European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Operation Monte Titano: Micro-State Diplomacy
Previous Parts:
Part 26
On 28th May 2026 EPO President António Campinos paid a visit to the Most Serene Republic of San Marino where he was received with full diplomatic honours.
Readers of Techrights may be familiar with the strange phenomenon of the EPOnian micro-states. Despite their small size and low level of patenting activity, these miniscule political entities are able to punch above their real-world weight when it comes to the EPO because of the voting arrangements laid down in Article 34 of the European Patent Convention, which grants one unweighted vote to each state on the organisation's Administrative Council.
Because of this the micro-states can often end up exercising a disproportionate and detrimental influence on the affairs and governance of the EPO as, for example, when they contributed to the rubber-stamping of Battistelli's unlawful "Strike Regulations" in June 2013.
With his reappointment campaign now entering a critical phase, Campinos seems to be waking up to the potential significance of these micro-states.
The reason for this is not hard to find. Following the accession of Moldova on 1st June 2026, the EPO now has 40 member states. So a minimum of 30 votes is needed to secure the three-quarters majority necessary for the appointment – or in this case reappointment – of a President.
In an earlier part of this series we explained that if Campinos manages to obtain the endorsement of his compatriot António Costa, the President of the European Council, he can probably count on bagging all (or most) of the 27 EU votes on the EPO's Administrative Council.
This would still leave him a few votes short of the magic number 30.
In such a situation it is to be expected that Campinos will spare no effort to hoover up every additional vote that could help to push him over the finishing line, including those of the EPOnian "microstates".
Against this background it should come as no great surprise to learn that on 28th May 2026, about a fortnight after his ribbon-cutting appearance in Sintra, the EPO President paid a visit to San Marino.
As reported in an EPO puff-piece posted on LinkedIn:
During his visit to San Marino, António Campinos reaffirmed the strong partnership between the EPO and San Marino, highlighting the role of patents and innovation in supporting economic growth and international co-operation. President Campinos met with Mr Luca Beccari, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Mr Rossano Fabbri, Secretary of State for Industry and was received by the Captains Regent, Ms Alice Mina and Mr Vladimiro Selva. The visit also included a stop at Robopac, showcasing San Marino’s strong innovation and manufacturing ecosystem.
It's worth noting that this little landlocked enclave situated close to the city of Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy wasn't always held in such high esteem by Campinos. As recently as March 2025, when San Marino's Secretary of State for Industry, Handicraft, Commerce, Research and Telecommunications Rossano Fabbri visited EPO headquarters in Munich for the signing of a "bilateral agreement" the EPO President was nowhere to be seen. Instead Mr Fabbri and his delegation – including Administrative Council delegates Silvia Rossi and Bruno Cinquantini – were received by EPO Vice-President Niloofar "Nellie" Simon.
No sign of Campinos when a San Marino delegation visited EPO headquarters in Munich in March 2025.
But circumstances have changed since then and Campinos seen to have recently rediscovered the vital strategic significance of San Marino.
In any event, when the EPO President turned up in the Most Serene Republic on 28th May 2026 he was welcomed with full diplomatic honours.
The carefully choreographed photo-ops show Campinos being received by the Captains Regent with handshakes, flags and all the diplomatic pomp and circumstance normally associated with relations between major powers.
Campinos presents himself to the Captains Regent during his visit to San Marino on 28th May 2026.
Shaking hands with the Captains Regent, Ms Alice Mina and Mr Vladimiro Selva.
Another carefully choreographed photo-op. The head of San Marino delegation on the EPO's Administrative Council, Silvia Rossi, appears on the right of the photograph.
While industrial action, social unrest and increasingly strained labour relations continue to occupy staff in Munich, Berlin and The Hague, the EPO President appears to be more concerned with projecting a carefully polished image of tranquil diplomatic engagement in one of Europe's smallest capitals.
Critics may ask whether repairing relations with thousands of EPO employees should perhaps rank ahead of cultivating excellent relations with a member state whose entire population could comfortably fit inside the Allianz Arena.
On that note we conclude our report on the EPO President's mission to San Marino.
In the next part we shall see how Campinos managed to combine reappointment lobbying with Unified Patent Court (UPC) promotion when he appeared in Slovenia for the inauguration ceremony of a UPC Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre in Ljubljana. █