Tuesday 7^th October 2003

SESSION C.1
The Final Frontier
What should be the limits of patent protection for software?

moderator: Mr Erik NOOTEBOOM
Head of Unit E2 (Industrial Property)
DG Internal Market, European Commission
speakers: Mr Bernt HUGENHOLTZ
Professor of Law, Institute for Information Law
University of Amsterdam
Mr Jürgen BETTEN
Patent Attorney,
Union of European Practitioners in Industrial Property – Betten & Resh Patent Attorneys
Mr Pasquale IANNANTUONO
Councelor, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

• need for a global approach?
• limits to patentability, scope and nature of exceptions
• term of protection
• software and business methods, difference in EU and US approaches

rapporteur: Mr David ELLARD
European Commission, DG Internal Market

SESSION C.2
IP in an Enlarged EU

moderator: Mr Leopold MAURER
Head of Unit C2 (Cyprus)
DG Enlargement, European Commission
speakers: Mr Lukas PFISTER
Director External Affairs Central & Eastern Europe
Merck Sharp & Dohme G.m.b.H.
Mr Mihaly FICSOR
Vice President, Hungarian Patent Office

• what do old and new Member States have to learn from each other on IP?
• what will be the challenges of integrating candidate countries into EU IP policy?
• implications of the next enlargement (Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey…)

rapporteur: Mr Jens GASTER
European Commission, DG Internal Market

Coffee Break

SESSION D.1
The Final Frontier
What should be the limits of patent protection for biotechnology?

moderator: Mr Vincenzo SCORDAMAGLIA
Honorary Director-General
Council of the European Union
speakers: Mr Sven BOSTYN
Assistant Professor of Commercial and Intellectual Property Law, Faculty of Law,
Maastricht University
Mr Patrice MONAIN
Patent Department, Sanofi-Synthelabo

• need for a global approach?
• limits to patentability
• scope and nature of exceptions
• depth of protection
• ethical questions
• genetics and biotechnology

rapporteur: Mr Jean Luc GAL
European Commission, DG Internal Market

SESSION D.2
Where now after Cancun?

moderator: Mr Paul VANDOREN
Head of Unit F1 (New technologies, Intellectual property, Public procurement)
DG Trade, European Commission

speakers: Mr Felix ADDOR
Head Legal and International Affairs – Deputy Director General
Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property

Mr David VIVAS EUGUI
Programme Manager on Intellectual Property, Technology and Services International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

• did Cancun meet the expectations of developing countries on IP i.e. access to medicines and geographical indications?
• are developing countries' expectations regarding traditional knowledge realistic? In which forum can these expectations be met?
• what should be the follow up to Cancun?

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

Lunch

Concluding debate
IP protection and society: too much, too little or just right?

moderator: Mr Guido BERARDIS
Director
DG Internal Market, European Commission
speakers: Ms. Alison BRIMELOW
Chief Executive, UK Patent Office
Mrs Annette KUR
Senior Researcher, Max Planck-Institut
Mrs Ludovica AGRÒ
Director, Italian Patent and Trademarks Office

• the role of IP in society
• how to ensure that the right balance is struck between providing IP protection to stimulate innovation and investment and other public policies such as, for example, competition policy, health and ethics
• IP and development
• future prospects: "quo vadis?"

rapporteur: Mrs Mirjam SÖDERHOLM
Deputy Head of Unit E2 (Industrial Property)
DG Internal Market, European Commission

Closing remarks
Mr Guido BERARDIS
Director
DG Internal Market, European Commission

Farewell Cocktail

Program changes

Proceedings