ONE PATENT OFFICE, TWO PRESIDENTS

On Wednesday 29 October Alain Pompidou and Alison Brimelow were elected as the next two Presidents of the European Patent Office (EPO). Pompidou is a member of the French government; Brimelow is chief executive office of the UK Patent Office. The plan is that they will split the presidency of the EPO between them. Pompidou will take up office on 1 July 2004, when Ingo Kober steps down, remaining in office until 30 June 2007 at which point Brimelow will carry on until 30 June 2010. This compromise resolves months of debates and political lobbying, following two failed rounds of votes in March and June at which no candidate reached the required three-quarter majority of the votes cast by the 27 member states of the European Patent Organisation.



The IPKat is relieved that the protracted spat over the EPO presidency has been resolved, but he is saddened that the direction of one of the world's "big three" trilateral patent offices (along with the USPTO and JAPIO) should be vulnerable to political considerations which have nothing to do with the needs and requirements of the patenting community.



Some previous European experiments in power-sharing here, here and here

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