Bonum Certa Men Certa

Breaking: EPO Vice-President Željko Topić Loses Defamation Case in Croatia

Judge Marijan Bertalanič Judge Marijan Bertalanič, photo from vecernji.hr



Summary: The EPO's notorious Vice-President, whose appointment at the EPO is still raising some alarming questions, has just lost his case in Croatia (one of many cases), motivating us to accelerate coverage about the persona known as Željko Topić

"BREAKING NEWS FROM ZAGREB," heralded a source of ours this afternoon (European time). Željko Topić, who faces many criminal charges in Croatia, is failing to silence those who pursue justice against him.



"We just got news from Zagreb," said our source, "that judgment has been delivered in Topić's defamation case against Vesna Stilin." (see background in the many older articles of ours)

"The case was being heard before Judge Marijan Bertalanič of the Municipal Criminal Court of Zagreb. A photo of the judge can be found here" (along with related photographs)

"It seems that Mr. Bertalaničwas not too impressed by Mr. Topić and according to what we have heard he has dismissed the defamation claim against Ms. Stilin.

"This is a first instance judgment so it remains to be seen whether or not Topić will try to appeal it.

"We expect to get a copy of the judgment (in original Croatian) in the next day or two."

Techrights and its supporters will try to organise an English translation so that people outside Croatia, including EPO staff, are better able to know what Topić is up to. More details are to follow as they become available, but in the mean time, as Topić likes to silence his critics, we wish to add material that needs preserving for future reference. We still have plenty of material to show which relates to the Topić vs. Vesna case, and vice versa, so this is crucial. It's no secret that Topić is bullying his critics to silence them. Some more documents, other than the famed article from 45lines.com, need to be added to our server now. These documents are currently looking for a new "home"; The old documents, namely the following PDF documents relating to the Topić case at the EPO, were analysed here before. These are currently "housed" on the server of the Croatian NGO Juris Protecta, but they may not stay there for much longer. We request assistance from our readers who are able to mirror these documents in case we too feel pressured to remove these. The documents are as follows:



"We have been told by Juris Protecta," said sources of ours, "that they are worried that if they publicise the links to these PDFs, their Croatian provider may be pressurised to shut down their website.

"The PDF documents in question are basically those cited in the letters sent to the Administrative Council in December 2013 by Juris Protecta and Vesna Stilin. Those letters have been reproduced in the Techrights article about Battistelli's "Balkan standards".

"Juris Protecta is currently planning to circulate something about its earlier letters to the Administrative Council and wants to include links to the PDFs. However, it is afraid that if it uses the links to its jurpro.hr server, then the Croatian provider might be put under pressure to shut down its website.

"We don't think that there is any problem with you publicly explaining that Juris Protecta is nervous about the risk of having its server in Croatia shut down.

"You might recall that there was a "hacking"/"cracking" attempt recently on the Croatian new portal dnevno.hr after they published an article with some comments about Topić."

As a reminder, we too suffered DDOS attacks around the same time we published important articles about Topić, but we could never prove there was a correlation, only a coincidence in timing. There is also a huge amount of cracking attempts (dozens per minute) attempted against us since the DDOS attacks began half a year ago. When it all started (knocking our site offline at times) the only concurrence we could lay a finger at was EPO articles.

"Dnveno.hr was offline for quite a while (we estimate a couple of weeks)," said our sources, "and only seemed to become accessible again after the Croatian Presidential election was finished on 11 January. So the fears expressed by Juris Protecta are understandable and the issue can be mentioned publicly."

We are going to write a lot more about Topić in the coming weeks if not months. Our multi-layered servers infrastructure is much better protected from DDOS attacks at the moment.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM's Alderon as "Silent Layoffs", Not Just Bailout From Taxpayers
Seeing through the noise
Laptop Bricked After Microsoft Certificates Expiry
Is "Jim" dead?
Five Years After Its Formation Libera.Chat Has the Most Simultaneous Users in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
netsplit.de also measures the cross-network total at over 300k, probably for the first time in years
 
