Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXIX: On the Slippery Slope to Capture

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. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXVIII: Benoît and António's Loyal “Habibi”
  29. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part IXXX: The EPOnian Micro-States - Monaco and Malta
  30. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXX: San Marino and the Perfidious Betrayal of Liberty
  31. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXI: The Abstentionists
  32. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXII: “Plucky Little Belgium”?
  33. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXIII: Swedish Scepticism
  34. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXIV: An “Extremely Dubious” Proposal
  35. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXV: Slovakian Scruples
  36. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXVI: Serbian Sour Grapes
  37. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXVII: Stubbornly Independent Slovenia
  38. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXVIII: Ensnared in the Tentacles of the SAZAS Octopus
  39. YOU ARE HERE ☞ On the Slippery Slope to Capture


Slovenian delegation captured by Team Battistelli
Stubbornly independent back in 2013, but by 2018 the Slovenian delegation had been well and truly "captured" by Team Battistelli.



Summary: The story of how EPO dictator Benoît Battistelli captured the nation of Slovenia (which has not regained its independence under the reign of António Campinos)

As mentioned in the last part, Vojko Toman was appointed as Director of the URSIL on an ad interim basis in September 2015. His appointment for a five year tenure was subsequently confirmed in September of the following year.



Toman is something of a "dark horse". It is difficult to find much information about what he did before he was appointed as Director of the URSIL.

"Toman is something of a "dark horse". It is difficult to find much information about what he did before he was appointed as Director of the URSIL."All that is known for certain is that Toman obtained a doctorate from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana in 2013. The title of his dissertation was "Creating a vision and its impact on the success of Slovenian companies".

As Toman was settling down to his new job at the head of the URSIL, the controversy surrounding SAZAS continued to attract significant public attention in Slovenia.

In December 2015, it was reported by the state broadcaster RTV Slovenija, that SAZAS management was under investigation on suspicion of money laundering and abuse of office. According to the report, criminal investigators carried out house searches and seizures of evidence at six locations.

In the course of the following year, the SAZAS affair received regular coverage in the Slovenian media, in particular thanks to the efforts of journalist Anja HrešÃ„ak who published a series of critical articles in Dnevnik throughout 2016.

"In the course of the following year, the SAZAS affair received regular coverage in the Slovenian media, in particular thanks to the efforts of journalist Anja HrešÃ„ak who published a series of critical articles in Dnevnik throughout 2016."In an article published in November 2016, HrešÃ„ak explained how SAZAS had - by its own admission - collected over €30 million in retransmission fees from cable TV operators. Instead of being distributed to the Slovenian directors and producers who were entitled to receive them, the bulk of these fees were transferred - apparently without any legal authority - to AGICOA in Switzerland. SAZAS itself pocketed around 10% of the amount involved in the form of €3 million attributed to "operating costs".

The article recalled how Jurij Žurej's earlier attempts to investigate these matters after he became head of the URSIL in 2010 had led to the premature termination of his appointment in April 2012.

When the new Director, Vojko Toman, was approached for comment, his response was the usual "three wise monkeys" guff:

"According to my information, there were no suspicions of irregularities," said Vojko Toman , director of the Intellectual Property Office (URSIL), which has supervisory authority - in this case over SAZAS.


This important media coverage prompted the centre-right opposition party SLS to question the incomprehensible lack of action on the part of the URSIL and its supervising minister Zdravko Počivalšek. The SLS vice-chairman Primož Jelševar issued a communiqué asking: "Is the state afraid of SAZAS?"

English here. [PDF]

SAZAS responded by attempting to SLAPP down Anja HrešÃ„ak and other journalists who dared to ask awkward questions. However, in February 2020 the collecting society's claims of defamation were dismissed by the High Court of Ljubljana. The High Court upheld an earlier district court ruling that HrešÃ„ak had reported objectively and without the intention of slandering and discrediting. The judgment made it clear that Dnevnik's reporting was in the public interest and although it was critical in tone, it could not be considered defamatory.

English translations of the article about corruption [PDF] and the lawsuit [PDF] are available.

