WEBINAR: European Unitary Patent: An Update

On January 10, 2013 John Pegram spokeon a panel titled, European Unitary Patent: AnUpdate. Presented in conjunction with the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s weekly one-hour webinar series.

Propelled by a breakthrough vote in the European Parliament in December, a new Unitary Patent for Europe is expected to launch next year, perhaps as early as January 1, 2014. Agreed to after decades of debate, the new system is designed to let patent applicants gain simultaneous protection in all of the 25 Member States participating in enhanced cooperation. Concurrently, Europe hopes to launch a Unified Patent Court through which a patent can be asserted across the EU and enforced with a single court ruling.

The European Patent Office is charged with many new tasks in the new system, from examining applications to registering patents and collecting annual fees. Our panel features an EPO official who is working on implementation, as well as two U.S. lawyers who have thought through issues of concern to U.S. companies. The panel will discuss how both the new patent prosecution and court systems will work, and what the change is likely to mean for patent rights and litigation globally.

Speakers:

• Paul Coletti, Johnson & Johnson
• Margot Fröhlinger, European Patent Office
• John Pegram, Fish & Richardson, PC

For more information, please click on European Unitary Patent.