Previously (yesterday): EPO Corruption Under António Campinos: Teaser

Campinos and Kuterovac at the February 2020 EPO-EUIPO love-in Zagreb

Summary: It's clear that António enjoys long-standing cordial relations with the members of Battistelli's "Balkan Express" team

When António turned up at the recent EPO-EUIPO love-in in Zagreb it wasn't his first contact with the Croatian State Intellectual Property Office (DZIV). In his former position as head of the EUIPO in Alicante, formerly known as the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), he was a seasoned traveller on the "Balkan Express" of the IP world.

For example, back in September 2011 he appeared for some photo-ops with the then Director-General of the Croatian State Intellectual Property Office (DZIV), our old friend Željko Topić, for the signing of a bilateral co-operation agreement between the OHIM and DZIV which took place on the margins of a WIPO meeting in Geneva.

Topić's "protégé", Ljiljana Kuterovac

Some time later in May 2013, in preparation for Croatia's coming accession to the European Union, Campinos met with the new Director of the DZIV, Topić's "protégé", Ljiljana Kuterovac, on the margins of an OHIM Administrative Board and Budget Committee (ABBC) meeting where they signed further cooperation and bilateral agreements between the OHIM and DZIV.

Campinos and Kuterovac in May 2013

Not long afterwards, following Croatia's accession to the European Union on 1 July 2013, Campinos turned up at an OHIM-DZIV junket in Zagreb under the title of "Croatia in the Community Trademark and Community Design Systems".

Kuterovac and Campinos at an OHIM-DZIV love-in in Zagreb (July 2013)

It's clear that António enjoys long-standing cordial relations with the members of Battistelli's "Balkan Express" team.

So it would hardly be a surprise if he were to lend a helping hand to a friend in need.

"In order to understand the nature of this favour we need to take a closer look at Topić IP d.o.o., a Zagreb-based IP consultancy established in 2019."As a matter of fact, it seems that this is precisely what he did in 2019 when a former member of the team came knocking on his door looking for a small favour to help his newly established IP consultancy business.

In order to understand the nature of this favour we need to take a closer look at Topić IP d.o.o., a Zagreb-based IP consultancy established in 2019.

Stay tuned for the next instalment which we look at this intrepid entrepreneurial start-up which in its own words, "represents clients before European Patent Office (EPO), European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Croatian State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), European Medicines Agency (EMA), Croatian agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices, and before more than 20 other competent national authorities from regional EU and non-EU countries to USA and Canada". ⬆