Series parts:

1. The EPO's Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part I: Let the Sunshine In!
2. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part II: A “Unanimous” Endorsement?
3. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part III: Three Missing Votes
4. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part IV: The Founding States
5. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part V: Germany Says “Ja”
6. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part VI: A Distinct Lack of Dutch Courage
7. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part VII: Luxembourgish Laxity
8. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part VIII: Perfidious Albion and Pusillanimous Hibernia
9. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part IX: More Holes Than Swiss Cheese
10. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part X: Introducing the Controversial Christian Bock
11. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XI: “General Bock” - Battistelli's Swiss Apprentice?
12. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XII: The French Connection
13. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XIII: Battistelli's Iberian Facilitators - Spain
14. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XIV: Battistelli's Iberian Facilitators - Portugal
15. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XV: Et Tu Felix Austria…
16. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XVI: The Demise of the Austrian Double-Dipper
17. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XVII: The Non-Monolithic Nordic Bloc
18. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XVIII: Helsinki's Accord
19. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part IXX: The Baltic States
20. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XX: The Visegrád Group
21. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXI: The Balkan League – The Doyen and His “Protégée”
22. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXII: The Balkan League - North Macedonia and Albania
23. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXIII: The Balkan League - Bulgaria
24. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXIV: The Balkan League - Romania
25. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXV: The Balkan League - Fresh Blood or Same Old, Same Old?
26. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXVI: A Trojan Horse on the Budget and Finance Committee
27. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXVII: Cypriot Complicity
28. YOU ARE HERE ☞ Benoît and António's Loyal “Habibi”

Head of the Turkish delegation in June 2013: Habip Asan

Summary: TürkPatent's Habip Asan has consistently helped dictators seize and maintain power, even at the expense of basic laws

In June 2013, the head of the Turkish delegation was Habip Asan, Director-General of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, known colloquially as TürkPatent.

According to information published by WIPO, between 1989 and 1993 Asan studied in the USA at Texas Tech University in Lubbock (Texas) where he acquired M.Sc. and Ph.D. qualifications in Mechanical Engineering.

"Asan then served as deputy director of the Turkish Patent Institute from December 2007 to October 2008 and he was appointed as Director-General in October 2008."In 1994, he returned to Turkey where he was appointed Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Karadeniz Technical University in Trabazon. He became an Associate Professor in 2000. Between 2003 and 2005, he lectured at Ajman University of Science and Technology in Dubai. In 2005, he returned to Karadeniz Technical University where he was appointed Professor.

Asan then served as deputy director of the Turkish Patent Institute from December 2007 to October 2008 and he was appointed as Director-General in October 2008.

Asan has been the Director-General of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office since October 2008.

On the EPO's Administrative Council, Asan consistently showed himself to be Benoît Battistelli's loyal "Habibi".

"According to EPO folklore, when Battistelli was planning to exile the Boards of Appeal to Haar some time later in the summer of 2016, a member of the Turkish delegation was overheard to remark that not even "Recep" [meaning the Turkish President ErdoÄŸan] would dare to confront the Turkish judiciary in such an overbearing manner."It was "business as usual" in June 2013 when he followed the lead of his Greek and Cypriot neighbours and cast his vote in favour of the "Strike Regulations".

According to EPO folklore, when Battistelli was planning to exile the Boards of Appeal to Haar some time later in the summer of 2016, a member of the Turkish delegation was overheard to remark that not even "Recep" [meaning the Turkish President ErdoÄŸan] would dare to confront the Turkish judiciary in such an overbearing manner.

It's not clear whether the remark should be attributed to Asan or to his deputy.

And to this day, nobody is quite sure whether the remark was supposed to be an expression of admiration for Battistelli's audacity or whether it was intended to convey a sense of shock at his contempt for judicial independence at the EPO. Indeed, it may well have contained an element of both!

"And to this day, nobody is quite sure whether the remark was supposed to be an expression of admiration for Battistelli's audacity or whether it was intended to convey a sense of shock at his contempt for judicial independence at the EPO. Indeed, it may well have contained an element of both!"In any event, whoever uttered this remark appears to have missed the point that Battistelli could never have succeeded in doing what he did at the EPO without the complicity of the EPO's Administrative Council, which had the ultimate responsibility for overseeing his actions.

Back home in Turkey, Asan has proven himself to be something of a survival artist. He managed to emerge unscathed from the "purges" of the Turkish civil service which followed the failed coup-d'état against ErdoÄŸan in July 2016.

Asan managed to survive the "purges" of the Turkish civil service which followed the failed coup-d'état against ErdoÄŸan in July 2016 and he still remains in charge at "TürkPatent".

To this day Asan remains at the head of TürkPatent, and on the EPO's Administrative Council he continues to be a loyal "Habibi" to Battistelli's successor, António Campinos.

On the EPO's Administrative Council, TürkPatent Director-General Asan has been a consistently loyal "Habibi" to both Battistelli and his successor Campinos.

In the next part we will turn our attention to the EPO's micro-states which, notwithstanding their small size, manage to exert a disproportionate influence on the affairs of the organisation. ⬆