future meetings

21 September 2010

British Group Dinner Meeting: Changing Law at the EPO

The British Group's Autumn Dinner Meeting will be addressed by Ms Heli Pihlajamaa, a senior lawyer from the EPO. There is no doubt that recent changes in EPO law have been controversial, and the pace of change is unprecedented. As a member of the Legal/International Division of the EPO Ms Pihlajamaa will look not only at current and future proposals for change, but also the lawmaking mechanisms at the EPO. Overseas members of UNION are welcome to attend, as always. Registration details attached.

Royal Overseas League, London

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7 October 2010

Design Protection Strategies

A Roundtable discussing Design Protection Strategies - Filing, Scope and Validity. UNION invites you to Torino to participate in an exciting discussion, led by its Design Commission, examining where the case law of OHIM and the ECJ has led us on validity and scope of European designs and to apply the lessons learned in creating strategies for filing valid, robust and broad design rights which will survive the single European market, and can form a basis for filing in the world's other important jurisdictions. Speakers and panellists will include members of the judiciary, IP officials and experts from industry and private practice. So far confirmed: Pier Giovanni Giannesi, Group IP Director, Pirelli; Prof. Cesare Galli, attorney at law, founder IP Law Galli; Johanna Bruckner-Hofmann, Presiding Judge, Dusseldorf District Court; Michael Fysh, until recently of the English Patents County Court; David Keeling, OHIM Third Board of Appeal; Linda Liu, patent attorney, founder Linda Liu & Partners; and Kozo Takeuchi, Fukami & Co, Osaka. Details and registration form attached.

Turin, Italy

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8 October 2010

ExCo Meeting Autumn 2010

Union's Executive Committee meeting will be based at the Grand Hotel Sitea in Turin. There will be a welcome cocktail reception and opening dinner in the evening (7pm) of Thursday 7th October. The ExCo meeting on Friday will be preceded by Bureau and Commission meetings and followed by a closing dinner at 7-30pm. There is an optional all day excursion on Saturday 9th October. Attending commission members are welcome to register to join the ExCo meeting (as observers) and the other events too. Please click on the link below to download registration and hotel forms. Please register as soon as you can as it helps the organisers with numbers for the events. The latest date for hotel registration is 3rd September. Please also register for the Round Table on Thursday 7th October. Details above.

Turin, Italy

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25 February 2011

Spring Roundtable

Union's traditional Round Table will take place at the German Patent Office in Munich. Topic to be announced.

German Patent Office, Munich

23 June 2011

Union Congress

Union will be celebrating its 50th anniversary with a Congress in Brussels fro 21st to 26th June 2011. Programme to follow.

Brussels

recent events

British Group Summer Event

Royal Institution, London

UNION members enjoyed a Champagne reception in the wonderful and historic surroundings of the Royal Institution, and were addressed by Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO on the subject of an IP system for the 21st Century. If you would like to enjoy similar events in the future just join UNION. It is cheap and you can apply online.

ExCo Meeting Spring 2010

Reykjavik, Iceland

Union's Executive Committee spring meeting 2010 took place at the Hilton Nordica Hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland, May 27-30, 2010. The papers are published as UNION Newsletter No.1 May 2010 in the Library and Reference section and the individual Commission Reports are also in the individual Commission sections of the Members' Area under Working Papers.

The EPO and non-inventions

London, Royal Overseas League

See the News Item below for the latest EPO Enlarged Board decision G 3/08 on computer -implemented inventions. Earlier this year Dr Stefan Steinbrener addressed UNION's British group spring dinner meeting on "The EPO and non-inventions", in particular in the field of computer-implemented inventions. Dr. Steinbrener carefully explained the structured approach developed over the years, expressing some surprise that it had later been found to contain conflicting decisions. He indicated that the aim of Board 3.5.1 had been to achieve as much consistency as possible in the face of a relatively unclear legislative background, especially in view of the unimagined development of technology that has taken place. He also indicated his belief that consistency between the EPO and national courts and offices is of great importance, and agreed with the proposition that recent court decisions in England, though based on a different structured approach, seem to arrive at the same decision. This approach has now been confirmed in Enlarged Board decision G 3/08.

How to cope with patent scope - Literal interpretation of claims throughout Europe

Munich

About 70 practitioners attended Union's Spring 2010 Roundtable on the subject "How to cope with patent scope - Literal interpretation of claims throughout Europe" at the German Patent Office. They heard judges from France, Germany, UK and the Netherlands, and also academics and practitioners discuss the different approaches to claim interpretation, including issues such as file wrapper estoppel, the effect of unclaimed embodiments, the reverse theory of equivalence, the effect of unclear terms and the Ancora cat. The presentations are available both individually and as a single complete document in the Library and Reference Section under Latest Bulletins.