Plan for European Patent Office (EPO) Coverage This Month, Next Month, and Next Year
One recurring topic or theme inside the EPO this month is elections. Another is "Cocainegate". We'll be focusing more on the latter and we shall do our best to ensure the Benoît Battistelli-appointed António Campinos is getting what he deserves. People who know him well inside the Office have strong suspicions he too is a cocaine user. They not only heard stuff; they saw stuff.
Our in-depth coverage of EPO affairs started in 2014. We're soon entering 2026. Prior to 2014 we covered the EPO mostly in relation to European software patents - i.e. patents which are both illegal and undesirable. It wasn't too clear to us (at the time) what went on with Office "politics", including the sudden departure of its British President, Brimelow.
With the exception of Brimelow, everyone running the Office was French. Considering the ambition of Campinos to secure a third term, we're looking at French people in charge of the Office for almost 27 years in 30-year period. How's that for diversity [1, 2]?
We'll soon be covering the Alicante imports at the EPO. Since the Office is run more like organised crime than an office entrusted to deal with legal issues, it is hardly surprising that loyalty comes before skills and jobs get "sold" to friends.
How much longer can European politicians ignore all this corruption?
We predict that we can routinely cover EPO affairs for at least 5 more years. "Cleaning house" can take a long time and lots of effort, perseverance, patience. The EPO is not some small office somewhere; it's very large and it's protected by the political system, it's a de facto monopoly, backed by monopolies no matter how corrupt it gets (usually in favour of these monopolies).
Our plan for this month was mentioned in passing as recently as an hour ago. Next month we'll turn our attention to Alicante and EUIPO. Next year we'll try to pull some political strings; if there's no political will to do anything about this, it'll simply become more of a political scandal as well. █
