general level.”

However, Ernst went on to claim: “The verdict on the success of reforms he achieved will certainly be clouded by the fact that President Battistelli has overseen a very rigid regime with a heavy-handed approach.”

He added that he would like to have occasionally seen more compromise and more understanding for differing interests.

A spokesperson for the EPO said the office was pleased with the interview, which reflected the “overall support of the Council to the reforms and the acknowledgement of their very positive results, in particular in terms of quality of products and services delivered by the EPO”.

Ernst said that improving the social culture is on the agenda with the arrival next July of António Campinos—the current executive director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office—as president of the EPO.

He noted that the office needs to “reinvigorate dialogue” between the relevant parties within the office.

Earlier this month, WIPR reported that Battistelli had proposed an employment plan to recruit staff on renewable contracts of five years.

A spokesperson for the EPO said that this change was recommended by a 2016 Deloitte financial study, which focused on the long-term financial health of the EPO.

The European Federation of Public Service Unions, a group that represents more than 200 trade unions, responded to the proposal in a letter.

“As a federation … we find the proposed model of putting workers on fixed term contracts dubious. It increases the risks of corruption, of revolving doors and of mixed interests.”

In response to the letter from the federation, the EPO stated that the Administrative Council will hold a debate in December “on the best way forward”.

Joshua Marshall, associate at Fieldfisher, said: “Battistelli's tenure has not been without its challenges. Many of the issues have been internal in terms of the EPO's procedures and the staff which it employs.”

He added that it’s hoped that Campinos can bring a “fresh energy and pragmatism” to the role and any future reforms.

Looking at the positives of Battistelli’s tenure, Gwilym Roberts, partner at Kilburn & Strode, said that the EPO remains one of the best patent offices in the world for issuing well-examined patents.

“A European patent comes with a high presumption of validity which is the single most important facet of the system. Suggestions that quality has dropped aren’t backed up by evidence,” he noted.

According to Roberts, the efficiencies being introduced are essential and the EPO has an “unfortunate” but accurate reputation for slowness.

“Battistelli had to walk a tightrope between labour rights and an acknowledged productivity problem at the EPO. He definitely fell off a couple of times, and the morale consequences have been pretty bad.”

Roberts concluded that the problem is being solved, but the impact could have been lessened.

“Campinos’s best chance lies in continuing the reforms but reopening dialogue as to how they are implemented. Campinos may need to distance himself from Battistelli’s legacy to win the trust of his workforce.”

Avi Freeman, partner at Beck Greener, added that when Battistelli took over the EPO, he was dealing with a system that had, as a “victim of its own success”, begun to creak under the load of too much work.

“His approach in dealing with this has undoubtedly speeded the process up in some key areas such as average times to issue of search reports or the time it takes for a response from an examiner after an applicant has responded to an examination report,” said Freeman.

But Battistelli's “heavy-handed approach” is a drawback.

Although examiner numbers have increased, they’ve not done so fast enough, so the pressure to get things done more quickly produces a double whammy of drawbacks, he explained.

First, the pressure reduces the time that examiners have per case, which in turn reduces quality.

Second is the level of staff unrest, which has followed on from Battistelli’s approach.

“I have been at hearings in Munich recently and seen with my own eyes demonstrations by staff and examiners,” noted Freeman. “You then get an ‘unvirtuous circle’ which can lead to a breakdown of the relationship between the EPO senior management and the examiners.”

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Today’s top stories:

US Supreme Court hears SAS Institute case on IPR

Chinese nationals charged with trade secrets theft in US

SCOTUS hearing bodes well for IPR process, say lawyers

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Patents
15 November 2017   Benoît Battistelli, the president of the European Patent Office, has proposed an employment plan to recruit staff on renewable contracts of five years.
Patents
11 October 2017   António Campinos, the executive director of the European Union Intellectual Property Office, has been described as a “sensible” replacement for European Patent Office president Benoît Battistelli.
Patents
21 February 2018   The European Patent Office’s supervisory body, the Administrative Council, will deliberate an employment proposal put forward by EPO president Benoît Battistelli to recruit staff on renewable contracts of five years in March.