Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part X – A Pan-European “Good Brother” Network Celebration?



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. You are here ☞ A Pan-European “Good Brother” Network Celebration?


EPO' usual suspects
All the usual suspects turned up at the 20th anniversary celebration of the Estonian patent office (March 2012).



Summary: The EPO's "big club" sort of folded its cards a decade ago; we take a look back in time and work 'in reverse' to explain current EPO affairs

By all accounts, 2012 was a tough year for the Estonian Patent Office.



According to the annual report "jobs were cut and salaries were reduced".

"But despite these "crisis circumstances", the Estonian Patent Office somehow managed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its re-establishment in what was described as "a dignified manner"."Things were so bad that the Director-General Matti Päts lamented: "Various bonuses that we once could enjoy have now been forgotten."

But despite these "crisis circumstances", the Estonian Patent Office somehow managed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its re-establishment in what was described as "a dignified manner".

The celebratory event took place in Tallinn on 8 March 2012 and was attended by the great and good of the "global IP community".

The foremost guest of honour was Francis Gurry, the scandal-ridden head honcho of WIPO in Geneva.

"The celebratory event took place in Tallinn on 8 March 2012 and was attended by the great and good of the "global IP community"."Also present were most of those who had participated in the mysterious meeting that had taken place two years earlier in January 2010 to discuss "the development trends of both EPO and OHIM".

Once again, Matti Päts played the host to Benoît Battistelli – now the President of the EPO – and to António Campinos – now the Executive Director of the EU trademark agency OHIM.

But in March 2012 Battistelli and Campinos didn't have to hide themselves behind a veil of conspiratorial secrecy. They now appeared in public as guests of honour seated beside Päts and Gurry.

Battistelli's valet Gilles Requena who had advanced to become his master's chef-de-cabinet at the EPO was also to be seen hanging around on the sidelines.

EPO's Gilles Requena
Battistelli's valet Gilles Requena hanging around on the sidelines.



And last but not least, Battistelli's Finnish "facilitator", Martti Enäjärvi, turned up to pay his respects to his "good brothers" from the "European IP network".

As Matti Päts put it:

"The anniversary would not have been perfect without our long-time supporter and friend Mr Martti Enäjärvi, the former Director General of the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland."


Martti of Finland in Estonia
"The anniversary would not have been perfect without our long-time supporter and friend Mr Martti Enäjärvi"



The only person who seems to have been missing was João Negrão but he had probably been left behind in Alicante to hold the fort.

The official photos of the event also record the presence of other key supporters of Battistelli, in particular the head of the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, Jesper Kongstad, who appears as a guest of honour, seated between Battistelli and Campinos. Kongstad was now the Chairman of the EPO's Administrative Council thanks to the "partnership" deal which he had cut with Battistelli back in 2010.

Kongstad and Campinos
Head of the Danish PTO Jesper Kongstad having a giggle with his fellow guest of honour, António Campinos.



In addition to Kongstad there was the Director-General of the Croatian State IPO, Željko Topić, who would be appointed as an EPO Vice-President later the same month (warning: epo.org link) and the Director-General of the Spanish Patent and Trademarks Office, Alberto Casado Cerviño, who would likewise be appointed as an EPO Vice-President some months later in June 2012. (warning: epo.org link)

Alberto Casado Cervino networking
Enäjärvi seated beside Aberto Casado Cerviño, head of the Spanish PT and soon to become EPO Vice-President. Rimvydas Naujokas from the Lithuanian Patent Office is in the background.



Topić can be seen seated beside the head of the Hungarian IPO, Miklós Bendzsel, who was at that time the deputy Chairman of the EPO's Administrative Council and another staunch Battistelli loyalist.

Topic lobbying
Željko Topić and Miklós Bendzsel enjoying a laugh together.Friedrich Rödler can be seen seated beside Topić.



Yet another notable guest was the Austrian "double-dipper" Friedrich Rödler who can be seen exchanging pleasantries with Campinos.

Campinos with Friedrich Rodler
Hail fellow well met: António Campinos and Friedrich Rödler exchanging pleasantries.



Given the cold winds of austerity blowing through the Estonian Patent Office at the time, it's not clear how Matti Päts and his team managed to foot the bill for this extravaganza.

"Given the cold winds of austerity blowing through the Estonian Patent Office at the time, it's not clear how Matti Päts and his team managed to foot the bill for this extravaganza."There has been speculation that the costs might have been subsidised by Battistelli using EPO funds as a kind of "thank you" present to his cash-strapped friends on the Baltic Rim but there is no hard proof of this.

Matti Pats of Estonia drinking
Break out the champagne: Master of ceremonies Matti Päts receives a present from Latvian representatives Reinis Bērziņš and Guntis Ramāns.



Elle Mardo of Estonia
Elle Mardo, head of the Patent Department at the Estonian Patent Office tucking into the sushi at the self-service buffet. Due to an economic crisis, jobs were being cut, salaries reduced and bonuses slashed at the Estonian Patent Office, so who was covering the expense of this lavish spread?



"In any case, Battistelli was suitably impressed by the 2012 event that Matti Päts had organised for his buddies in the "European IP network"."The ostensible purpose of this event was to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Estonian Patent Office. However, the overall impression given is that it was a kind of undercover victory celebration of the pro-Battistelli clique that had organised the secret meeting to discuss "the development trends of both EPO and OHIM" with Matti Päts on 10 January 2010.

In any case, Battistelli was suitably impressed by the 2012 event that Matti Päts had organised for his buddies in the "European IP network".

