Bonum Certa Men Certa

Media Blackout in Croatian Mainstream Media About Criminal Charges Against EPO's Croatian Vice-President and EPO President's Notoriety

Summary: Croatian media gives Battistelli some puff pieces and UPC advertisements without mentioning anything at all about Željko Topić or the dire situation at the EPO

THE EPO has a lot of skeletons in its wardrobe (or closet) in Croatia, but nobody inside the EPO is brave enough to bring up the subject, having witnessed what happens to those who do. We have been writing about this since 2014.



"He is definitely promoting the UPC based on the headline and based on what we were told by Croatians over the weekend."Earlier this week and over the weekend we wrote about the surprise visit of Battistelli who suddenly showed up in Croatia -- a move that the EPO neither advertised nor even mentioned. Even DZIV didn't mention it.

Well, quite belatedly, as sources told us we should expect (inevitably!), DZIV had this event mentioned and an EPO insider informed us of "Battistelli lobbying (again) this time in Croatia: I hope that Croatia would accept a single EU patent" ("Battistelli: Nadam se da će i Hrvatska prihvatiti jedinstveni EU patent").

He is definitely promoting the UPC based on the headline and based on what we were told by Croatians over the weekend. We got some translations that helped confirm this.

Regarding this almost-secretive Battistelli trip to Zagreb, one reader decided to send us some photos from HINA. It looks like they had this prepared for a while (paying over a million Euros to FTI Consulting, which sometimes pays journalists/publishers, can probably help). Here are the pictures; they had a photoshoot, not just the traditional photo op.

Battistelli in HINA



Battistelli in HINA



Battistelli in HINA



Battistelli in HINA



Battistelli in HINA



Battistelli in HINA



Battistelli in HINA



In that second picture, albeit blurred, it looks like it might be Battistelli's bulldog in the background, but it's hard to be sure.

Battistelli looks so happy... like he's about to explode or go on fire that even his daughter can't put out. He could certainly used some smiling lessons.

Anyway, nitpicking aside for now.

Here is some more information and translations that have been made available to us.

"In that second picture, albeit blurred, it looks like it might be Battistelli's bulldog in the background, but it's hard to be sure."It seems that during his trip to Zagreb Battistelli gave an interview to HINA which is the national government-owned news agency of Croatia. A press release is available on the HINA Web site, but the full text is only accessible to registered users.

Croatian: https://www.hina.hr/vijest/9375579 English: https://www.hina.hr/vijest/9375585

However, an English article based on the HINA press release can be found on the Web site of European Balkan Latest News (eblnews.com). "Battistelli calls on Croatia to join European Unitary Patent project" is the title and it reveals the real/covert/side motivation for Battistelli's visit. To quote: "Croatia and Spain are the only two EU member states that have not yet joined the European Unitary Patent project, Benoit Battistelli, president of the European Patent Office (EPO), told Hina Friday. Battistelli, who was in Zagreb on Friday to attend the ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the State Institute for Intellectual Property, said that that although it has a relatively low number of patent registrations, Croatia had met condition for the development of a quality patent system. The first step was made when Croatia joined the EPO in 2008, he added. The European Patent Organisation is a public international organisation created in 1977 by its contracting states to grant patents in Europe under the European Patent Convention of 1973. The European Patent Organisation has its seat at Munich, Germany, and has administrative and financial autonomy."

This is citing HINA, which perhaps didn't realise the track record of the person whom it gave a platform. In the meantime, another article about the SIPO event was published by the news portal Objektivno.hr: "Državni zavod za intelekutalno vlasništvo obilježava 25. godina postojanja"

An English translation can be found below. It was provided to us for publication:

News

The State Intellectual Property Office celebrates 25 years of existence

The challenges of modern society such as globalization, computerization and development of high technology increase the importance of intellectual property protection, said Ljiljana Kuterovac, director of the State Intellectual Property Office on Friday at the ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of this institute.

As she explained, during these 25 years the Office has passed through long path of development in close co-operation with international and European institutions which provide the financial and technical assistance to developing countries. "The development of the Office coincided with the development and dynamics at a European and international level," she said.

