International forum on patent protection for software-related inventions

Munich, 13 Nov 2002

Patent protection for inventions relating to computer software and business methods will be the subject of an international forum on 21 and 22 November at the European Patent Office (EPO).

This major event, with around 350 participants from over 50 countries, has been organised by the EPO's International Academy, in co-operation with the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property Law (MPI) and the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (epi).

In addition to EPO President Ingo Kober, epi President Walter Holzer and Professor Joseph Straus, Executive Director of the MPI, the speakers will include representatives of the European Commission, the US and Japanese patent offices and European industry (UNICE)

The forum has been organised in the light of the intensive discussion on the appropriate means of legal protection for software-related inventions and business methods.

The papers will examine the development of the law and its consequences for patent practice in Europe, the USA and Japan. Experts from a range of patent offices and courts - including the EPO, the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, the patent offices of France and the United Kingdom, and the German Federal Patent Court - will discuss the patentability of such inventions.

The users of the patent system will be represented by speakers from the patent profession and industry, and from the Eurolinux Alliance. The forum will also deal with the proposed EU Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions, looking in detail at its implications for legal practice and its economic impact.

Information:

The international forum on "Protection of computer-related and business model inventions" is being organised by the International Academy of the European Patent Office, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law and the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office.

The forum will begin on Thursday, 21 November 2002 at 9.00 am and end on Friday, 22 November at 4.15 pm. Venue: European Patent Office, Erhardtstrasse / Room 102, D-80331 Munich.

For further information please contact:

Rainer Osterwalder
European Patent Office
Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 89 / 2399-5012
Fax: +49 89 / 2399-2850
e-mail: rosterwalder@epo.org

or

URL: http://www.european-patent-office.org/
e-mail: internationalacademy@epo.org

Copyright © 1996-2002 European Patent Office . All Rights Reserved.