Series parts:

1. The EPO's Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part I: Let the Sunshine In!
2. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part II: A “Unanimous” Endorsement?
3. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part III: Three Missing Votes
4. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part IV: The Founding States
5. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part V: Germany Says “Ja”
6. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part VI: A Distinct Lack of Dutch Courage
7. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part VII: Luxembourgish Laxity
8. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part VIII: Perfidious Albion and Pusillanimous Hibernia
9. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part IX: More Holes Than Swiss Cheese
10. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part X: Introducing the Controversial Christian Bock
11. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XI: “General Bock” - Battistelli's Swiss Apprentice?
12. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XII: The French Connection
13. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XIII: Battistelli's Iberian Facilitators - Spain
14. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XIV: Battistelli's Iberian Facilitators - Portugal
15. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XV: Et Tu Felix Austria…
16. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XVI: The Demise of the Austrian Double-Dipper
17. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XVII: The Non-Monolithic Nordic Bloc
18. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XVIII: Helsinki's Accord
19. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part IXX: The Baltic States
20. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XX: The Visegrád Group
21. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXI: The Balkan League – The Doyen and His “Protégée”
22. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXII: The Balkan League - North Macedonia and Albania
23. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXIII: The Balkan League - Bulgaria
24. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXIV: The Balkan League - Romania
25. The EPO’s Overseer/Overseen Collusion — Part XXV: The Balkan League - Fresh Blood or Same Old, Same Old?
26. "Trojan horse" Serafeim Stasinos
27. YOU ARE HERE ☞ Cypriot Complicity

Head of the Cypriot delegation in June 2013: Spyros Kokkinos, Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver.

Summary: Another small 'outpost' in the 'Club Med' [1, 2] of António Campinos et al is the island of Cyprus, which has been largely docile, even when it comes to completely unlawful proposals

On the EPO's Administrative Council, the position taken by the Greek delegation tends to be followed by Cyprus, an island state which has exceptionally close cultural and political connections to its mainland neighbour.

Back in June 2013, the head of the Cypriot delegation was Spyros Kokkinos, who was in charge of the Department of the Registrar of Companies, a public authority under the supervision of the Cypriot Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Tourism.

"Kokkinos was appointed as Assistant Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver in September 1986."Kokkinos was born in Nicosia on 11 December 1955. He holds a law degree in private law from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and he attended a postgraduate course (LL.M.) at King’s College London.

Kokkinos was appointed as Assistant Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver in September 1986.

Over a decade later, on 1 April 1998, Cyprus acceded to the European Patent Convention.

"Over a decade later, on 1 April 1998, Cyprus acceded to the European Patent Convention."At that time Kokkinos held the position of deputy head of delegation on the EPO's Administrative Council. In July 2005 following his Appointment as Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver, he took over as head of delegation, a position that he held until the end of 2020.

The official EPO minutes indicate that Kokkinos didn't turn up in person for the 136^th meeting of the Council in June 2013.

On that particular occasion, the Cypriot representatives were his deputies, Christos Nicolaou and Soteroula Tsokou, who blindly followed the lead given by Benoît Battistelli's "Trojan horse" Serafeim Stasinos, and proceeded to vote in favour of the proposed "Strike Regulations".

Following his appointment as Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver in 2005, Spyros Kokkinos was head of the Cypriot delegation on the EPO'S Administrative Council until his retirement at the end of 2020.

More recently, in January 2021, it was reported that Kokkinos had retired as Registrar of Companies.

"The official EPO minutes indicate that Kokkinos didn't turn up in person for the 136^th meeting of the Council in June 2013."The Cypriot delegation on the EPO's Administrative Council is now headed by his former deputy, Stalo Papaioannou. More here [PDF] (same but bigger version [PDF]).

Papaioannou was born in Nicosia in 1961. She is a graduate of the Law school of Leicester University and the holder of an LL.B Law degree. She is also a barrister-at-law of Gray’s Inn and a registered advocate. She has been working for the Cypriot Registrar of Companies since 1990 in various posts, including head of the "Intellectual and Industrial Property" department.

The Cypriot delegate Spyros Kokkinis (l.) retired as Registrar of Companies on 1 January 2021 and has been replaced by Stalo Papaioannou (r.) who now heads the Cypriot delegation on the EPO's Administrative Council.

As in the case of Greece, there are no reasons for expecting that the Cypriot delegation is going to make any positive contribution to sorting out the current governance crisis at the EPO.

In the next part we will turn our attention to the delegation representing Turkey, which generally tends align its position on the EPO's Administrative Council with its neighbours, Greece and Cyprus. ⬆