The "Alicante Mafia" - Part XIII - Is EPO Vice-President Steve Rowan in Cahoots With the "Alicante Mafia"?
The "Alicante Mafia" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12] that deserves much media attention, political intervention, and condemnation from all staff.
EPO Vice-President Steve Rowan who is responsible for the "Patent Granting Process". The normally garrulous Welshman appears to be lost for words when it comes to the EPO "Cocainegate" affair.
Inside the EPOnian bubble, Steve Rowan - rather unkindly dubbed the "Welsh Waffler" by insiders - is notorious for his long-winded stream-of-consciousness ramblings delivered during video-conference "management meetings" - with his "captive audience" carefully muted as a precautionary measure - a perfect textbook example of "monologue disguised as dialogue".
But when it comes to the EPO "Cocainegate" affair, the normally garrulous Welshman appears to be lost for words.
Is this just a standard case of EPO managerial Omertà or does Steve have some hidden - and as yet undiscovered - connections to the "Alicante Mafia" that has allegedly taken control at the EPO?
Let's take a closer look and see what we can find...
In October 2018 (local copy) it was announced that Steve Rowan had been appointed as Vice-President of the European Patent Office Directorate-General Patent Granting Process. His initial appointment took effect on 1 January 2019 and was for five years. He succeeded Alberto Casado Cerviño, who retired at the end of 2018.
What is remarkable about this appointment is that prior to his selection as EPO VP, Steve Rowan had little or no experience with any "patent granting process" whether at the UKIPO or elsewhere.
As a matter of fact, the official record shows that during his time at the UKIPO (local copy) Steve Rowan was primarily involved with the administration of trademarks and registered designs. The UKIPO Corporate Plan for 2017-2020 (local copy) lists him as "Acting Director Tribunal, Trade Marks and Designs Division".
During his time at the UKIPO, Rowan was often quoted in the UK-based "IP media" as an official "source" in reports covering trademark issues. For example, in 2016 he was quoted in an article published by Managing Intellectual Property (local copy) which discussed the expected impact of Brexit on IP matters. In 2017, a posting on X/Twitter by the law firm Taylor Wessing LLP (local copy) quoted him in connection with the UKIPO's efforts to manage an increase in UK trademark filings following the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Prior to Rowan's surprise move to the EPO 2019, there doesn't appear to be any documented record of him being mentioned or quoted as a "source" in relation to patent matters.
In keeping with the trademark-centric nature of his role at the UKIPO, Steve Rowan never acted as a UK representative on the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation.
According to the EPO Official Journal for January 2018, the UK representatives on the EPO's Administrative Council were Tim Moss (Chief Executive and Comptroller) and Sean Dennehey (Deputy Chief Executive). In July 2018, Sean Dennehey was replaced by Liz Coleman (Director Patents Policy).
But although Rowan's name is conspicuously absent from the records of the EPO's Administrative Council (AC), it does crop up in the records of the Management Board of the EUIPO in Alicante. (Local copy for AC delegates in January 2018; local copy for AC delegates in July 2018; local copy for same - the Management Board - at EUIPO in July 2018)
Steve Rowan's name is conspicuously absent from the records of the EPO's Administrative Council but it does crop up in the records of the Management Board of the EUIPO in Alicante.
The EUIPO Management Board is the oversight body of the EU's trademark registration agency and it plays a role in EUIPO governance analogous to that of the EPO's Administrative Council in relation to the European Patent Office. The EUIPO Management Board is composed of delegates from the EU member states. These delegates are typically either the heads of the national IP offices or senior officials from those offices with responsibility for trademark administration.
Since Brexit took effect on 31 January 2020, the UK is no longer involved in the governance of the EUIPO but, prior to that, the UK had a seat on the Management Board.
The list of the members of the EUIPO Management Board for July 2018 reveals that at that time the UK delegation was headed by none other than Steve Rowan who is designated as the UKIPO "Divisional Director Trade Marks and Designs". His alternate was Natasha Chick who is designated as "Deputy Director Trade Marks and Designs".
In 2018 the UK delegation to the EUIPO in Alicante was headed by the UKIPO Director of Trade Marks and Designs, Steve Rowan (left), and the alternate delegate was his deputy, Natasha Chick (right).
In his capacity as a head of delegation on the EUIPO Management Board it's a safe bet that Steve must have been acquainted with António Campinos and his trusty "spin-doctor" Luis Berenguer Giménez long before he made the mysterious transition from UKIPO "trademark director" to head of the "patent granting process" at the EPO.
We don't have any concrete information about Rowan's pre-EPO dealings with Campinos at the EUIPO in Alicante. For this reason we can only speculate as to whether or not Rowan played any role in lobbying for the UKIPO to support Campinos in his bid for the top job at the EPO and whether or not Campinos might have played a role in "facilitating" Rowan's subsequent move from the UKIPO join "Team Campinos" at the EPO in 2019.
All things considered, it remains a distinct possibility that Campinos might have had some part to play in Rowan's selection as a "safe pair of hands" to succeed Alberto Casado as the EPO Vice-President in charge of the "Patent Granting Process".
If this was the case, then it might go some way towards explaining why Rowan now prefers to maintain a discreet silence about the "Cocainegate" affair.
Over to you, Steve.
Anything to say?
Or has the cat got your tongue? █