Monday 6^th October 2003

Registration

Opening address, presided over by

Mr Alfonso MATTERA RICIGLIANO
European Commission
Special Adviser to President Romano Prodi
Mr Frits BOLKESTEIN
European Commissioner
Internal Market, Taxation and Customs Union issues
Mr Rocco BUTTIGLIONE
Italian Minister for Community Policies
Mr Antonio MARZANO
Italian Minister for Productive Activities
Mr Antonio BASSOLINO
President of the Region of Campania

Coffee Break

SESSION A
Towards a global IP policy…?

moderator: Mr Ernesto RUBIO
Senior Director-Trademarks
Industrial Designs & Geographical Indications Department
World Intellectual Property Organisation

speakers: Mr James ROGAN
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property
US Patent & Trademark Office
Mr Ingo KOBER
President of the European Patent Office
Mr. Shinjiro ONO
Commissioner, Japan Patent Office
Mr Wubbo DE BOER
President of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market

• what are the commonalities in national/regional protection of different IP rights e.g. patents, geographical indications, trademarks, designs?
• what is the current extent of international bilateral or multilateral agreements?
• what aspects of IP rights could be harmonised/standardised at an international level?
In which forum?
• how do the major patent and trademark offices intend to handle the crucial issue of workload?

rapporteur: Mrs Susana PEREZ FERRERAS
European Commission, DG Internal Market

Lunch

SESSION B
Competition and IP

moderator: Mr Alexander SCHAUB
Director General DG Internal Market
European Commission
speakers: Mr William KOVACIC
General Counsel
U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Mrs Valentine KORAH
Barrister, Emeritus Professor of Competition Law
Faculty of Laws - University College London

• compulsory licensing of IPs and competition law
• blocking patents and patent thickets
• can IP ever be regarded as an ‘essential facility’?
• competition law and pricing of IP licences
• can there ever be a doctrine of ‘implicit relevant market’ in an IP right?
• recent developments in US case law

rapporteur: Mr David ELLARD
European Commission, DG Internal Market

Coffee Break

Open Forum: ‘My pet project for a new European law on IP’

moderator: Mr Willy ROTHLEY
Member of the European Parliament
speakers: Mr Michael FYSH
Judge, Patents County Court, London
Mr Thierry SUEUR
Directeur IP Department, Air-Liquide

Simulated parliamentary debate where chosen speakers present their ‘pet projects’ for new European IP laws and the delegates act as members of the European Parliament and vote on the different proposals.

Possible proposals:

• regulation providing for the automatic assignment of Internet domain names in all EU states to all holders of a Community trademark or geographical indication
• directive/regulation providing for the limiting of patent protection to five years for high technology inventions (e.g. computer-related)
• international exhaustion of trademarks
• European regulation on unfair trading practices (e.g. patent ambushes, misrepresentation, misappropriation of the inventive efforts of others)

rapporteur: Mr Jens GASTER
European Commission, DG Internal Market

Gala Dinner