Summary: The Soviet response to the EPO, declassified about 3 decades later and released by the US Department of State

THE European Patent Office (EPO) was established a very long time ago with good intentions. Well before the Stalins and Lenins (autocrats like António Campinos and Benoît Battistelli) took over it and destroyed it for personal gain.

During some unrelated research I stumbled upon this confidential memo dated 1974 (1974 January 30, 17:50). It was declassified some years ago ("Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 30 JUN 2005") and had originally been sent over telegram to say: [Source]

1. SOVIET PROTOCOL OFFICER ROMANOVSKY JANUARY 26 HANDED OVER
TO CHAIRMAN (BRITISH) PROTOCOL OFFICER
STATEMENT ON EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE IMPROPERLY DELIVERED
TO U.S. MISSION JANUARY 17 (PARA 2 REF A). BRITISH
PROTOCOL OFFICER SAID HE COULD GIVE IMMEDIATE ORAL
REPLY, AND THEN SPOKE ALONG LINES AGREED IN BONN GROUP
JANUARY 22 (PARA 2, REF B). HE ADDED, BY WAY OF BACKGROUND,
THAT PATENT OFFICE HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED UNDER OCTOBER 1973
CONVENTION ON THE ISSUANCE OF EUROPEAN PATENTS, TO WHICH
COUNTRIES SUCH AS SWITZERLAND AND YUGOSLAVIA,
IN ADDITION TO NINE EC MEMBERS, WERE PARTY. HE
FURTHER EXPLAINED THAT HEADQUARTERS OF EUROPEAN
PATENT OFFICE WAS LOCATED IN MUNICH, AND THAT
BERLIN OFFICE WAS IN EFFECT SUB-OFFICE CONTROLLED
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PAGE 02  BERLIN 00193  301800Z





BY REGIONAL BRANCH IN THE HAGUE. ALL OF THIS
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WAS APPARENTLY NEW TO
ROMANOVSKIY.





2. COMMENT: WE HAVE INFORMED BRITISH HERE THAT WE
WERE DISTURBED THAT THEIR PROTOCOL OFFICER WENT
BEYOND BRIEF REJ9INDER AGREED IN BONN GROUP. HIS
RESPONSE WAS UNNECESSARILY DETAILED. ALSO, BY
ARGUING AT SUCH LENGTH THAT PATENT OFFICE WAS NOT
EC ORGAN, HE MAY HAVE CONVEYED IMPRESSION THAT IF IT
WERE, SOVIETS WOULD HAVE BETTER GROUND FOR COMPLAINT.KLEIN





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Remember this was almost at the height of the Cold War, a decade after the Cuban Missile Crisis and well before the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Just a little tidbit for history geeks, who may recall the status of a divided Berlin at that time. ⬆