European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Lobbying in Lisbon...
Previous Parts:
Part 17
EPO President António Campinos paid an official visit to the Portuguese Justice Minister Rita Alarcão Júdice in Lisbon on 27th February 2026.
In the opening part of this series, we revealed how Campinos kicked off his reappointment campaign by attending a meeting with the President of the European Council, António Costa in Brussels on 3rd February 2026.
A few weeks later, on 27th February 2026, he engaged in some preliminary lobbying on the "home front" in Portugal when he paid an official visit to the Portuguese capital Lisbon to meet with the Justice Minister, Rita Alarcão Júdice. The Justice Minister was accompanied by Gonçalo da Cunha Pires, the Assistant Secretary of State for Justice, and Ana Bandeira, the Director of the national IP office, Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI).
From left to right: Ana Bandeira (Director of the INPI), António Campinos (EPO President), Rita Alarcão Júdice (Justice Minister), Gonçalo da Cunha Pires (Assistant Secretary of State for Justice).
According to the related puff piece published on the EPO's official website:
"The meeting provided a platform to reaffirm the strong partnership between Portugal and the EPO and to discuss strategic priorities. The delegations discussed Europe’s innovation ecosystem and how to advance the single technology market, improving support for innovation and fostering specialised skills."
There was also a mention of "EPO-INPI co-operation" and "a bilateral co-operation agreement signed in March 2025". It was also noted that 2026 marks the INPI’s 50th anniversary "with several commemorative initiatives planned, including a firefighting exhibition to be held in collaboration with the EPO in May".
The EPO puff piece doesn't elaborate on what "strategic priorities" were discussed but it's a fair bet that Campinos saw to it that his EPO reappointment bid came up at some point during the meeting. It’s diffcult to imagine that he could have missed this golden opportunity to lobby the Justice Minister for the support of the Portuguese government.
As we have pointed out previously, in order to be eligible to pursue his EPO reappointment bid Campinos needs to have the official support of the government of his "home country".
In other words, he needs to have the seal of approval of the PSD-led government of Luís Montenegro. The incumbent Justice Minister, Rita Alarcão Júdice, who is a prominent member of the PSD, is obviously a vital point of contact in this regard.
EPO President António Campinos meeting with Portuguese Justice Minister Rita Alarcão Júdice in Lisbon on 27th February 2026. The EPO President's advisor Sandro Mendonça can be seen seated beside Campinos.
It is also worth mentioning that during his meeting with the Justice Minister in Lisbon, Campinos was accompanied by his "advisor", Sandro Mendonça. There can be little doubt that Mendonça was brought along for the express purpose of "leveraging the Lusitanian connection" as we explained in the preceding part of this series.
As his reappointment campaign gathers momentum, Campinos is clearly making a lot of effort to maintain his visibility on the "home front" in Portugal. He returned to Lisbon again for another official visit on 30th April when he spoke at an event to mark World Intellectual Property Day.
According to the related puff piece on the EPO's official website:
"The event was jointly organised by the Lisbon Court of Appeal and Portugal’s Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) and focused on the topic of the impact of AI on intellectual property. It brought together a broad range of Portuguese intellectual property stakeholders from academia, the judiciary and private practice."
EPO President António Campinos speaking at the World Intellectual Property Day event in Lisbon on 30th April.
It's clear from all this that Campinos has been quite busy "lobbying in Lisbon" in recent months. But it's important to note that his reappointment campaign lobbying has not been restricted to the "home front" in Portugal.
As a matter of fact, as we shall see in the next part, between his appearances in Lisbon on 27th February and 30th April 2026 he undertook a number of "missions" to various other EPO member states. He also paid a further visit to Brussels where he met with EU Commissioner Michael McGrath.
Stay tuned for more coming up soon... █
Image source: Swedish House-Gymnastics (1913)