Bonum Certa Men Certa

The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXI: The Balkan League – The Doyen and His “Protégée”

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. YOU ARE HERE ☞ The Balkan League – The Doyen and His “Protégée”


Balkan delegations
Balkan delegations that voted in favour of Battistelli's "Strike Regulations".
Ljiljana Kuterovac (HR), Safet Emruli (MK), Safet Sula (AL), Gábor Varga (RO) and Kamen Veselinov (BG).
Bottom right: Kuterovac and her "mentor" Željko Topić at the WIPO General Assembly (2010).



Summary: The EPO's circle of corruption in the Balkan region will be the focus of today's (and upcoming) coverage, showing some of the controversial enablers of Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos, two deeply corrupt French officials who rapidly drive the Office into the ground for personal gain (at Europe's expense!)

In this part we begin an in-depth examination of the "captured" delegations from the Balkan region and how they contributed to the rubber-stamping of Battistelli's "Strike Regulations" at the 136th meeting of the Administrative Council in June 2013.



"The links between Battistelli and his Croatian "bulldog", Željko Topić, go back at least as far as 2008 when, as heads of their respective national IP Offices, they signed a bilateral agreement between France and Croatia."It has long been an open secret that the "Balkan Express" connection was a vital cog in Battistelli’s pan-European crony network.

The links between Battistelli and his Croatian "bulldog", Željko Topić, go back at least as far as 2008 when, as heads of their respective national IP Offices, they signed a bilateral agreement between France and Croatia.

"Back in June 2013, the Croatian delegation was headed by Topić's "protégée" Ljiljana Kuterovac, who was assisted by her deputy Ana Rački Marinković."Topić - the self-proclaimed "doyen of IP in the region" - was reputed to be useful for drumming up support amongst the "Balkan League" delegations from the territory of the former Yugoslavia and its neighbouring states.

Back in June 2013, the Croatian delegation was headed by Topić's "protégée" Ljiljana Kuterovac, who was assisted by her deputy Ana Rački Marinković.

On that occasion, Topić and his "accomplice" Kuterovac were able to "capture" an additional four votes for Battistelli from the following EPO member states:

● North Macedonia: head of delegation, Safet Emruli; ● Albania: head of delegation, Safet Sula; ● Bulgaria: head of delegation, Kamen Veselinov; and ● Romania: head of delegation, Gábor Varga.

Croatia's delegation
The Croatian delegation: Ljiljana Kuterovac and her deputy Ana Rački Marinković at the WIPO General Assembly in 2013.



Battistelli's gratitude towards his Croatian "bulldog" was evident from the way in which he used the 136th meeting of the Council to present the delegates with the outcome of an “internal investigation” which had been stage-managed for the purpose of whitewashing Topić.

"...even the Croatian government was starting to be wary of Battistelli and they only sent a junior (deputy) minister to greet him."Some years later, in December 2016 (warning: epo.org link), Battistelli turned up in Zagreb for a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of Croatia's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). He used the occasion to plug the UPC and to pose for a photo-op with Topić and Kuterovac. By that time even the Croatian government was starting to be wary of Battistelli and they only sent a junior (deputy) minister to greet him.

Battistelli, Topic, and Kuterovac
Battistelli flanked by Topić and Kuterovac meeting with Deputy Minister of Science and Education Krešo Zadro in Zagreb for a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of Croatian SIPO.



It would be naïve to suppose that the departure of Battistelli and Topić from the EPO means that the "Balkan Express" has gone away.

"It would be naïve to suppose that the departure of Battistelli and Topić from the EPO means that the "Balkan Express" has gone away."It is still very much alive under Battistelli's successor - albeit in a modified form. The current EPO President Campinos is fully aware of the benefits of cultivating his connections to this vital hub of the "European IP Network".

That might explain why he hasn't taken any action to sort out the ongoing affair surrounding the "doyen of IP in the region", former EPO Vice-President Željko Topić, who continues to be permitted to pass himself off as an authorised European Patent Attorney despite the fact that he doesn't appear to have passed the European Qualifying Examination. According to Article 134 (2) (c) of the European Patent Convention, this is a mandatory requirement for recognition as a professional representative before the EPO.

"In the meantime, Topić is now listed as a member of the epi Council."As readers of Techrights will recall, Topić's name mysteriously appeared on the EPO’s list of professional representatives in March 2019. In the meantime, Topić is now listed as a member of the epi Council. This is the governing body of the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (epi), which is the professional body representing all European Patent Attorneys.

Kuterovac and Campinos
Just like his predecessor, Campinos is aware of the benefits of cultivating the "Balkan Express" connection.



It came as no great surprise to see Campinos turning up in Zagreb in February 2020 (warning: epo.org link) to attend an international conference on "challenges in intellectual property".

"In the next part we will turn our attention to the delegations representing North Macedonia and Albania."On this occasion, he was accompanied by an "EPO delegation" which included the Vice President in charge of International and Legal Affairs, the notorious Christoph Ernst. The duo were seen paying their respects to Kuterovac and her supervising Minister, Blaženka Divjak.

EPO and Blazenka Divjak
Campinos and Ernst paying their respects to Croatian Minister of Science and Education, Blaženka Divjak, and SIPO Director Kuterovac at an international conference held in Zagreb (February 2020).



In the next part we will turn our attention to the delegations representing North Macedonia and Albania.

Recent Techrights' Posts

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
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Sharing Code and Recipes
It helps explain the triviality of software freedom
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
 
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
Credit Suisse collapse obfuscated Parreaux, Thiébaud & Partners scandal
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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
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
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.
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