Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part XIV – Business as Usual in Tallinn

Series index:

  1. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part I – More Captured Delegates?
  2. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part II – Old Wine in New Bottles...
  3. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part III – Introducing the Finnish “Facilitator”
  4. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part IV – Martti Enäjärvi and His “Good Brother” Networks
  5. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part V – A Man With a Conviction...
  6. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part VI – "A Good Friend of Estonia and a Steady Cooperation Partner”
  7. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part VII – A Self-Appointed “Select Committee”
  8. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part VIII – Pulling for the Portuguese Pretender?
  9. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part IX – António's Faithful Acolyte in Alicante
  10. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part X – A Pan-European “Good Brother” Network Celebration?
  11. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part XI – With a Little Help From My Friends…
  12. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part XII – Battistelli and His Baltic Fiefdoms
  13. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part XIII – Out With the Old, in With the New?
  14. You are here ☞ Business as Usual in Tallinn


Matti Päts
Matti Päts retired at the end of March 2015.



Summary: How Margus Viher became chief of the Estonian Patent Office in the wake of Matti Päts retiring at age of about 82; his track record so far is relatively OK

Matti Päts, the long-time Director-General of the Estonian Patent Office, ruled the roost in Tallinn for twenty three years from March 1992 until March 2015.



"As often happens in the case of national patent offices, Päts was succeeded by his deputy Margus Viher."In terms of job longevity he came close to matching the record set by his Finnish counterpart Martti Enäjärvi who was in charge of the Finnish PRH from 1986 to 2010.

When he was finally put out to pasture at the end of March 2015, Päts was pushing 82.

As often happens in the case of national patent offices, Päts was succeeded by his deputy Margus Viher.

Margus Viher and Matti Päts
Margus Viher (left) took over from Matti Päts in March 2015.



Viher is an alumnus of the School of Digital Technologies at Tallinn University and "a graduate in the field of information science" where he finished his studies in 1996.

In August 2020 he was nominated as an outstanding alumnus of the School of Digital Technologies.

Margus-Viher-Tallinn-University
In August 2020 Viher was nominated as an outstanding alumnus of the Tallinn University School of Digital Technologies.



According to his LinkedIn profile, Viher joined the Estonian Patent Office in January 2000 and was initially responsible for its "Information Department". He was appointed Deputy Director-General in May 2005 and finally took over the top job from Päts on 1 April 2015.

Margus-Viher-org-chart
Viher was initially responsible for the "Information Department" of the Estonian Patent Office and was appointed Deputy Director-General in May 2005.



Viher's tenure at the head of the Estonian Patent Office so far is best described as "uneventful".

The only visible change between 2015 and 2016 was the facts that the formerly clean-shaven Viher started sporting a beard.

Margus-Viher-beard
Margus Viher: clean-shaven in 2015, bearded in 2016.



Towards the end of 2019, he set up an official blog site associated with the Estonian Patent Office. The blog was intended to be "a place where we introduce what is happening in the world of intellectual property and keep the reader informed about it".

"There isn't a lot that can be said about Viher's tenure in charge of the Estonian Patent Office, apart from the fact that he has managed to keep the show on the road without any noticeable disruption."At least it seems a bit more democratically managed than the blog operated by the autocrats in charge of the EPO. According to Viher, the blog is intended to share "the thoughts and opinions of many of my colleagues here" and most of the postings are from office employees rather than self-promoting screeds to boost his own ego.

There isn't a lot that can be said about Viher's tenure in charge of the Estonian Patent Office, apart from the fact that he has managed to keep the show on the road without any noticeable disruption.

In 2016 he was responsible for signing a bilateral cooperation agreement with Benoît Battistelli according to which the EPO undertook "to assist the Estonian Patent Office with information technology and training, and finance the publication of industrial property related materials".

Margus-Viher-Battistelli-EPO
Viher signing a bilateral cooperation agreement with Battistelli in 2016.



On the EPO's Administrative Council, Viher has basically continued the tradition of his predecessor to defer to the line "proposed" (i.e. dictated) by the Office management and he is not noted for asking any awkward questions.

He seems like a fairly down-to-earth guy and he is probably reasonable enough to deal with on a personal level.

"Viher's political masters in Estonia seem to be happy enough with leaving him in charge of the national patent office."But, in relation to EPO affairs, he gives the impression of being out of his depth when faced with the political machinations of seasoned operators like Battistelli and António Campinos.

Viher's political masters in Estonia seem to be happy enough with leaving him in charge of the national patent office.

In March 2020 it was announced that he had been reappointed for another five-year term on the basis of a competitive selection procedure.

In the next part, we will turn our attention to the Lithuanian Patent Office, where we shall see that the transition from the old to new guard didn't go quite as smoothly.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
Links 10/06/2025: Jaws at 50 and US Democracy Crushed Very Rapidly (Martial Law Seems Imminent)
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VII: Washing Their Hands After Corruption and Abuse
"Tragedy or comedy?"
Culling Bad RSS Feeds of Bad Sites
Not throwing out the baby with the bathwater
 
IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Links 10/06/2025: Apple Hype and Physical Attacks on Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/06/2025: Loon Lake, Farming, and Forth
Links for the day
If 'Microsoft v Techrights' is Dealt With by a 'Microsoft Court' (or a Court Outsourced to Microsoft)
More on that later
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 09, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 09, 2025
Gemini Protocol Turns Six in 10 Days From Now
If you haven't tried it yet, then give it a go today
Live as You Preach
technology is fast becoming dysphoric
Gemini Links 09/06/2025: Addition Addiction and Nitride
Links for the day
Links 09/06/2025: Science, Hardware Projects, and Democracy Receding
Links for the day
Computers Got Smaller, So GNU/Linux Got Bigger
Many people here recognise the lack of urgency (or need) to get expensive new laptops
BetaNews is a Plagiarism and LLM Slop Hub, the Chief Editor Isn't Addressing This Problem Anymore
SS Fagioli is basically a parasite leeching off or exploiting other people's work
Links 09/06/2025: Chaos in Los Angeles and Hurricane Season
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Grows at Windows' Expense and Microsoft Trolls Infest and Maliciously Target Articles About It
Microsoft is - and has long been - organised crime
They Say I'm Mr. Bombastic
They didn't take good lawyers
Links 09/06/2025: Windows TCO and Many Data Breaches
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VI: Political Stunts by Former President Edyta Demby-Siwek and the Connection to Profound Corruption at EUIPO
it's like a money-laundering operation where one politician rewards another at taxpayers' expense
Gemini Links 09/06/2025: Pipelines and Splitgate
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 08, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 08, 2025