Summary: Latest news from the EPO Administrative Council (AC) meeting, including details about the person who competes with Campinos over Battistelli's job

THE EPO is about to announce its next President, but as we said earlier on in the afternoon, nothing is final (yet).

We knew that at least one other person had put in an eligible job application. We just didn't know who that was. Well, Board of Appeal judges would probably be happy to know that it's a judge, not some politician with barely any experience in the area of patents (that's what Battistelli was).

"But with Battistelli pulling strings, as always, nepotism might trump sanity.""According to reports," a source told us, "the Administrative Council will have a long confidential session this afternoon (Tuesday 10 October). The main topic will be the selection of the new President of the EPO. It is reported that there are two candidates. The one favored by Battistelli is Mr. Campinos. According to inside information, the other candidate is Cuno Jakob Tarfusser whose candidacy has been supported by the Italian delegation.

"Tarfusser is an Italian judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and prior to his appointment to the ICC, he had an extensive legal career in Italy as a prosecutor.

"He comes from the South Tyrol and undertook his legal studies at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and at the University of Padua in Italy."

Since one of the main issues at the EPO is lawlessness it certainly sounds like Tarfusser would be the more suitable candidate. But with Battistelli pulling strings, as always, nepotism might trump sanity. ⬆