The Unitary (EU) Patent System Conference 2013

On 4 and 5 October 2013, Oxford’s Institute of European and Comparative Law (IECL), in collaboration with the University of East Anglia's ESRC Centre for Competition Policy, hosted a two-day conference on the unitary (EU) patent system to mark the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the signing of the European and Strasbourg Patent Conventions.
The conference brought together 14 experts from different patent, EU, competition and international law fields to offer their perspectives on the system, including Prof Rochelle Dreyfuss (NYU), Prof Stefan Enchelmaier (Oxford), Prof Willem Hoyng (Hoyng Monegier LLP), Alan Johnson (Bristows LLP), Dr Stefan Luginbühl (EPO), and Prof Tuomas Mylly (Turku). Sir David Kitchin of the Court of Appeal opened the event and the closing remarks were delivered by Alison Brimelow CBE, former Comptroller of Patents and President of the European Patent Office.
The quality of papers was outstanding and the two days were full of lively discussion and debate. We are now looking forward to preparing the proceedings for publication by Bloomsbury/Hart, and to our next event on the European patent system, which will mark the anniversary of the signing of the Community Patent Convention in 1975.
For more information please contact Justine Pila or visit the European Intellectual Property Project[linkme] webpage.