Deputy Minister of Science and Education Kreso Zadro, stressed the importance of intellectual property for economic development and competitiveness as well as the need for inter-agency cooperation for the development and protection of intellectual property.

He pointed out that the University of Zagreb launched a postgraduate interdisciplinary specialist study called simply "intellectual property" and enrolled 26 students during the first year.

The audience was also addressed by colleagues from European and international organizations including Benoit Battistelli, President of the European Patent Office.

The SIPO then awarded prizes - in the category of seminar and final papers at undergraduate and graduate levels special recognition was earned by Relja Rajković and Luka Kušpilić for the work "Copyright protection fictional characters or: when the superhero and need protection".

The winner in the category of professional and scientific papers was Romana Matanovac Vučković for the work "The implementation of Directive 2014726/EU on collective management and multi-territorial licensing of music rights in regulating the system of tariffs in Central and Eastern Europe".

In the beginning the SIPO was called the National Institute of Industrial Property and the State Patent Office, and from 7 November 1996, when field of ​​protection of copyright and related rights came under its jurisdiction, it assumed its present name.

From the emergences of the modern system of intellectual property protection in the late 19th century up to the present day, a legal and institutional framework for the protection of intellectual property has been continuously present in the territory of today's Republic of Croatia.

Upon entry to the European Union, Croatia became part of the common system of uniform law for trademark and industrial property rights for the entire territory of the European Union, and since 2008 it has been a full member of the European Patent Convention and the European Patent Organisation.

As a member in the vast majority of international agreements and intellectual property protection system under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Croatian national system is fully integrated into the global system of protection.

As of 2 December 2016, there were 133,480 industrial property rights in the register for the territory of the Republic of Croatia, of which 121,929 were trademarks, 6728 patents and 4,813 registered industrial design and of which 88 percent are also registered for foreign rights.



The article by Objektivno.hr reveals that during the 25th anniversary event the SIPO awarded a prize to Romana Matanovac Vučković, who was closely associated with Željko Topić and his previous "protector", the former Croatian President Ivo Josipovic. But what is really interesting here is that neither the HINA press releases nor any of the published articles mention Topić's presence in Zagreb alongside Battistelli! A source of ours insists "he can be seen in the background and out of focus in of one of the photos published on the HINA Web site." (see the photo second from the top). We actually spotted the same thing independently. We have seen enough photos of Topić to suspect that it's him with glasses on.

Our source says "it's pretty clear that Topić was with Battistelli in Zagreb, but for some reason the Croatian media has decided not to mention it."

"These projects are Battistelli's main source of "carrots" for keeping the smaller member states on his side."If that's true, then what probably causes greater concern here is that nothing about Topić's legal status was covered. Omission of convenience? Conditions imposed before interview? Hard to tell....

We remind readers that the last time Battistelli was scheduled to go to Zagreb with Topić in July 2015 he cancelled his trip at short notice and sent along Francois-Régis Hannart instead. Hannart is a member of Battistelli's “inner circle” of former INPI employees. He used to be the Director of IT systems at the INPI and he is now the EPO's Principal Director of European and International Co-operation. This means that he is responsible for overseeing the "cooperation projects" between the EPO and national IPOs. These projects are Battistelli's main source of "carrots" for keeping the smaller member states on his side.

Recent Techrights' Posts

For the First Time in a Month OSI's "OpenSource.org" Blogs and It's Basically a Microsoft Blog Post (Microsoft Controls OSI)
For the first time in a month OSI writes something and it is Microsoft propaganda composed by a Microsoft-salaried operative
Microsoft, Already Borrowing 3 Billion Dollars a Month, is Trying to Cause Many People to Resign
MSN (i.e. Microsoft) and others openly admit it
They Want Activists to Just Barely Walk and Eat, Not Do Activism Anymore
It's sort of like the ending of '1984'
Non-Free JavaScript Programs in Banks Aren't Even the Biggest Problem
Technology was supposed to make life easier; in practice, however, for most of us the opposite effect can be observed
IBM is Obliterating Fedora
"Fedora releases were shipping with an increasing number of bugs on launch day even while I was using it for a several year stretch."
 
