BARDEHLE PAGENBERG • IP News & Discussions

“Patent invalidation procedures at the EPO and the German Federal Patent Court – A fair balancing of the interests of the public and the patentee?“

BARDEHLE PAGENBERG invites you to join our special IP event with presentations of two studies and a panel discussion with experienced practitioners and former members of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO as well as a former judge of the German Federal Court of Justice.

Under the European Patent Convention and the German Patent Act, the validity of any granted European or German patent can be challenged. Due to the possibilities to file either an opposition or an invalidation action a patent is never "safe" against an attack for alleged invalidity.

Two recent studies undertaken by our firm, one in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich, seem to indicate that the probability of a successful defense of patentee has significantly changed over the last years – to the detriment of patentee. Moreover, formal issues seem to become more and more important in opposition (appeal) proceedings at the EPO, where an increasingly narrow interpretation of the Rules of Procedure effectively reduces the options of the patentee for a successful defense.

This leads to the question, whether the current invalidation procedures still provide a fair balancing of the interest of the public to have invalid patents revoked and the interest of the patentee to maintain a justified exclusive right for a patentable invention.

We are looking forward to exciting discussions and a lively exchange of views during this event and the subsequent reception at the BARDEHLE PAGENBERG Lounge!

IP Event
Oppositions and Nullity

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Lugar
BARDEHLE PAGENBERG
Prinzregentenplatz 7
81675 Munich

Idioma de la Conferencia
Inglés

Altavoces

 Professor Christoph Ann

Professor Christoph Ann

Professor Christoph Ann holds the chair for Corporate and IP Law (www.jura.wi.tum.de) at Technische Universität München (TUM), School of Management. Prof. Ann has earned law degrees in both, Germany and the U.S. (LL.M., Duke ’88). Before coming to Munich, he practiced as an attorney in Munich and Erlangen and from 2000-2003 taught IP law as a full Professor of Law in Freiburg/Br., then Germany’s #1 law school. From 2001-2003 he also served as a judge on the Mannheim Regional Court’s renowned IP Infringement Panel with jurisdiction over the technologically eminent German state of Baden-Württemberg. In Munich, Prof. Ann teaches IP Law at TUM and at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC), where he also serves on the Managing Board. On a regular basis, Prof. Ann teaches at universities abroad; in the U.S. (GWU, UWash, Duke Univ., Stetson College of Law, UOregon), in Australia (La Trobe Univ.), in France (IHEE and Université Robert Schuman, both Strasbourg), and in Hungary (Andrássy University, Budapest). Prof. Ann’s has published five books and more than 150 articles and contributions to books. His interests focus on European and International Technology Protection (Patents & Trade Secrets) including Licensing and Competition Law, including respective business environments. Prof. Ann is a listed Neutral with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, chairman of the Nuremberg Chamber of Commerce’s Standing Court of Commercial Arbitration and has served as an arbitrator for the ICC, UNCITRAL, and the German Arbitration Institution (DIS). In Britain and the U.S. he has served as an expert for German and European IP Law.

 Uwe Scharen

Uwe Scharen

Having served as a national judge in patent and utility-model cases for many years, Uwe Scharen is a renowned expert in this field. He was a Member of the Senate responsible for infringement proceedings at the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf. Further, he was a member of the Xth Senate, the Senate ruling at a last instance on both nullity and infringement complaints at the German Federal Court of Justice. Here he finally served as Presiding Judge. Mr. Scharen was also delegated by the Federal Republic of Germany to act as an external legal Member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office. Mr. Scharen extensively contributed to the well-known book “Benkard”. Since retiring, he has been active as an expert.

Rudolf Teschemacher

Dr. Rudolf Teschemacher

Senior Consultant

Stefan Steinbrener

Dr. Stefan Steinbrener

Senior Consultant

Schedule

01:30 pm to 06:30 pm

13:30

Registration

14:00

Welcome

Johannes Heselberger, Vice-Managing Partner BARDEHLE PAGENBERG

14:15

Introduction: Pre- and Post-Grant Validity Procedures

Prof. Dr. jur. Christoph Ann LL.M. (Munich Technical University)

14:45

Presentation of Study Results for German Nullity Procedures: "Are Patents merely Paper Tigers?"

Peter K. Hess, Managing Partner BARDEHLE PAGENBERG

15:30

Coffee Break

16:00

Presentation of Study Results for Opposition Procedures at the EPO

Dr. Stefan V. Steinbrener, Senior Consultant BARDEHLE PAGENBERG

16:45

Panel Discussion: Do we have the Validity Procedures we need?

Moderator: Johannes Heselberger, Vice-Managing Partner BARDEHLE PAGENBERG

Panel:
Prof. Dr. jur. Christoph Ann LL.M. (Munich Technical University)
Dr. Rudolf Teschemacher (BARDEHLE PAGENBERG; former member Enlarged Board of Appeal, EPO)
Uwe Scharen (former Presiding Judge, Patent Senate, German Federal Court of Justice)
Dr. Hans Wegner (Patent Attorney, BARDEHLE PAGENBERG)
Dr. Tilman Müller-Stoy (Attorney at Law, BARDEHLE PAGENBERG)

17:30

Q & A with all speakers: Best practices & useful tips

18:00

Open End • Dinner Reception

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