epi Information 2/2009

Information 2/2009 Committee Reports 47
agenda of the SACEPO/WPR meeting of
05.06.2009]
– Documents filed during oral proceedings: (i) epi
mentioned that they should be accessible in the
public file on the next day or so; this was agreed.
(ii) the printers have difficulty in reading some manuscript
amendments; epi mentioned the lack of
printers in most attorney rooms.
– Customer service.
PCT SUB-COMMITTEE
5. PCT Working Group
The PCT Working Group met in Geneva from
04.05.2009 to 08.05.2009. All working documents
and the meeting report are available from the WIPO
website:http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=17449
COMMUNITY PATENT SUB-COMMITTEE
6. Community Patent Regulation
A new draft Regulation dated 07.04.2009 has been
circulated to the EPPC members.
EPC SUB-COMMITTEE
7. Report from AC117
In a nutshell, the AC adopted a proposal to amend R. 36
(divisionals) and some other rules, essentially trying to
improve the quality of the search and imposing a mandatory
response to the written opinion.
The AC took note of a proposal to introduce a system
of deferred examination, made by DE, DK and NL, which
will be further discussed in the CPL. [Note: this subject
has also been included in the agenda of the SACEPO/
WPR meeting of 05.06.2009]
LABELLED MEMBERS OF EPPC:
During the last EPPC meeting, on 11.03.2009, the
following elections took place:
Ms Skeppstedt: vice-chair, in charge of the Community
Patent sub-committee;
Mr Lampe: vice-chair, in charge of the EPC sub-committee;
and
Mr Samuelides: vice-chair, in charge of the PCT/Trilateral
sub-committee.
Report of the Harmonisation Committee
F. Leyder (BE)
Secretary
The Harmonisation Committee deals with all questions
concerning the worldwide harmonization of Patent Law,
and in particular within the framework of WIPO.
1. The 13 th Session of the Standing Committee on the
Law of Patents (SCP) was held in Geneva from 23 rd to
27 th March 2009. The Chairman’s Summary is available
from the WIPO website. (http://www.wipo.int/
meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=17448)
This session dealt mainly with four topics, namely
dissemination of patent information, exceptions
from patentable subject matter and limitations to
the rights, patents and standards, and Client-attorney
privilege. The only topic discussed which met
with general approval was the „privilege“ issue, with
only one Member State (Columbia) and one NGO
(Third World Network) against progressing this.
Our delegate, John Brown (who also chairs this
committee), reported that it was a very tedious
meeting, with a massive amount of time lost whilst
various groups had meetings; he made a statement
on behalf of epi, welcoming the fact that SCP is
looking very seriously at the problems caused by the
non-uniform privilege provisions around the world.
In a nutshell, the official report mentions that SCP
reaffirmed that the non-exhaustive list of issues
identified at its last two meetings would remain
open for further elaboration and discussion at its
next session. It also decided to include two further
issues in the list, namely „patents and the environment,
with a particular attention to climate change
and alternative sources of energy“ and „patent
quality management systems“.
2. At the suggestion of the SCP, the 2008 General
Assembly of WIPO endorsed a recommendation to
convene in 2009 a conference on issues relating to
the implications of patents on certain areas of public
policy, such as health, the environment, climate
change and food security. The Conference on Intellectual
Property and Global Challenges will be held
on 13 th and 14 th July, 2009, at the Centre International
de Conférences in Geneva. epi will be
represented by its President and by the Secretary
of this committee.