"This important media coverage prompted the centre-right opposition party SLS to question the incomprehensible lack of action on the part of the URSIL and its supervising minister Zdravko Počivalšek."More recently in April 2021, it was reported that SAZAS has been trying to cash in on the Covid pandemic by extorting fees for online concerts, thereby attempting to profiteer on the backs of already impoverished performers and organisers.

Meanwhile, over at the URSIL, the installation of Vojko Toman as Director seems to have ushered in a new era of "stability" at the national "IP" office but it hasn't necessarily been for the better.

One indication of the decline in standards during Toman's tenure is provided by the state of URSIL's official website. That website, which used to be well-maintained, seems to have become a bit run-down on his watch.

For example, the "History" page contains detailed information about events prior to 2015, including the appointments of previous Directors. However, there doesn't appear to have been any update since Toman's appointment as ad interim Director in September 2015. As a matter of fact, the subsequent confirmation of his appointment for a five-year tenure in 2016 doesn't even get a mention. Archive here. [PDF]

"One indication of the decline in standards during Toman's tenure is provided by the state of URSIL's official website. That website, which used to be well-maintained, seems to have become a bit run-down on his watch."In addition to this, the English language section of the website doesn't appear to have been updated during Toman's tenure. The last annual report posted there is the one for 2011 which was signed off by Luka Novak. It's necessary to go to the Slovenian section of the website to find a full listing of the annual reports.

Meanwhile, on the Administrative Council of the EPO, the Slovenian delegation under Toman appears to have been well and truly "captured" by Battistelli from 2015 onwards.

Any doubts that may have existed on that front were dispelled in May 2018 when Slovenia was chosen to host the EPO's 2018 PATLIB conference. (warning: epo.org link) Archive here. [PDF]

Toman was on the ground in Ljubljana to greet Battistelli and to "thank the EPO for organising the event in Slovenia".

Benoit Battistelli with Vojko Toman
Captured at last... Battistelli with Vojko Toman in Ljubljana in May 2018.



Battistelli used the occasion to pose for photo-ops with Toman and the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Eva Å travs Podlogar.

Amongst other things, they discussed "bilateral cooperation between the EPO and URSIL and recent developments regarding the planned unitary patent system, which is expected to reduce costs and formalities while providing greater legal certainty for European companies and inventors".

Vojko Toman and Eva Stravs Podlogar
Battistelli posing for a photo-op with Vojko Toman and State Secretary Eva Å travs Podlogar in Ljubljana in May 2018



The official EPO puff-piece published to mark the occasion went on to inform readers that:

"The EPO President also stressed the importance of a full completion of ratification of the UPC Agreement by Slovenia, not least because Ljubljana will host one of the seats of the new court's Mediation and Arbitration Centre."


Even if the UPC hasn't quite managed to open for business yet, it's nice to know what exactly Toman and his political masters in Ljubljana were promised by Battistelli in return for their support of his shenanigans at the EPO.

Toman's term of office expired in September of this year and Karin Žvokelj Jazbinšek was appointed as acting director pending the completion of a "special public competition procedure" to select a new "permanent director".

"Battistelli used the occasion to pose for photo-ops with Toman and the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Eva Å travs Podlogar."Žvokelj Jazbinšek was formerly a senior official of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology. She doesn't appear to have much background in "IP" but she did hit the headlines in Slovenia back in 2017 when she became embroiled in a "conflict of interest" controversy. Archived translation here. [PDF]

At the time in question Žvokelj Jazbinšek headed the "Development Funds Service" at the Ministry of Economic Development. This was the government department responsible for the disbursement of EU development funds. At the same time, together with her husband Miha Jazbinšek, she was co-owner of a private company MK Projekt Ltd., which advised other companies on how to obtain these EU funds.

By a curious coincidence, MK Projekt Ltd. was awarded a lucrative contract by the Ministry of Economic Development for a project to carry out an evaluation on the use of EU funds in Slovenia.

Karin Zvokelj Jazbinsek and Miha Jazbinsek
Karin Žvokelj Jazbinšek and her husband Miha Jazbinšek became embroiled in a "conflict of interest" controversy over their jointly- owned consultancy company MK Projekt.



On that occasion, Žvokelj Jazbinšek was vigorously defended by her supervising Minister Zdravko Počivalšek who proclaimed that as far as he was concerned "the results of her work are excellent".

