Bonum Certa Men Certa

BREAKING NEWS/EXCLUSIVE: António Campinos Confirms That He is Seeking Reappointment

A hardcore António Campinos



Summary: António Campinos confirms that he is seeking a renewal of his mandate and emphasises that he is seeking the endorsement of the Portuguese and not the French government

Today it was unofficially revealed that EPO President António Campinos is seeking reappointment as EPO President for a second term.



EPO insiders report that during an in-house video-conference Campinos responded to questions from staff by confirming that he is actively seeking reappointment.

However, his attempt to secure a second mandate is subject to him obtaining the endorsement of "his" government. He was at pains to emphasise that this referred to the Portuguese and not the French government!

Battistelli and KongstadThe inauguration of the new Portuguese government has been delayed until mid-March due to the need for a partial rerun of voting after a court decision which declared that more than 157,000 expatriate votes from 139 voting stations across Europe were invalid.

So it could take some time before Campinos finally gets the green light from "his" government to pursue his plans for an extension of his EPO appointment.

Campinos took over at the helm of the EPO in July 2018 after having been appointed for a five-year term. Thus, his current term is due to expire next year on 30 June 2023.

It is expected that the EPO's Administrative Council will discuss the renewal of his mandate at its 170th meeting scheduled to be held on 22 March 2022. (warning: epo.org link)

If Campinos were to fail to secure the approval of the Portuguese government together with the backing of three-quarters of the delegations on the Council, then this would require the opening of a selection procedure to choose a successor.

In the event of such a situation materialising, the Council could be expected to open the selection procedure at its June 2022 meeting.

"The reason for this is that back in 2009/2010, the Council encountered great difficulties in arriving at a consensus and the election process was widely criticised for its lack of transparency."However, the history of the EPO over the last decade or so has made the Council cautious about conducting such a procedure and it does its best to avoid it whenever it can.

The reason for this is that back in 2009/2010 [PDF], the Council encountered great difficulties in arriving at a consensus and the election process was widely criticised for its lack of transparency.

Leading the chorus of criticism about the lack of transparency was the outgoing President herself, Alison Brimelow who began her rebuke to the Council with the following words:

"As President and the guardian of the EPC, I have to bring a problem to your attention."

Brimelow deplored the fact that those outside the closed circle of delegates participating in the confidential "C-point" discussions on the election of a new President had no clear idea of what had been decided and that these decisions were not made available to the wider public.

Even IAM which normally restricts its coverage of EPO affairs to churning out uncritical puff-pieces had the following to say [PDF] after Benoît Battistelli had finally managed to secure election in March 2010:

"One of the striking aspects of the election process was its complete lack of transparency. Although all four candidates did go on the record about why they were standing and what their priorities would be as EPO president, at no stage was there any news about which countries were voting for which person and why. Even when Battistelli was elected there was no statement from the Administrative Council that explained the reasons for giving him the job."


In June 2014 (local copy [PDF]), a year before Battistelli's term of office was due to expire, the Council - led by Battistelli's "protector" the notoriously corrupt Jesper Kongstad - decided to extend the Corsican despot's mandate by another three years in order to save themselves the bother of having to conduct a selection procedure to find a successor.

Cuno TarfusserWhen the time finally came to elect a successor to Battistelli in 2017, the Council adopted a much more cautious approach than it had done in 2009. This time there was, for all intents and purposes, only one candidate, António Campinos.

The disgruntled Italian delegation which felt that it had been cheated of a Vice-President position in 2012 due Battistelli's sponsorship of Željko Topić tried to field an opposing candidate in the person of Cuno Tarfusser.

But Tarfusser's "lack of an IP background" - compared to the self-styled "trademark expert" Campinos - was used to undermine his candidacy and ensure that Battistelli's designated successor got the job.

IAM propaganda
EPO propaganda organ IAM joined in efforts to discredit Tarfusser by pointing to his lack of an "IP background".



Now that Campinos is gradually approaching the end of his first term of office, the Council is probably keen to reappoint him in order to avoid the "disruption" of having to organise a new selection procedure.

"Now that Campinos is gradually approaching the end of his first term of office, the Council is probably keen to reappoint him in order to avoid the "disruption" of having to organise a new selection procedure."However, it remains to be seen whether the growing unrest among EPO staff and the impending threat of industrial action by the staff union SUEPO will derail the Portuguese Pretender's plans to secure a second term of office.

Watch this space...

Recent Techrights' Posts

PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
"Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled
Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
We all remember that rather well, don't we?
Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
 
Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
Getting More From AnalogNowhere
Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
Links for the day
Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
“Inhumane” and “Disgusting” Mass Layoff Execution, According to Microsoft Staff
The workers are looking for other places to work
Misinformation is Not Intelligence
It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
The freedoms are what's most important
LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
All are run by the same people
Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
Links for the day
Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
Links for the day
New and Old
On Ageism in Tech
Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
Links for the day
Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
Links for the day
Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
Examples of white-collar trolls
Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
"Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
Links for the day