Links 07/08/2025: US Punishes India Instead of Russia, Attacks Law Firms to Prevent Scrutiny
Links for the day
Read Us in Geminispace as Well
it's definitely a lot simpler than using a Web browser
Once a Site About BSD and GNU/Linux, and After Months of Silence, LinuxBSDos.com Comes Back Only as a Slopfarm
very frustrating
Links 07/08/2025: Hardware Wars, Mass Recall of Colgate Total Clean Mint, More Microsoft Holes Found
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/08/2025: "Right To Manage" and LoRa Analysis
Links for the day
GAFAM 'Says' is Front Page "News"
The point of journalism is to check and assess facts, not parrot what people and companies merely claim
Links 07/08/2025: Apple Makes False Promises, More Trouble for Microsoft
Links for the day
OSS Didn't Always Mean Open Source Software
"oligarchs all the way down"
The Register MS Does More Microsoft Sez or GitHub Sez (Says) Pieces
60 minutes ago
Quit Perpetuating the Narrative of Gemini Protocol 'Dying' (It's False)
The "whisper campaign" against Gemini Protocol
Criticising Social Control Media in Social Control Media
Many people are quitting Social Control Media (fewer of them announce this in public)
Slopfarms Are Typically Fake News
Slopfarms typically relay falsehoods
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: Replacing a Pocket Watch and Buying in Bulk
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 06, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 06, 2025
August Hits Microsoft Hard: Dead Divisions, Dead Products, Layoffs Again (on Week 1)
Microsoft's debt is soaring
Slopwatch: Slow Day for LLM Slop, Serial Sloppers Still at It in Their Slopfarms
The Web would be better off if those sites went offline
Red Hat Layoffs Expected in 5 Days (Monday)
"They will announce and proceed with the cuts on 08/11."
Links 06/08/2025: Substack in Trouble, Slop Sceptic Shira Perlmutter Seeks Emergency Injunction Pending Appeal
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: Pinephone, Reverse-Engineering, and More
Links for the day
Links 06/08/2025: Faked Values of Slop Companies and Government Bailouts
Links for the day
FOSSY 2025 Conference Safety
The GAFAM-funded FOSSY 2025 is over
Microsoft's Favourite Pay-to-Say 'Analyst' Firm Has Just Collapsed
'Analysts' that helped propel Microsoft to fictional values akin to Ponzi schemes
Ask Google (Jeeves)
What does Google "know", not know, or would rather forget (or embellish)?
They Want You To Talk About Trump or 'The Other Bill' in Relation to Trafficking of Underage Girls for Sexual Exploitation
Just something we wanted to say...
How to Quadruple Your "Goodwill" Value and Grow Your (Wall) Street "Value" From $152B to $4000B Without Producing a Single Successful Product/Service
The longer it goes on for, the bigger the implosion will be
Staying Productive
Two very reputable institutions recently told us they now reckon Microsoft is somehow funding those SLAPPs against us
A Blow for Patent Ambitions of Bill Epsteingate
It's about money
66 Countries Where More People Use iPhones (or iPads) Than Microsoft Windows, According to statCounter Data
a list of countries where iOS now exceeds Windows
Apple's iOS Bigger Than Microsoft Windows in Many Countries
This ought to alarm Microsoft
The Mainstream Media Talks About Spotify Share Price and Price Hikes, Not Its Debt Increasing by About 33% in Just 12 Months
Spotify isn't a company in good shape
New "US Editor for The Register" is 80% Microsoft and Windows
they typically just treat Microsoft like the "Holy Grail" of "IT"
Microsoft is Apparently Sending Gag Orders or NDAs to Staff That Got Laid Off (“We were told not to post on LinkedIn. Not to say anything.”)
The main lies we keep seeing
Richard M. Stallman Has Published AI Memos Since 1980 (45 Years Ago)
Back when the term AI actually meant something
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: BitTorrent and Feedly Bots
Links for the day
Windows All-Time Lows, Android All-Time Highs in Kuwait
New lows for Windows can be found in many countries this month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 05, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 05, 2025
Openwashing Slop... Using Slop!
So get ready for "open" "hey hi" with its proprietary models to engage in openwashing, helped by serial sloppers who use the LLMs to produce fake 'articles'.
