PATLIB Conference 23 - 25 May 2011

The PATLIB Conference this year was a learning event with workshops, presentations, visits to various EPO departments and papers being presented in the plenary sessions.

The Conference concentrate on three main themes: "tools", "IP matters" and "patent procedure" and delegates were able to choose from practical presentations and an increased number of hands-on training sessions.

The PATLIB Conference Committee, of which I am a member, was responding to feedback from the 2009 and 2010 conferences where delegates requested more break-out sessions and hands-on training courses as well as a broader coverage of IP rights and news on patent policy. PATLIB 2011 is the first conference that has been adapted to address all of these requests.

The intention is that all even years 2012, 2014, 2016 etc we will have the PATLIB conference as we know it. Conference, in these years, will be held in a different member state and it will be very much a networking event.

In the intervening years, 2013, 2015 etc PATLIB Conference will be a 'learning event' and will take place at an EPO location.

This years learning event ran very well and the feedback we have had so far from the delegates is positive.

All of the presentations from the conference are now online and can be found at;

http://www.epo.org/learning-events/events/conferences/patlib/programme/plenary.html http://www.epo.org/learning-events/events/conferences/patlib/programme/breakout.html

The representatives from PATLIB UK who attended were;
Chris Hunnings - PATLIB Plymouth
Nia Roberts - PATLIB Llandudno Junction
Gail Mitchell - PATLIB London
Maria Lampert - PATLIB London
Ged Doonan - PATLIB Leeds
Stef Stephenson - PATLIB Leeds

Chris, Nia,Gail, Ged and Stef will be writing up their notes from the workshops they attended and we will be circulating them to all PATLIB UK members.

Maria