Why you should attend the Patent Stream sessions
Technology is advancing at pace — and the patent landscape is becoming ever more complex. For patent attorneys, the challenge is no longer simply understanding innovation, but securing protection that is robust, enforceable, and commercially meaningful across multiple jurisdictions.
The Patent Stream of FICPI’s 23rd Open Forum is designed to address these realities. It focuses on the strategic and practical demands of modern patent practice, from navigating legal uncertainty in emerging technologies to ensuring that patents deliver real value in increasingly competitive markets. The patent stream will consider the approaches taken by different jurisdiction in assessing mean plus function claims for both patentability and infringement, and the use they make of post-publish data in assessing inventive step, sufficiency and support for pharmaceutical inventions provided by applicants/patentees.
We will also hear from innovators and practitioners in relation to sustainable innovation and how it can support business growth in an environmentally responsible way. The complexity of long-arm jurisdiction exercised by some courts will be explored and an update on important law and practice developments from around the world will be provided by some of our young and upcoming members.
Join us to sharpen your approach and stay at the forefront of patent practice.
Thursday 17 September 2026
| Time | Session Name |
|---|---|
| 14:00-15:30 | Claiming beyond - Means plus functional claims |
| 16:00-17:30 | Catch Me If Your Court Can: the Long Arm of Patent Law |
Friday 18 September 2026
| Time | Session Name |
|---|---|
| 11:00-12:30 | Inventing a Greener Future |
| 14:00-15:30 | Patent update from around the world to be presented by young members from a number of key jurisdictions |
| 16:00-17:30 | Restrictive vs. Permissive Approaches to Pharmaceutical Patentability |
Patent Stream Leader
Dipl.-Ing. (Univ.) Dr.-Ing. LL.M. Alexander Wyrwoll (Germany)
Alexander Wyrwoll is a Partner at German law firm Winter Brandl.
He holds a Master of Law in European IP Law and has worked in the field of intellectual property law since 2001. He specialises in the areas of patent examination procedures; expert opinions; litigations (oppositions and infringements); licensing negotiations; patent nullity proceedings; utility model cancellation proceedings; and trade marks.
He serves on the Admissions Committee, Strategic Planning Committee and FICPI’s Study & Work Committee on International Patent Matters (CET 3). Alexander also holds a PhD in engineering and a Masters in mechanical engineering.