FICPI is now pleased to unveil the exciting and stimulating working program that it has put together for the upcoming 16th Open Forum to be held in St Petersburg, Russia on 5-8 October 2016.  Now in its 25th year, FICPI’s Open Forum has gained an enviable reputation for the quality of its working sessions and speakers.  Venturing for the first time into Russia, and to the glorious city of St Petersburg, the 16th Forum will be no different, following the well-established three-stream format, with specialised sessions for patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys alike, and an enhanced focus on increasingly critical business practice issues for the independent professional and private firm.

Opening with a plenary business session that follows on from the theme of last year’s Congress “Adapt to Advance”, looking at how independent IP attorneys should adapt their business development strategies to prosper in an increasingly competitive environment, the 16th Open Forum proudly offers best practice “how to” sessions on drafting patent claims (that not only get through the patent office, but are commercially useful), IP enforcement in multiple jurisdictions, protecting trade marks in non-Latin characters, trade mark coexistence agreements, capturing inventions and taking advantage of geographical indications; “get up to date” sessions on trade secrets and licensing, trade marks on the Internet, Apple vs. Samsung, and the UPC (featuring President Battistelli of the EPO and leading patent judges from Germany, France and the UK), as well as practical business management sessions on quality control and streamlining processes in IP firms, the economic parameters of firms, non-lawyer ownership and how to manage the risks of important attorneys or client leaving.  Finally, breakout patent telecoms/FRAND and pharma workshops will investigate how  clients working in those fields can best take advantage of the interplay between IP laws and other regulations.  

Julian Crump, Programme Manager

FICPI has developed a training course to teach the preparation of patent specifications and claims. The course will be of particular benefit to those who have recently entered the profession and those who wish to improve their drafting skills in preparation of national and European examinations.

Segment 1 - 30 May to 3 June
Segment 2 - 29 August to 2 September

Please click here to view the brochure online and click here if you wish to download the brochure and registration form.

FICPI URGES THE ADOPTION OF A GRACE PERIOD – CREATING A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR INVENTORS

Inventors often lose patent rights in Europe and many Asian countries by mistake. These losses happen because those jurisdictions impose an “absolute” novelty requirement: the invention must not have been made “available to the public” in any way at any time before an application is filed. Many inventors, particularly individuals and small entities engaged in commercialisation, are not aware of the requirement or misunderstand the nuances of its application, and as a result inadvertently lose their rights. This is much less likely to happen in countries such as Japan and the United States of America, which allow disclosures during a specific time before filing, called a “grace period”. 

FICPI urges the relevant authorities to come to an agreement, at the earliest possible time, on the institution of a global grace period of the “safety net” type, measured from the filing date or the priority date for a period of twelve months, without any requirement for an inventor declaration.

Please click here to read the full briefing paper.

Authored by: Robert Watson, United Kingdom; Jérôme Collin, France; Ivan Ahlert, Brazil; Philip Mendes da Costa, Canada; Michael Caine, Australia; Jan Modin, Sweden; and James Pooley, USA

 

FICPI’s annual meeting with the Indian Patent and Trademark Office took place on 7 November.  Please click here to read the PTO meeting report.  This Indian Patent & Trademark Office meeting was followed by Roundtable discussions for FICPI India members in New Delhi (click here for the New Delhi report) and Mumbai (click here for the Mumbai report).

FICPI’s annual meeting took place on 9 November, and was both friendly and productive.  We learnt about recent developments in Chinese practice, including an alternative/additional system to the Global Dossier called Cloud Patent Examination System.  We also were asked to explain what we saw the effect of the internet on IP attorneys.  Click here to read the SIPO meeting report.

FICPI’s annual meeting took place on 11 November.  The meeting with KIPO focused on three topics, Understanding the Collaborative Search Pilot Program, Protection of Expanded Subject Matter of Trademarks, and Experience of the Hague Agreement.  We also were asked what we saw the biggest issue for our members.  Click here to read the KIPO meeting report.

FICPI’s annual meeting took place on 13 November.  FICPI’s meeting with the JPO started with a meeting with Commissioner Ito, before a more detailed meeting with a raft of JPO directors covering a wide range of topics, including the upcoming fee revision in Japan, the work of the IP5 and Patent Harmonisation.  Click here to read the JPO meeting report.

The EU Parliament has approved an EU trade mark law reform, including a new EU Trade Mark Regulation and EU Trade Marks Harmonisation Directive.  The regulation is expected to come into force on 1 April 2016, 20 years to the day that the Community trade mark system commenced.  A revision of the EU IPO Working Guidelines under active consultation.  Click here to read the report.  Author: James Fish, Co-Chair, CET 1, jfish@jakemp.com  

Our friends at the American Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law Section have asked us to assist in their effort to increase participation in the Section among both U.S. and international attorneys.  To that end, we are attaching two flyers explaining some of the benefits of participating in the activities of the ABA IPL Section.  For more information on "ABA International Membership" please click here and for more information on "ABA US Membership" please click here.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Robert Storey of the Membership Commission at robert.storey@ficpi.org.

The Finnish AIPPI Group in cooperation with the Swedish AIPPI Group warmly welcomes you to explore the evolving landscape of IP business as well as the developing European patent framework.

The first day 21 April 2016 will start in Stockholm and then continue on a cruise through one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the world to Helsinki for Friday 22 and Saturday 23 April 2016.  The symposium presents a global array of speakers from the IP authorities, academia, industry and the IP profession.  Please click here to register.