On "Tragedy of the Commons in the Production of Digital Artifacts"
There's a better way to do things. None of that should involve GAFAM.
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Opel Zoo near Frankfurt and Alhena 5.2.5
Links for the day
The Inflammatory Influence of Social Control Media Giants
CPC's ByteDance says it's cool
Microsoft v Planet Earth
Is Microsoft profitable?
IRC Turns 37
Internet Relay Chat (short: IRC), which started in 1988, turns 37 this month
Shortly After a Microsofter Took Over The Register as Editor in Chief Microsoft Tim (Tim Anderson) is Back and It's Still Microsoft Propaganda, Sometimes Funded by Microsoft
Notice his focus
Stricter Enforcement of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is Sorely Needed
Who's keeping track anyway?
Calling Plagiarism "Intelligence" is Pure Genius, Brilliance!
One thing to "like" (or dislike) about LLMs is how they're falsely marketed using various buzzwords
Geminispace Promises Simplicity But Also Provides a "bunch of forums that get flood-filled by agitation against the very essence of Gemini itself"
claims of stagnation in Geminispace started because of a person who spent a long time agitating against GNU/Linux as well
Zimbabweans Aren't Into Windows or Microsoft
This cannot be good news for GAFAM
Microsoft's Washington Layoffs Aren't Everything, They're Definitely Not Happening in Just One State in the US
Washington is just more strict with WARN notices
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Lagrange v1.18.6, No Stagnation in Geminispace, and Fake Coding (Slop)
Links for the day
The Register's Editor in Chief (Who Left for Google) Told Me "AI" Was a Bubble, But Now The Register Gets Paid to Participate in Inflating This Bubble
A lot of the online media is a scam
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Some Cola Formulas Aren't Secret, But the Barrier is the Branding
That's the power of the channel/distribution, marketing, and brand recognition (accomplished through endless marketing)
Introducing Mission:Libre and FreeXR (and BreakXR)
efforts that accompany the foundations put there by the Free Software Foundation in 1985
Slopwatch: WebProNews, LinuxSecurity, and Some Success Stories
Google News still has a slopfarm issue
Links 05/08/2025: Hey Hi (AI) Passing Fads and GAFAM "Embracing the Military"
Links for the day
Links 05/08/2025: Samsung and Microsoft Layoffs
Links for the day
Rumours of Mass Layoffs at Red Hat Next Week (August 11th, 2025)
The eleventh means next Monday
IBM is Shutting Down (Piecewise)
IBM is basically being liquidated
The Debian Language Police Department (PD)
"there has never been complaints about anyone that was offended by this -off package"
Tesla's Debt More Than Doubled in 2 Years and the Company Will Operate in the Red (at a Loss) Quite Soon
If your first-quarter net income is $409 million and you borrow billions from banks, plus interest to pay on those loans, then you're not far from returning to losses
When The Register MS Says "Linux Backdoor" It Actually Talks About Malware
The leading story in The Register US/MS this morning is Microsoft
Microsoft Windows Fell to 19% "Market Share" in Montenegro
Microsoft must be well aware of this trend
Why We Also Include Gopher Links in Our Gemini (Protocol) Links
There are still many people who use Gopher to relay their messages (like blog posts). They're mostly technical people.
Shouting is an Indication of a Lack of Convincing Argument
Beware what they are attempting to distract from
Mongolia: Microsoft Windows at All-Time Low
in 2009 when Windows was at 99.45% in Mongolia the company was "worth" less than 200 billion dollars
About a Quarter of Today's "linux" News in Google News Came From One Domain and It's a Slopfarm
Not kidding!
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Zombie Threat and Switching to NixOS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 04, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 04, 2025
ChatGPT in Trouble
Watch out for the newer buzzwords
The Register MS Links to the Wrong statCounter Page
They link to older data
Dr. Andy Farnell Explains How Google Turned From "Librarian" Into "Oracle", Telling Us What to Think Instead of Where to Look
Google was always a lousy librarian
Microsoft Layoffs Continue in August 2025
If Microsoft is doing so well, how come about 10 rounds of layoffs in about 7 months in 2025?