European Patent Office (EPO) Series: London Calling...
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Part 19
In February 2026 the INTA announced that EPO President
António Campinos would appear as a speaker at its Annual Meeting
due to be held in London from 2nd to 6th May
2026.
As early as February of this year the International Trademark Association (INTA) announced that it was "pleased to welcome António‑Serge de Pinho Campinos, President of the European Patent Office (EPO), as a speaker at the 2026 INTA Annual Meeting" due to be held in London from 2nd to 6th May 2026.
INTA, which started out as the United States Trademark Association in 1878, is headquartered in New York. On its own official website it describes itself as "a global association of brand owners and intellectual property (IP) professionals committed to elevating the understanding of and respect for IP rights to foster consumer trust, economic growth, and societal transformation". The association's nearly 6,500 member organizations from 165 countries represent more than 34,000 trademark professionals and include brand owners from major corporations as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, law firms, and nonprofits.
It's not immediately apparent why an association primarily concerned with trademark issues would be interested in hosting the executive director of the European Patent Office as a "keynote speaker" at its annual conference. It may have something to do with the one-size-fits-all approach to "Intellectual Property" which seems to be in fashion these days – a trend that has allowed officials whose background is in trademark administration to take control at the EPO, starting with Benoît Battistelli.
Campinos has long-standing connections with the INTA dating back to his days as head of the EU trademark agency in Alicante known as EUIPO (formerly OHIM). Back in October 2010 in a Managing Intellectual Property puff piece authored by James Nurton and entitled "Meet the new president of OHIM" the then executive director of INTA Alan Drewsen was quoted as follows:
"INTA welcomes Antonio Campinos to his new role and looks forward to working with him and the rest of the OHIM professional staff."
More recently, in September 2025, Campinos hosted a "high-level delegation" from the INTA at the EPO headquarters in Munich for a bilateral meeting and the signing of "a letter of intent establishing a framework for co-operation, marking a significant milestone in their relationship".
The former EPO press spokesperson, Luis Berenguer Giménez, appears in the photo-ops from that meeting which occurred shortly before the Oktoberfest drug bust that led to public exposure of his substance abuse and his "disappearance" from public view at the EPO.
Campinos hosting an INTA delegation and EPO headquarters
in Munich in Spetember 2025. The former EPO press spokesperson,
Luis Berenguer Giménez can been seen on the left of the
photo.
It's clear from this that despite the fact that he is no longer actively involved in trademark administration, Campinos continues to maintain and cultivate his connections with the INTA. It's quite likely that the invitation which he received to attend the association's annual meeting in London was a quid pro quo in return for his hosting of the INTA delegation in Munich in September 2025.
In any event, before he travelled to London at the start of May, the EPO President managed to squeeze in another "missionary visit" to the neighbouring isle. To be more precise, during the week of 27 April, Campinos and his trusty sidekick EPO Vice-President Steve Rowan visited Ireland "to strengthen co-operation with users and national authorities".
According to the official EPO puff piece covering the Irish "mission":
The visit began with an intervention at the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) Annual Conference and was followed by meetings with the Irish Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland, and the leading association for patent attorneys APTMA.
The engagement allowed for a discussion on the progress of the unitary patent in Ireland and the Office’s strategic foresight initiative Scenarios for the Future 2025-2045.
Campinos during a visit to Ireland "to strengthen co-operation
with users and national authorities". From left to right: John Pye
(EPO), John Newham (Department of Enterprise), António Campinos,
Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke, IPOI Controller James Kelly
and Steve Rowan (28th April 2026).
Shortly thereafter, on 5th May, Campinos appeared in London to deliver a "keynote speech" at the INTA annual meeting "before an audience from across the global IP community, including in-house counsel and major brand owners".
Campinos delivers a keynote speech at the INTA Annual Meeting
in London on 5th May 2026.
However, as revealed in the EPO's official puff piece covering the event, delivering the keynote speech was only one of many items on the EPO President's agenda during his sojourn in London.
As a matter of fact, Campinos travelled to the INTA meeting with an impressive panoply of EPO officials – including Vice-President Steve Rowan, Chief Patent Research and Policy Officer Gilles Requena and Chief Operating Officer Angel Aledo Lopez – and he took advantage of the occasion to hold a number of "bilateral meetings with the heads of several major national IP offices", including the US Patent and Trademark Office and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
But perhaps most importantly from the perspective of his EPO reappointment campaign, Campinos also held a "bilateral meeting" with the CEO and Comptroller General of the UKIPO, Adam Williams.
Back in 2017, the UK delegation on the EPO's Administrative Council was a keen supporter of Campinos as the preferred successor to Battistelli. After it had been officially confirmed that "Portuguese Pretender" would take over at the EPO, Tim Moss, the then UKIPO CEO, was quoted as follows by Managing Intellectual Property:
"I welcome the election of António Campinos as the new EPO President. From his time as Executive Director of the EUIPO, he brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge of both the challenges and the opportunities that the global IP system presents. The UKIPO looks forward to working with him and his team during his tenure."
According to the EPO rumour mill, the appointment of former UKIPO trademark official Steve Rowan as EPO Vice-President in charge of the "Patent Granting Process" is likely to have been a pay-off for the support which the UK gave to Campinos in 2017.
We cannot say how much substance there might be to that rumour but it's clear that, in the context of his current reappointment campaign, Campinos is keen to ensure that the UKIPO is still on his side as it was back in the days when Tim Moss held the reins. And we can be fairly sure that the "bilateral meeting" with the present UKIPO CEO Adam Williams on the margins of the INTA event provided a convenient opportunity to carry out a bit of informal "networking" on that front.
EPO President António Campinos meets with Adam Williams, the
CEO of the UKIPO during his London visit. The EPO delegation
includes the following officials: COO Angel Aledo Lopes (left),
Vice-President Steve Rowan (3rd from right), Chief
Patent Research and Policy Officer Gilles Requena (right).
Shortly after the INTA meeting in London had concluded, Campinos and his senior management team travelled to the Adriatic coastal town of Split in Croatia where they enjoyed a lavish "rest and recuperation" junket together with the members of the Administrative Council at an event hosted by the Croatian IPO.
We shall report on that event in more detail in the next part. █