19/02/2015
The Dutch Court of Appeal lifts the immunity of the European Patent Office (EPO)
In a judgment, dated 17 February 2015, the Gerechtshof den Haag (appellate court based in The Hague) lifted the immunity of the EPO and ordered it to rescind several recent amendments to the organisation's staff regulations.The action was brought by SUEPO against the EPO and the court has ruled that the EPO:
- must stop blocking emails from @suepo.org within 7 days,
- may not dictate the length and type of industrial actions and,
- within 14 days, must allow SUEPO to enter into collective bargaining.
IPKat reports on this decision.