Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Corruption Under António Campinos: Epilogue

Topic IP EPO
Extract from the EPO Official Journal for March 2019



Summary: Corruption prevails at the European Patent Office, Europe's second-largest institution, and named here are those liable or capable of clarification/rectification

IN the latest EPO mini-series we have looked at how not long after he departed from his job as EPO Vice-President in December 2018, Željko Topić "MBA", the self-styled "doyen of Intellectual Property in the region", suddenly and mysteriously resurfaced on the EPO's list of professional representatives in March 2019.



How exactly Topić achieved a place on this list is something of a riddle because there is no record that he ever passed the EQE which is a mandatory prerequisite for entry on the list.

So far nobody has been able to come up with a credible explanation as to how this could have happened.

The really interesting question here is whether it was all just a simple clerical error or whether "Team Campinos" actively colluded with Topić to facilitate his inclusion on the list despite the fact that he lacks the requisite formal qualifications.

"How exactly Topić achieved a place on this list is something of a riddle because there is no record that he ever passed the EQE which is a mandatory prerequisite for entry on the list."It is worth pointing out here that it is not within the gift of the EPO President to make such an exemption for any individual.

Under the terms of Article 134 (7) EPC, the President may grant exemption from "the requirement of paragraphs 2(a) or 3(a) in special circumstances" and from "the requirement of paragraph 3(c), second sentence, if the applicant furnishes proof that he has acquired the requisite qualification in another way".

In plain English, the first of these "exemptions" relates to the requirement that the candidate for inclusion on the list should be a national of an EPO contracting state. So for example if a US citizen passes the EQE, he can be included on the list of professional representatives if the President grants an exemption.

"So the buck stops with Mr Ernst to clarify the matter."The second of the "exemptions" relates to the application of the "grandfather clause" in the case of persons in a new contracting state who are normally required to have acted as a professional representative in that state for at least five years if entitlement to represent before the national office is not conditional upon special professional qualifications.

The bottom line here is that none of the "exemptions" listed under Article 134 (7) EPC have any relevance to the case of Željko Topić because the EPO President has no discernible authority to grant any individual an exemption in respect of the EQE requirement of Article 134 (2) (c).

The only thing that we can be reasonably sure about here is that Topić's application for entry on the list must have passed through the hands of EPO Directorate 5.2.3 which falls under the responsibility of Christoph Ernst as the Vice President of International and Legal Affairs.

So the buck stops with Mr Ernst to clarify the matter.

Of course it should not be forgotten that there are other people out there who could be expected to take an interest in a suspected irregularity in the list of professional representatives.

"This means that as of March 2019, Željko Topić has officially been a member of epi."Article 134a EPC (warning: epo.org link) establishes an "Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office" which generally operates under the moniker of epi.

According to pargraph (2) of Article 134a EPC, any person entered on the list of professional representatives "shall be a member of the Institute".

This means that as of March 2019, Željko Topić has officially been a member of epi.

One would have thought that the epi might have had some concerns about this mysterious addition to its membership and that it would be interested in clarifying Mr Topić's entitlement to be entered onto the list of professional representatives.

However, when we recall the role played by Tony Tangena of the epi in covering the controversy surrounding Topić's appointment as EPO Vice-President and his close collaboration with Raimund Lutz in that affair, we advise our readers not to hold their breath on that one…

In the meantime some cynical EPO insiders have been heard to remark that if Battistelli was still in charge at the EPO he would quickly respond by organising an official whitewash using the EPO's investigative unit.

"...according to inside sources the investigative unit has become a pale shadow of its former self."But Battistelli is long gone at the helm of the EPO and according to inside sources the investigative unit has become a pale shadow of its former self.

This time the ball is in the court of António the Unsteady. So let's wait and see how he deals with it – just as soon as he has had time to sober up, that is…

Recent Techrights' Posts

This is the Man Who's Attacking Linus Torvalds et al in "a Disease" (Social Control Media)
One thing that Richard M. Stallman and Torvalds can agree on is that Social Control Media should be avoided
Unlike GAFAM, Free Software Serves You, It Does Not Serve Governments and MElons (Overlapping Forces)
Tired of oligarchy controlling your life through gadgets and "apps"?
When It Comes to Social Control Media, Linus Torvalds is Channeling Techrights
GAFAM workers know exactly who to aim at
New EPO Paper: Promoting (Rewarding) People Who Grant Many Illegal European Patents to Make More Money (at Europeans' Expense) While Patent Courts in the EU Are Themselves Illegal
now the coup is sort of complete and even the "courts" are part of the corruption
Slopwatch: Carnival of LLM Slop and FUD Spewed by Bots, Pasted in by MaKenna Hensley and Day
Welcome to the Web in 2025. Articles about "Linux", "Security", and the Web (e.g. "Firefox") are fake.
Links 07/02/2025: Amazon’s Stock Collapses and US Government Being Dismantled (Still)
Links for the day
 