PIPs and "Retirements": IBM Layoffs in Anything But Name
That former Red Hat (now IBM) staff threatens to put my wife and I in prison is worse than cruel
Contact Members of the EPO Administrative Council, Tell Them the EPO (Office) Became a Disgrace and an Enemy of Europe's Citizens
If you live in Europe (not just the EU, even Turkey is included), please contact your delegates
The World Needs GNU/Linux for Security, Turn Off "Secure Boot" (It's the Opposite of Security)
They call it "Secure Boot", but what does it mean to say "Secure" when you actively opt for back doors controlled by Microsoft, the FBI, and many more parties?
In Signal of Weakness or Phasing Out XBox (Not Sustainable, According to the CEO) Microsoft "Pauses New Third-Party Game Pass Deals"
Moments ago
Two Pieces About "AI" This Morning Were Paid-For SPAM at The Register MS
The Register MS is the "Tech News" publisher you can pay to promote your company and even key-word-stuff pages for SEO purposes
Week of Microsoft Layoffs, Maybe Record-Breaking Scale
They will mislead about the scale
Links 28/06/2026: More Om Malik Eulogies, Cloudflare Promotes Web Browser Monocultures
Links for the day
'Modern' Web: "Stop! You Are Browsing Too Fast!"
Can the Web ever recover from this?
Pensions Tied to Ponzi Schemes Are Themselves Ponzi Schemes
Pensions are becoming more like that as well
Monoculture in Europe as National (or Continental) Security Threat
We need more browser diversity
Canada 5-0: GNU/Linux Rises to 5.0%, Windows Rapidly Falls to New Lows
Will we be seeing 6-0 (6%) by year's end and will Microsoft be shown two red cards?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 28, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, June 28, 2026
Gemini Links 29/06/2026: Sansieviera, HiFi, and Self-Signed Certificates
Links for the day
Outsourcing is Not Security
Outsourcing to Microsoft is the opposite of security
Links 28/06/2026: Turkey's State Broadcaster Suspends Commentator, Journalists Under Attack
Links for the day
Debugpoint.com Turns to LLM Slop for 'Help'
This is how sites die
Follow the Real Security Experts
Werner Koch
Assessing the Upcoming (July) Proprietary/GAFAM Cuts
The total (or %) matters to us because it can help shed light on what scale of layoffs to expect next week
Microsoft Lunduke Does Not Correct or Clarify Misinformation That He Posted (or Repeats It Instead)
Not the first time [...] detracts and/or distracts from legitimate criticisms
How Not to Do Security
Asking Microsoft for permission
Gemini Links 28/06/2026: Simulation Theory and Pursuit of Novelty
Links for the day
The Slop 'Religion' is Dying: From Widespread (Paid-for) Hype to Widespread Hate
Wait till "sentiment" in Wall Street - not just general (public) "sentiment" - shifts strongly against slop
For Whistleblowers' Sake, Choose Hosting Platforms Wisely
Techrights is hard to 'sedate'
How to Discreetly Leak Important Information to Techrights
Some years ago we published multi-part series about how to contact us securely
Expect Many More Whistleblowers From Microsoft
We envision many pissed off workers from Microsoft will become whistleblowers after next week's giant wave
Efforts to Resume Progress on FreeJS, LibreJS, and Reduce Dependence on Microsoft
It's still in a relatively early development stage
Whistleblowers Improve the World
we should appreciate and respect whistleblowers
Microsoft Windows Plunges to All-Time Lows in Japan
Microsoft is disintegrating; many people no longer use (nor need) Windows
GNU/Linux Turns 43 in 3 Months From Now
The Manifesto of the Free software movement (GNU Manifesto, 1985) turned 40 last year
SLAPP Censorship - Part 121 Out of 200: One Day We'll Discover What Company or Rich Person/s Funded the Lawfare Against Us
Even if the law firm shoulders some of the losses, then it is in effect an investor in the lawfare, according to established caselaw
Working on "Linux", But on Microsoft's Payroll
Under the totally false guise of "security" those same people are now promoting TPMs and other horrible things
Links 28/06/2026: Energy Crunch, EEE by Microsoft, and John Bolton Pleads Guilty in Dictatorship of SLAPPs
Links for the day
Jim Not Dead Yet
Let's wait a few more days
Microsoft Layoffs So Big They Cannot Even Wait for 'D-Day' (July 1)
"Layoffs at Xbox Appear to Have Already Begun, with Multiple Compulsion Games Employees Announcing Their Departures"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 27, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, June 27, 2026
Links 28/06/2026: Heatwave in Europe and Media Failing to Actually Criticise Power
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/06/2026: Poems, Photographs, and Neoliberalism as Religion
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 120 Out of 200: Garrett Undermines His Own Application Because His Friend Graveley Failed to Accomplish What They Had Both Aimed For
Hold off the "popcorn"
Don't Settle for Slop
Slop is a bit of a symptom of where society is told to go
Gemini Links 27/06/2026: Photography From Interlaken to Shynige Platte, Slop 'Code', and Distro Hopping
Links for the day
TIGER COMPUTING LTD Sent Us Threats Half a Decade Ago (Because of Criticism of Their In-House Debian Developer), Now the Company's Debt is Deepening
So what is they're connected to the military?
GNU/Linux in Mexico Near All-Time High
With all the tourists packing the place (or hotels) we can imagine big changes to be seen next month (many portable devices)
Summer Plans in Tux Machines
July is nearly upon us
Gopher (Protocol) Turns 35, Gemini is 28 Years Younger
Bad technology comes and goes very fast
Be Like Stallman and Assange, Not Like MElon or Bill Epsteingate
these people treat women like worse than dirt
Exposure Leads to More Whistleblowing
In areas like IBM or European patent affairs we've always earned a lot of trust
European Patent Office (EPO) Series Will Run Well Into July
We still have a very significant chunk of EPO "trench" stories
Links 27/06/2026: Journalists Kicked Out of China, Torture in Iran and Turkey
Links for the day
How Microsoft is Preventing or Slowing Down Adoption of GNU/Linux (Fake 'GNU' Controlled by GitHub in Windows, WSL, Sabotage at Boot Level, Not Limited to Dual-Booting)
Microsoft is still at it
Rising Computer Prices Good News for GNU/Linux and Free Software
This can greatly assist the adoption of BSDs and GNU/Linux
Links 27/06/2026: More Restrictions on Social Control Media and Russia is Leveraging Cellebrite/Back Doors
Links for the day
Saying "No" is Not a Bad Thing
Society benefits from people who say "No!" even when it seems impolite (and possibly inconvenient) to say so
Next Week's "Bloodbath" at Microsoft Includes "Silent Layoffs" (Which Microsoft Won't Count)
The notion of "silent layoffs" is fast becoming the "new normal"
Akira Urushibata on the Likely False (Unverifiable) Claims Anthropic Makes About Defects for Marketing/Hype
Some pro-LLM person has managed to derail the discussion on this topic
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: "Team Campinos" in Split
The EPO team was of course headed by Campinos himself who delivered a "forward-looking" keynote speech to the assembled audience consisting mainly of Administrative Council delegates from the national IP offices
Supporting Women in the Free Software Community
The common theme here is abuse of women
Left IBM After Many Years, Came to Microsoft/XBox, Now Silent Layoffs at XBox
many inside XBox will have their last day next week
Gemini Links 27/06/2026: Homeworlds and Tarot Cards
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 26, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, June 26, 2026