"Even if the UPC hasn't quite managed to open for business yet, it's nice to know what exactly Toman and his political masters in Ljubljana were promised by Battistelli in return for their support of his shenanigans at the EPO."Some time later in October 2019, Žvokelj Jazbinšek was appointed as deputy director of SPIRIT Slovenia, a government "business development agency" whose remit includes "Entrepreneurship, Internationalization, Foreign Investments and Technology".

This was the position that she held immediately prior to her current appointment as "acting director" of the URSIL.

Karin Zvokelj Jazbinsek
The new head of the Slovenian delegation on the EPO's Administrative Council: Karin Žvokelj Jazbinšek.
Will she be an independent voice or turn out to be just another "captured delegate"?



In the international arena, it remains to be seen what contribution - if any - the new head of the Slovenian delegation will be capable of making to the affairs of the EPO's Administrative Council.

"In the international arena, it remains to be seen what contribution - if any - the new head of the Slovenian delegation will be capable of making to the affairs of the EPO's Administrative Council."In particular, it will be interesting to see whether she will follow in the footsteps of her immediate predecessor Vojko Toman as a "captured" delegate or whether she will attempt to pursue a more independent line like Toman's predecessor Vesna Stanković Juričić.

That concludes our examination of the Slovenian delegation and how it ended up on the slippery slope to "capture" by Team Battistelli.

In the next part, we will look at the remaining "abstentionist" delegation from Italy.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 25/06/2025: Elon Musk’s Lawyers Caught Lying, WhatsApp Faces More Bans
Links for the day
Wayland Pushers Lose the Argument, Use LLM Slop and Chatbots to Make Up Arguments for IBM
Another new low and low blow
What is "MATA"?
Think of it as GAFAM or "Meta"
WebProNews is a Slopfarm
Please avoid linking to WebProNews
Another "Told You So!": XBox Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Many Recent Reports Were Chaff and Spin), Many Other Divisions Affected
With mass layoffs at Microsoft the world would be much better
 
