Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXXVI: Serbian Sour Grapes



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. "Balkan League"
  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. YOU ARE HERE ☞ Serbian Sour Grapes


Balkan region article
Most but not all Administrative Council delegations from the Balkan region had been "captured" by Benoît Battistelli in June 2013. The exceptions were Serbia and Slovenia.



Summary: Today we take a closer look at Serbia, a country that did not authorise Benoît Battistelli's illegal "Strike Regulations"

The representatives of the EPO's member states from the Balkan region have a rather dismal record as "captured delegates".



However, as can be seen by the actions of the Serbian and Slovenian delegations in June 2013, there have been honourable exceptions to this general rule.

"In June 2013, the Serbian delegation was headed by Branka Totić, Director of the Serbian Intellectual Property Office."In an earlier series about EPO affairs, it was already mentioned that the Serbian delegation on the EPO's Administrative Council frequently took issue with Battistelli’s proposals.

In June 2013, the Serbian delegation was headed by Branka Totić, Director of the Serbian Intellectual Property Office.

Branka Totic as Serbian rep
Head of the Serbian delegation, Branka Totić.



Serbia, which is the largest of the successor states of the former federal Republic of Yugoslavia, has been a candidate for EU accession since 2012 but like its neighbours Montenegro and North Macedonia it appears to have been permanently consigned to the "waiting-room".

However, along with North Macedonia, Serbia has managed to qualify for membership of the European Patent Organisation.

North Macedonia joined the EPO on 1 January 2009 and Serbia followed suit some time later on 1 October 2010.

"North Macedonia joined the EPO on 1 January 2009 and Serbia followed suit some time later on 1 October 2010."Battistelli did his best to co-opt the Serbs as members of his "Balkan League", but they turned out not to be as "obliging" as their Croatian neighbours who had joined the EPO almost three years earlier on 1 January 2008.

In September 2011 - a little over a year after he had assumed the position of EPO President - Battistelli, paid a two-day visit to the EPO's newest member state to meet with local dignitaries. On that occasion the "Sun-King" of EPOnia was accompanied by his faithful "batman" Gilles Requena and his cooperation fund "bagman" François-Régis Hannart.

Battistelli in Belgrade
Battistelli in Belgrade in September 2011 flanked by "batman" Requena (l.) and "bagman" Hannart (r.).



According to the official puff-pieces published to mark the occasion, Battistelli used his stay in Belgrade "to address the scientific, economic and academic community in Serbia" at an event held in the Ceremonial Hall of the Rectorate of the University of Belgrade. He also took time to pose for a photo-op with the University Rector Branko Kovačević and the Director of the Serbian IPO, Branka Totić.

Battistelli, Branko Kovacevic, and Branka Totic
Battistelli (r.) posing for a photo-op with the Rector of the University of Belgrade Branko Kovačević (l.) and the Director of the Serbian IPO, Branka Totić (c.).



However, as it turned out, Battistelli and Totić never really warmed to each other.

"However, as it turned out, Battistelli and Totić never really warmed to each other."On the contrary, according to EPO insiders, the head of the Serbian delegation was irritated by the preferment of Željko Topić, the controversial head of the Croatian State Intellectual Property Office, who was appointed as EPO Vice-President in 2012 on Battistelli's insistence.

Following this perceived affront, the Serbian delegation on the Administrative Council often crossed swords with Battistelli and expressed their discontent by occasionally voting against his proposals, or at least - as in the case of the "Strike Regulations" - by withholding support in the form of an abstention.

"...we have no information about what exactly motivated their decision to abstain on that particular occasion."Unfortunately, the minutes of the 136th meeting [PDF] of the Administrative Council don't contain any statement of the Serbian delegation's position concerning the "Strike Regulations". This means that we have no information about what exactly motivated their decision to abstain on that particular occasion.

In the next part we will begin an in-depth examination of the delegation representing the other "abstentionist" state from the Balkan region, the Republic of Slovenia.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Traf-O-Data, the Company That Jeffrey Epstein's BFF (Bill Gates) (Co)Founded 53 Years and Went Out of Business Due to Heavy Losses
Who will die first, Bill or Microsoft?
A Note on SimilarWeb
Or why SimilarWeb is meaningless for more than 99% of the sites on the Web
 
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia, Windows by Default No More?
GNU/Linux is now on the shelf
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux 'Articles' From Linux-Hostile LLMs
It is almost always negative things and nobody can be held responsible for it except the charlatans prompting the LLMs
Links 05/04/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) "Sale Looks Highly Imminent" (US), Stock Market Drowning in Panic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Moving Plants, No to Smartwatches, RAID Hygiene
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 04, 2025
Techrights Has Dealt With More Potent SLAPPs Than Violent Microsofters Begging to Hide What They Did to Women
I became accustomed to SLAPPs
Links 04/04/2025: Fury in South Korea, Flight MH370 Remains Mystery
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Anger and Raspberry Pi CM4
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2025: LLM Slop Bubble Bursting and Korea Music Copyright Association Bans Slop 'Music'
Links for the day
Why Microsoft's Shares Sank Almost 20% in Recent Months (the Bubble is Imploding)
verified press reports from the past 24 hours
GNU/Linux Rises to Almost 5% in Algeria While Windows Sinks to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux grew tenfold
Where to Get More Gags
A valued reader recommended that to us
Links 04/04/2025: Tech Stock (Inc. GAFAM) Fall, Google Pretends to Do End-to-End Encrypted Emails (With Google in Control)
Links for the day
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025
Microsoft's Trouble in Africa and Asia
A new all-time high for GNU/Linux
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day