European Patent Office to elect new President

The European Patent Office (EPO) is in the process of selecting a new president to take over the reigns of running the Office when the current president, Alison Brimelow, comes to the end of her term of office in June 2010.  Alison Brimelow was elected as president of the EPO in 2003 after a period of four years as Chief Executive and Comptroller General of the UK Patent Office.  Due to a split term of office with former president, Alain Pompidou, her term as president of the EPO began in July 2007.

The president of the EPO is responsible for the running of the Office, and is able to implement changes to the working of the European patent application system.  For example, during Alison Brimelow’s term as president, new online filing measures have been established for opposition and appeal procedures to bring these into line with the electronic filing of patent applications.

There are currently four candidates in the running to be elected:

Susanne Ås Sivborg, Director of the Swedish Patent and Registration Office,
Benoît Battistelli, Director General of the French Instutut National de la Propriété Industrielle,
Roland Grossenbacher, Director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, and
Jesper Kongstad, Director General of the Danish Patent and Trade Mark Office.

The election procedure provides for the president of the EPO to be appointed by the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation.  The Administrative Council, which is made up of representatives from each of the Member States of the European Patent Convention, will hear from each of the four candidates individually before deliberating and voting on the appointment at the 119th Administrative Council meeting held on 27th to 30th of October 2009.

UPDATE - 30 October 2009

None of the candidates received a winning majority of votes from the Administrative Council.  A new election process with the candidates will be held in connection with the 120th Administrative Council meeting, scheduled for 8-11 December 2009.

FURTHER UPDATE - 11 December 2009

In the 8-11 December meeting again none of the candidates received a winning majority of votes.  

Two consecutive voting rounds were held at the meeting, the first one with all four candidates: Ms Sivborg (SE); Mr Battistelli (FR); Mr Grossenbacher (CH); and Mr Kongstad (DK). Mr Kongstad withdrew before the second round.

However, in the second round none of the final three candidates received the required majority of votes, meaning that the Administrative Council will need to repeat the process again at a later, as yet unspecified date.

FINAL UPDATE - 3 March 2010

Mr Benoît Battistelli (FR) was elected President of the EPO on 2 March 2010 at the 122nd meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation.  His five-year term will begin on 1 July 2010.