Intensive Debates on Topical Patent Issues

(IPRinfo 2/2008)

Amina Agovic
Innocent researcher, IPR University Center

Inventions – is there a life after grant was the theme of AIPPI Helsinki Symposium 2008.

The Symposium brought around a hundred participants from as far as Australia and China to as near as Sweden and Estonia, including a significant number of attorneys from Finland, the USA, the UK and elsewhere.

One also found law firms, corporations like Nokia, patent officers from Russia and a number of other IP professionals and academics in attendance.

For two days the Symposium provided for an opportunity to listen to renowned intellectual property experts elaborating on the finer points of the global patent law. For example, issues vital to patent owners and those striving to make some use from the public disclosure of the patent.

The Conference was opened by Mr Eero Mantere, the Senior Vice President of the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR) who briefly summarised the objectives of the Symposium and extended a very warm welcome to all speakers and participants.

. The Chair of the Symposium and the Director of the IPR University Center, Prof. Niklas Bruun continued further with a brief introduction followed by the opening of a general debate on the ’life cycle of an invention’.

Intensive debates and discussions
The plenary sessions kicked off with the Director of Product Technologies and IPR Portfolio at Nokia Group, Mr Folke Johansson, who presented a comparative Euro-American analysis of what constitutes an invention, including a mention of opposition and prosecution procedures in the designated countries.

The participants also had a chance to hear about amendments of claims after the grant of a patent from the European, American and even Japanese perspective, as well as the analysis of the new provisions of the European Patent Convention, EPC 2000, which entered into force in December 2007, and the pending Patent Reform Act 2007 before the US Congress.
This, as some expected, sparked an intense debate among the attendees, which only intensified throughout the rest of the Conference.

Moreover, the enthusiasm for the IP carried well into the evening with participants at dinner tables eagerly exchanging ideas, swapping business cards and promising to keep the ’life cycle of an invention’ live and kicking in times to come.

One cannot but wonder whether it was the Scandinavian cuisine on the menu or the exquisite wines in front of us but each and every participant wanted to keep the IP discussion candle burning the whole night through.

Ever-interesting themes of enforcement and dispute resolution
Further sessions discussed topical issues such as standards, patent pools, patent trolls, anti-trust laws and recent patent cases like Nokia v Qualcom. Subsequent subjects revolved around enforcement issues and ways of dealing with IP disputes via alternative dispute resolution, including a sort of a ’first aid’ kit on how to prepare for the post validity of the patent.

The Symposium neared the end with the last speaker, Vice Chair of the European Patent Practice Committee, Mr Francis Leyder who spoke of his personal views on the EPC 2000. This ensued in a final debate encompassing all topics considered during the Conference.

The Conference ended when the Chair of the Symposium, Prof. Niklas Bruun closed the Helsinki AIPPI Symposium thanking the speakers and participants and extending his warm welcome for the next Symposium.

Overall, credit must be afforded to the Organisers who managed to teach, intrigue and entertain interests of an extremely diverse and particular group of legal professionals throughout those two days.

LINKS:
The web site of the Finnish AIPPI group: http://www.aippi.fi/