European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Rest and Recuperation on the Adriatic Coast
Previous Parts:
Part 20
This year the European Patent Network held its Annual Cooperation Meeting in Split, Croatia.
In the preceding part of this series we reported on the appearance of António Campinos as a guest of honour and a keynote speaker at the INTA Annual Meeting which took place in London from 2rd to 6th May 2026. We also revealed how the EPO President made use of the opportunity to engage in some "networking" with his contacts at the UKIPO on the margins of the INTA conference.
The following week Campinos found himself delivering another keynote speech when delegations from the EPO member states convened for a lavish junket in Split, Croatia.
The occasion this time was the 20th Annual Cooperation Meeting of the "European Patent Network" (EPN).
The EPN, which was established by the EPO's Administrative Council in 2006, was described by former EPO President Benoît Battistelli as "a unique framework of interaction and cooperation, bringing together a regional authority – the European Patent Office – with the national patent offices of the member states of the European Patent Organisation".
According to the official EPO puff piece, this year's meeting which took place on 11th and 12th May "focused on the future of innovation in Europe, bringing together over 80 participants, including 27 heads of office and key stakeholders, to discuss the key forces shaping innovation ecosystems and to define shared priorities for the European Patent Network (EPN)".
As usual the national delegations were joined by the EPO President and members of his senior management team who were no doubt glad to have an opportunity to enjoy some "rest and recuperation" on the Adriatic coast.
This little shindig for the Administrative Council delegates and the EPO's senior management team was hosted by the Croatian State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) which is headed by Ljiljana Kuterovac. Kuterovac is the "protegée" and successor of the notorious Željko Topić.
Ljiljana Kuterovac speaking at the 2026 Annual Cooperation Meeting hosted by the Croatian SIPO.
The EPO President's connections with the Croatian SIPO date back to his days as head of the EU trademark agency EUIPO (formerly OHIM) in Alicante when he was a close "IP buddy" of Topić. Readers of Techrights need no introduction to Topić, the self-proclaimed "doyen of Intellectual Property" in the Balkan region.
Campinos – at the time director of the EU trademark agency OHIM in Alicante – and his trusty "IP buddy" Željko Topić pose for a photo-op on the occasion of the signing a bilateral cooperation agreement between the Croatian SIPO and the OHIM in Geneva (27 September 2011).
Campinos is also reputed to enjoy cordial relations with the "doyen's" successor, Ljiljana Kuterovac.
It's worth recalling here that back in February 2020 Campinos and Christoph Ernst, the EPO Vice-President in charge of Legal and International Affairs, travelled to Zagreb to attend a conference about “Intellectual Property for the European Union in a World of Challenges” organised by the Croatian IPO in cooperation with the EPO, EUIPO and WIPO.
EPO President António Campinos and EPO Vice-President Christoph Ernst paying their respects to Ljiljana Kuterovac of the Croatian SIPO and to the Croatian Minister of Science and Education, Blaženka Divjak, at an IP conference held in Zagreb in February 2020.
In the next part we will continue our coverage of this year's Croatian junket and take a closer look at the delegation which accompanied the EPO President to Split. █