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Peek Into European Patent Examining Cancelled

Posted by Roblimo on from the you-can't-always-get-what-you-want dept.

We were going to run European Patent Examiner John Savage's answers to 10 Slashdot questions today, but he emailed us this morning and asked us to pull them back because he was was in trouble over the interview. What he had to say was informative, non-controversial, and would not have hurt his employer's reputation at all, but we don't want John to lose his job or face disciplinary action on our account. Anyway, get ready for a slightly unusual Slashdot interview guest next week: Celeb chef and self-described "culinary cartographer" Alton Brown.

5 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Super by Quintin+Stone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nice to know that informing and educating people about a legal process can put you in danger of losing your job.

    --

    "Prejudice is wrong; you should hate everyone the same."

    1. Re:Super by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Insightful
      > Nice to know that informing and educating people about a legal process can put you in danger of losing your job.

      Well, we got one answer -- the one someone asked about US patent examiners, along the lines of: "How does it feel to work for people who have their heads jammed that far up their asses?"

      Looks like the EU patent office prefers a close-up view of its own colon to reality, too.

      The examiner's manager has done more damage to the EU patent office's reputation than any answer the examiner could have given.

  2. That sucks. by Skyshadow · · Score: 5, Insightful
    You have to wonder what PR brainiac came up with the idea of censoring an interview like this. Anything this guy had to say couldn't possibly look as bad as this does, unless it's on the lines of "we kill puppies and cute little kittens to make mittens".

    Now, everyone will just be wondering what they're hiding...

    --
    Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
  3. Any recent retiree's? by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Somebody who is recently retired would still have a fresh view, yet not be at risk of being fired (unless they can yank your pension if you make them look bad).

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  4. Re:It's not as bad as it looks.. by SirSlud · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >simply because it is not my job!

    Yes, because I know the only people who can provide me with accurate insightful and potentially critical information on a public organization is the person who's job it is to do damage control.

    Are you people serious? Have we come this far only to create employment in the form of deflecting or managing scrutiny? Doesn't that somewhat defeat the purpose of scrutiny if its your job to be graceful under it?

    --
    "Old man yells at systemd"