5,600 Pages/Articles Per Year
So far this year we've kept all the promises
BetaNews Beginning to Show What Its True Goals Are
The 'new' BetaNews won't be about journalism. It's trying to sell things.
Microsoft Has Lost "The War"
We'll soon see the 9th or 10th wave of Microsoft layoffs in 2025 alone
Slopwatch: A Wreck and a Dreck, "Flooding the Zone With Dreck" or Flooding the Web With Junk
"Slopwatch" continues today because we have many new examples
Links 25/06/2025: Thwarting More Software Patents, Overlap Grows Between EPO Corruption and Illegal Kangaroo Patent Courts in EU
Links for the day
Brian Fagioli Created Another Slopfarm Targeting "Linux" After BetaNews Became a Slopfarm of Phantom Accounts and Pseudonyms
Mr. Fagioli even had slop about a dead Torvalds (hypothetical) as clickbait
Wayland is Perfect, Nobody Can Escape Its Perfection! (Or Not)
Do not form on opinion on Wayland based on politics
Moral Duty for "Linux Sites" to Speak Out Against LLM Slop
My wife has long complained about "Linux bloggers" keeping quiet and thus passive about a growing problem: slop
In Recent Hours Google News Promoted at Least 3 Slopfarms That Relayed Linux Foundation Propaganda Made by Bots or LLM "Bullshit Generators" (as Dr. Stallman Dubbed Them)
Google is circling down the drain and Google News too is hopeless
Linux Journal is a Slopfarm, It's Experimenting With LLM 'Authors'
Is Slashdot next?
Microsoft LinkedIn is Dying and Many More Layoffs Are on the Way
LinkedIn is just a failed acquisition of Microsoft. It causes losses and debt.
Gemini Links 25/06/2025: Combinatorial Music and Self Hosting
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Coming Back to Europe This Autumn to Give More Talks
His last talk in Europe attracted about 400-450 people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Social Control Media, Technology & Catholicism: Synod on Synodality review and feedback
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
How Many More Women Will Managers at Microsoft Strangle and Tell to Kill Themselves (or Try to Kill)?
The world needs to know what happened
The New BetaNews: 7 New 'Articles', All of Them LLM Slop
BetaNews is basically defunct. Nobody writes there anymore.
statCounter Estimates Only 1 in 300 Iranians Would Use Microsoft for Search
Iranians don't quite trust Microsoft
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: ftpd on FreeBSD and Online Small Web Magazine
Links for the day
Google News Does Great Harm by Promoting Slopfarms as Legitimate News Sites
Slopfarms are sites which are 100% LLM slop
Links 24/06/2025: Trouble at "Open" "AI" and ‘Siarhei is Free’
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: Stimulants and Subscription Costs for DRM
Links for the day
When the Microsoft Aggressors Rely on Several Law Firms ('Attack Dogs', 'Guns for Hire'), Not Just One, Lawyering Up Against Techrights (Acting on Behalf of Americans Against UK Publishers)
From serving customers at some restaurant he has moved on to bullying people with demand letters
Links 24/06/2025: OpenAI [sic] May Soon Die (Too Much Debt) and Social Control Media Accused of Being Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda Amplifier
Links for the day
Nirbheek Chauhan in Planet GNOME Explains Why Wayland Pushers Are Losing
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
Polygamy, from Catholic Synod on Synodality to Social Control Media & Debian CyberPolygamy
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Only a Third of or 1 in 3 Web-Connected Devices is a Desktop or Laptop, According to statCounter
we can expect Android to widen its lead
The Days Are Getting Shorter, the First Half of 2025 is Almost Over
We're gratified to see significant increase in traffic and also positive feedback on the work we do
Turning GNU/Linux Into a Political Football
X (not the site) is Free software
X Server Still Works for Many People
A lot of people will grow suspicious of Wayland boosters/pushers if they persist and insist on using these tactics
Exactly a Week Ago "BetaNews Staff" Said "Betanews Is Growing Alongside You". Since Then Every Article (All by "Camila Nogueira") Has Been LLM Slop.
BetaNews is basically a slopfarm
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 23, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 23, 2025
The "Tarzan Effect" in Compilers and Software
What happens when you forcibly make things 'work', either by hacks or by disregarding warnings (like those that compilers tend to issue)?
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: Mass Tourism, Hair Love, and Google Gemini as a Googlebomb
Links for the day
Law Firm Burgess Mee Does Not Fully Deny Participating in Abusive Litigation for Serial Strangler From Microsoft
I am not unfamiliar with these tactics
The Modus Operandi of Wayland Pushers: Make It Political
do what I say or you're a nazi...
Links 23/06/2025: RFE/RL Contributor Vladyslav Yesypenko Released, Recording Industry Cutbacks
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Solicitors (M): Over 99.9% of Our E-mail is Self-Marketing, We Send You 3.5MB E-mails for Less Than 1KB of Text
Why would tech people entrust legal matters to such people?
Peter Moon's (Computerworld) Interview With Richard Stallman
Stallman: If you want freedom don't follow Linus Torvalds
At What Point Does Outsourcing Constitute Malpractice?
Brett Wilson LLP's new staff page is misleading
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sailing to GNU/Linux, According to statCounter
countries in that region will quickly learn the price of neglecting digital sovereignty
From Do Your Own Research to Do Your Own Search
The Web is full of garbage; search engines amplify this garbage
More People Moving to Geminispace?
at age 6+ Gemini Protocol seems to have gained some maturity and it seems like more people use it
Permutation in LLMs Does, Inevitably, Change Meanings and Therefore LLMs Cannot Properly Rephrase or Summarise Texts
LLMs lack actual grasp or comprehension of what they spew out
Links 23/06/2025: Many Security Breaches, Population Declines
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: "America at the Crossroads" and OpenWRT Surgery
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 22, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 22, 2025
Pure Dove
Different means different, and sometimes those who "deviate" from "the norm" have a point
Censorship is a Sign of Weakness Which Invites More Censorship Attempts
revolutionaries don't succumb to pressure from bullies
Why It's Unlikely That LLM Slop Will Dominate the Web in the Long Run
Slopfarms will eventually perish (they have no actual value) and "survivors" on the Web will be sites that never depended on search engines and social control media
GNU/Linux in Argentina Now Measured Near 5%
Like in central Europe, they must be seeing an increasingly hostile US
BetaNews is Fake News, Composed by LLM Slop
nothing in BetaNews is written by humans anymore