European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Tale of Two Antónios
Introduction
Reappointment by Rubber-Stamping?
CA/D 5/24: "Decision of the Administrative Council of 27
June 2024 laying down rules for appointing and reappointing, and
extending the term of office of, the President of the European
Patent Office".
Students of 20th-Century US history will be familiar with the acronym CREEP from the Nixon era.
It refers to the notorious "Committee for the Re-election of the President" which was the fundraising organisation for Nixon’s re-election campaign in 1972.
Members of CREEP would ultimately get caught up in the Watergate scandal, sending some of them prison and all of them to infamy.
At the EPO these days another similar – but subtly different—acronym is doing the rounds.
Well-informed insiders report that EPO President António Campinos is intent on prolonging his tenure for a third term. It's clear that Campinos would much prefer re-appointment via rubber-stamping by the EPO's Administrative Council rather than having to face the prospect of a re-election contest against an opposing candidate.
In other words, for Campinos the name of the game is re-appointment rather than re-election.
And so the current gossip in the EPO rumour-mill is focused on the "Campaign for the Re-Appointment of the President".
We will leave it to our readers to work out the acronym for themselves.
According to Article 11(1) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), the Administrative Council is responsible for appointing the President of the European Patent Office.
However, the EPC itself doesn't contain any details concerning the appointment procedure or the terms of the appointment. These are matters that the Administrative Council decides upon at its own discretion and without being subject to any meaningful external oversight or scrutiny.
It is a matter of record that Campinos was already reappointed by rubber-stamping for a second term back in June 2022 despite protests from EPO staff.
On that occasion the German legal periodical JUVE reported that the vote in favour of Campinos had been unanimous and that "No other candidates put themselves forward".
What JUVE failed to clarify was whether or not other candidates had even been invited to apply. As a matter of fact, it is not apparent whether the Administrative Council ever bothered to publish a vacancy notice to advertise the position. Aside from that, nobody seems to know for sure what rules, if any, governed the 2022 reappointment procedure.
The current situation is a little bit less opaque because at its 179th meeting in June 2024 the Administrative Council adopted CA/D 5/24:
"Decision of the Administrative Council of 27 June 2024 laying down rules for appointing and reappointing, and extending the term of office of, the President of the European Patent Office".
So at least there is now a set of publicly accessible rules governing the appointment procedure.
According to Article 1 of these rules:
"The President of the European Patent Office shall be appointed for a term of office of five years and may be reappointed for subsequent terms of office of five years."
Note the use of the plural: "subsequent terms of office". This means that according to the rules adopted in 2024 and currently in force, there is no effective limitation on the number of times a President can be reappointed.
Article 2 of the rules makes it clear that the Administrative Council is not obliged to hold a selection procedure but that it can simply proceed to reappoint the incumbent President or extend his term of office.
The Council is supposed to make its decision about how it wants to proceed "[a]t the latest 18 months before the term of office of the President is expected to come to an end".
The term of the current incumbent, António Campinos, is due to come to an end on 30 June 2028.
Therefore, according to the rules laid down in CA/D 5/24*, the Administrative Council's decision on whether it intends to reappoint Campinos or to hold a selection procedure should be taken by December 2026 at the latest. The current rumour inside the EPO is that the Council is likely to take its decision as early as October 2026 at its 188th meeting scheduled to take place on 13th to 14th October.
In any event, it should become known by the end of this year at the latest – and possibly sooner – whether or not the Administrative Council intends to reappoint Campinos for a third term.
Against this background it's no surprise that the aforementioned "Campaign for the Re-Appointment of the President" is already in full swing.
EPO President António Campinos (right) was spotted in Brussels
at the beginning of February 2026 where he attended a meeting with
the President of the European Council, António Costa
(left).
The campaign seems to have kicked-off earlier this year at the beginning of February when Campinos was spotted in Brussels where he attended a meeting with the President of the European Council, António Costa.
According to the official narrative, the purpose of this meeting was to discuss "how to further strengthen support for innovation in Europe" and to enable the presidents of the EPO and the European Council "to align on the future of European innovation".
But it's impossible to believe that a seasoned political operator like Campinos didn't avail of the opportunity to showcase his own ambitions for reappointment at the EPO and to lobby Costa for his support.
In the upcoming mini-series entitled "A Tale of Two Antónios" we plan to take a closer look behind the scenes and reveal amongst other things how Campinos is making every effort to leverage his Portuguese connections to garner political support for his own personal EPO CRAP game.
Stay tuned for more coming up shortly... █
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* The document was prepared or finalised by the usual team.
Nuala Quinla was mentioned here before, as she prepares meeting minutes for many years already (2013 if not earlier).