Following his return to Munich, he sent a personal letter of thanks to Päts [PDF] with a promise of continued collaboration:

Be assure [sic] that the EPO will continue to support your actions and, thanks to the Cooperation roadmap which has been adopted with your approval, it is intended to foster our bilateral activities in the coming years.


In the next part we will return to the person who is suspected as having acted as the facilitator at the January 2010 meeting, namely Martti Enäjärvi and we will see how his "good brother" connections in Alicante came to his assistance after he had been forced to retire from the Finnish PRH.

Recent Techrights' Posts

When People Call a Best/Close Friend of Bill Gates a "Serial Rapist"
Good thing that the Linux Foundation keeps the "Linux" trademark ("Linux Mark") clean
Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia, Shutdown in Pakistan, What Next?
It seems possible that in 2025 alone Microsoft will have laid off over 50,000 workers
What Matters More Than "Market Share"
The goal is freedom, not "market share"
Credit Suisse collapse obfuscated Parreaux, Thiébaud & Partners scandal
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
UK Media Under Threat: Cannot Report on Data Breach, Cannot Report on Microsoft Staff Strangling Women
The story of super injunction (in the British media this week, years late)
Under the Guise of "MIT Technology Review Insights" the Site MIT Technology Review Posts Corporate Spam as 'Articles'
Some of the articles aren't even articles but 'hit pieces' against Free software and some are paid advertisements
Brett Wilson LLP Has Track Record in Scam Coin Cases (e.g. Craig Wright and More), Now It Works for 'Crypto' Scam Purveyors
But wait, it gets worse
Will Brett Wilson LLP Handle Its Own Winding Up Petition or be Struck Off for Overt Abuse of Process?
Today we sue not only the first Microsofter
 
CALEA / CALEA2 is the Real Problem, Not Chinese Operatives Exploiting CALEA / CALEA2 (as Any Other Nation Can)
CALEA / CALEA2 is more of a front door than a back door
99.99% Uptime in First Half of 2025
Since January there was only one noticeable outage
Nils Torvalds and Anna "Mikke" Torvalds (née Törnqvis) Hopefully Use GNU/Linux by Now
"Torvalds Family Uses Windows, Not Linus’ Linux"
Attack of the Slopfarms
FUD-amplifying bots with slop images, slop text (LLM slop)
Not My Problem, I Don't Care
Context/inspiration: Martin Niemöller
Honest Journalism About the European Patent Office Ceased to Exist After SLAPPs and Bribes to the Media
The EPO is basically a Mafia
Life Became Simpler When I Stopped Driving and I Don't Miss Driving When I See "Modern" Cars
Gee, wonder why car sales have plummeted...
Why I Believe Brett Wilson LLP and Its Microsoft Clients Are All Toast
So far our legal strategy has worked perfectly
EPO Jobs Are Very Toxic and Bad for One's Health
Health first, not monopolies
Response to Ryo Suwito Regarding the Four Freedoms
the point of life isn't to make more money
Microsoft's Morale Circling Down the Drain
Or gutter, toilet etc.
Tech Used to be Fun. To Many of Us It's Still Fun.
You can just watch it from afar and make fun of it all
Links 17/07/2025: "Blog Identity Crisis" and Openwashing by Nvidia
Links for the day
Greffiers and the US Attorney of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
The lawsuit can help expose extensive corruption in the American court system as well
The People Who Promoted systemd in Debian Also Promote Wayland
This is not politics
Victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, Wanted to Sue Him But Lacked the Funds (He Attacked Their Finances)
Having spoken to victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
Links 17/07/2025: Science, Hardware, and Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: Staying in the "Small Web" and Back on ICQ
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Exclusive: corruption in Tribunals, Greffiers, from protection rackets to cat whisperers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/07/2025: Chip Bans and Microsoft’s “Digital Escort” Program
Links for the day
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Revolving Doors: One Day You're a Judge, the Next Day You're an Attorney Paying Public Officials and Working for Violent and Dangerous Microsoft Employees
how the US justice system works
Sharing Code and Recipes
It helps explain the triviality of software freedom
Slopwatch: Noise, Plagiarism and Even Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
What are we meant to do to prevent a false association or misleading connotations? Game the LLMs? No. Boycott slopfarms.
How Many Women Has Microsoft's Alex Balabhadra Graveley Already Strangled and Where Does That End?
If you too are a victim of this man and wish to share information, contact us
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Simple Web Browsing with TLS
Links for the day
Links 16/07/2025: Fascist Slop Takes "Intelligence" Clothing, New Criminal Case Against MElon
Links for the day
"We Might Save Somebody's Life"
I follow the example of my father
Why I am Suing the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, in the UK High Court This Week
Out of respect to the process and to the Court, I shall not share any pertinent details about the case
Links 16/07/2025: China’s Economy Grows Steadily, France Takes Action Regarding Harm to Children by GAFAM and Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
It is Not About Politics
Beware the people who try to make this about politics
Good Journalism Saves Lives
a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner
Recognition of Women's Contributions to Free Software
Being passive is not an option when bad things are happening
Slopfarms Are Going to Perish Because Public Opinion is Changing
Many slopfarms will simply go offline
19 Years of Standing Up for Justice, Equality, and Truth
This week we shall take it up a notch
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: Tmux and OCC25 Working TLS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Links 15/07/2025: LLM Pollution and Pushback in Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: xkcd, New Cert, and Alhena Gemlog
Links for the day
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders
Links for the day
Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day