News

On 19th April, a delegation from the epi headed by the President Tony Tangena met with a delegation from the EPO headed by the EPO President Benoît Battistelli. The meeting was held as part of the ‘Quality for Partnership’ program, a continuous dialogue between the epi and the EPO by means of which both organizations exchange their views and update each other on quality matters.

Before the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) can enter into force, it needs to be ratified by 13 Member States, including Germany, France and the UK (Art 89(1) UPCA).

Today, further to the Partnership for Quality meeting, the epi President and the EPO President jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Munich.

The epi Committee on Biotechnological Inventions has created the following overview of the national laws of the 38 EPC Contracting States with regard to nucleic acid sequences. The main issue covered by this overview concerns purpose/function limited protection.

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing on 14th March 2016 of Dr. Kurt F. Büchel at the age of 82.