During FICPI’s visit, the EPO took the opportunity to interview FICPI President, Roberto Pistolesi, who expressed his appreciation of many of the EPO’s products and services, including MyEPO Portfolio. This has been particularly well received, he said, for allowing “direct interaction between the patent attorney and the examiner, and has revealed to be very productive during the examination.”
Roberto introduced FICPI - the only international NGO whose membership consists exclusively of IP attorneys in private practice, with members across 80+ countries and regions. He noted that FICPI comprises a number of working groups on IP substantive issues, practice management, and other issues.
FICPI works closely with IP Offices across the world, including an annual bilateral meeting with the EPO.
Roberto also highlighted FICPI’s participation in the EPO’s main Standing Advisory Committee (SACEPO) and its sub-committees and working groups on aspects from patent documentation to quality. FICPI’s active engagement ensures it can put forward the views of the independent IP sector, with its wealth of practical experience, and its traditional clientele of small and medium sized enterprises.
In the interview, Roberto also talked about the way the EPO handles the Unitary Patent requests, and uptake rate of Unitary Patents as shown on the EPO UP dashboard.
FICPI’s European members are active across the UP as technical judges and EU representatives, he added.
FICPI members involved in the Unitary Patent process include:
- Alessandro Sanchini of Dr. Modiano & Associati S.p.A. (IT)
- Anders Hansson of Hansson Thyresson Patentbyrå AB (SE)
- Arwed A Burrichter of Cohausz & Florack Patent- und Rechtsanwälte
- Bernard Ledeboer of V.O. (NL)
- Christian Keller of Patentanwälte Dr. Keller, Schwertfeger Partnerschaft mbB (DE)
- Christoph Dominik Schober of Flügel Preissner Schober Seidel Patentanwälte (DE)
- Christoph Norrenbrock (DE)
- Claus Elmeros Plougmann & Vingtoft A/S (DK)
- Dennis Kretschmann of Boehmert & Boehmert (DE)
- Elisabetta Papa of Società Italiana Brevetti S.p.A.(IT)
- Eric Augarde of Brevalex (FR)
- Giorgio Checcacci of Checcacci Partners S.r.l. (IT)
- Max Wilhelm Tilmann of König Szynka Tilmann von Renesse Patentanwälte, Partnerschaft (DE)
- Michael Alt of Bird & Bird (DE)
- Michael Fleuchaus of Fleuchaus & Gallo Partnerschaft mbB Patentanwälte (DE)
- Paolo Ernesto Crippa of Jacobacci & Partners S.p.A. (IT)
- Patrice Vidon of Cabinet Patrice Vidon (FR)
- Rainer Friedrich of Breuer Friedrich Hahner Patentanwälte PartG mbB (DE)
- Steen Wadskov-Hansen of Budde School A/S (DK)
- Stefan Wilhelm of Pat Wilhelm (DE)
- Stefanie Parchmann of Maiwald Patentanwalts- und Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft (DE)
- Steven Richard Kitchen of COPA Copenhagen Patents (DK)
- Torsten Duhme of Witteweller (DE)
- Ulrike Keltsch (DE)
Watch the video to hear the full interview: https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/news/epo-and-ficpi-emphasise-importance-co-operation-and-user-dialogue