Links 08/02/2025: UK Back Doors and Religious Fundamentalists in Positions of Higher Power
Links for the day
Today's IBM (Red Hat) Isn't the Company That Fought a Microsoft-Sponsored SCO in Court
IBM is nowadays in a state of rapid disintegration
When You Simply Rebrand Almost Everything as "Hey Hi" ("AI"), "Hey Hi Workloads", "Hey Hi Datacentres" and Whatnot
The "growth" has been a growing lie for years if not decades
Microsoft Windows Falls to 12% in Myanmar
Remember that Microsoft is virtually 0% in mobile
Gemini Links 08/02/2025: "Thought Leaders" and Returns to Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Links 08/02/2025: MElon Coup, Mass Layoffs at Facebook, and PlayStation Network Down
Links for the day
On Wars Against Founders
We need to insist that founders remain
Links 08/02/2025: News Corp Admits Traffic Declines, Wildlife Trafficking Tackled
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/02/2025: Lamp and Notions
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 07, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, February 07, 2025
Gemini Links 07/02/2025: Mid-level Details and Simple Code
Links for the day
Links 07/02/2025: US 'Demolition Crew', e-ID Loopholes, and Sanctions
Links for the day
Professor Eben Moglen on How Social Control Media Metabolises Humans and Constrains Freedom of Thought
Nothing of value would be lost if all these data-harvesting giants (profiling people) vanished overnight
Social Control Media is Narcissism
Nowadays there's a lot more literature and even press coverage explaining the harms of Social Control Media
Debian Left Twitter (MElon "X"), We Think the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Should Do the Same
What would the FSF really lose if it stopped posting there?
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Share Doubling in China Over the Past Year
It'll be interesting to see what data in the coming months shows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 06, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 06, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Confirms Next Week's Talk in Europe
He gave at least 2 talks in Europe last month
Nationalism As A Service (NaaS) by Microsoft Azure, Gutting the US Government for Profit
Will Microsoft be receiving bailouts as a reward for all this?
Rumours of IBM Layoffs Apparently Confirmed Yesterday, IBM Canada Consulting Impacted (as Rumoured)
when IBM has layoffs we must also read it as Red Hat layoffs
Tons of Anti-Linux 'Articles' Published by Bots (LLMs), Maybe Microsoft's
Upon closer inspection, all this FUD turned out to be LLM garbage
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Voicemail Sucks and Night of Lights
Links for the day
Ubuntu Desktop Director of Engineering Has Only One Blog Post. It Promotes Microsoft Windows.
Remember that even 15 years ago (more or less, maybe 16 years ago) Canonical appointed a a 'former' Microsoft manager (Spencer) to lead Ubuntu on the desktop
Links 06/02/2025: YouTube Takedowns Out of Control, 'DOGE' Breaking Laws
Links for the day
IBM Red Hat on "era of cloud computing", pushing "hey hi" (AI) hype in Microsoft Azure
LLM slop might actually be more benign than Microsoft promotion
Corruption and Rule-Breaking Prevail at the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest Institution
The law does not really exist at the EPO; it can be perceived as merely a "recommendation"
statCounter: More Countries Where Windows is Around 1% "Market Share" (People Have Moved to Android/Linux)
in some nations Windows is already 1% or less
404 Media Says "Workers at NASA Told to Drop Everything to Scrub Mentions of Indigenous People, Women from Its Websites" But There's Also Accessibility in the Firing Line
In the case of abandoning accessibility, everyone stands to be hurt and proprietary software can be brought in to replace standards
When BetaNews Writes Real Articles About "Linux" They Promote Windows
The Web is in a bad state. We need to at least try to correct this.
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Cynicism and "Real Magic on the C64"
Links for the day
Links 06/02/2025: New Sanctions, Layoffs, and Executive Orders
Links for the day
Distros and Desktop Environments, Devices
GNU/Linux focused
New Rumours of IBM Layoffs in 2025, IBM Consulting Still Struggles, Based on Management
"Hey hi" (AI) has been a common excuse for business failure
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 05, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 05, 2025