41st World Intellectual Property Congress A Resounding Success

Business Wire, Sept 26, 2008

Largest international meeting of patent lawyers discusses significant issues of harmonization of standards; IP issues in the environmental technology; comparisons of patent trial procedures; women in IP law; and others against the backdrop of Boston, a city of innovation

BOSTON -- The Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriete Intellectuelle (AIPPI), the oldest global intellectual property association, recently converged on Boston, MA for the 41st World Intellectual Property Congress for a resoundingly successful meeting.

The Congress, held in the United States for the first time in 33 years, attracted over 2,000 participants, including highly experienced and respected outside intellectual property counsel, corporate intellectual property counsel, academics and judges from around the world.

Participants from over 76 countries had the opportunity to learn the latest practice techniques, network with peers, and discuss many substantive and pressing issues facing IP lawyers today, from harmonization of standards to intellectual property issues in environmental technology and the role of women lawyers in the field.

"We were delighted to host the 41st World Congress in the U.S.," said Ronald Myrick (Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP; Cambridge, MA), President AIPPI. "Boston was a particularly appropriate venue for this meeting as the home of some of the world's premier universities and research institutions. The 2008 Congress merged the long and rich history of the international event with modern day technology to offer unprecedented access to up-to-the-minute information throughout the event."

Harmonization

A leading theme of the event was harmonization of intellectual property laws on a worldwide basis, so that companies operating globally would have one consistent set of rules to follow rather than having to keep track of disparate countries' IP standards. "This is of critical importance, as companies seek to compete globally, they are also protecting their intellectual property across the board," said Clark Lackert, President of AIPPI's United States Group (King & Spalding LLP, New York). "But the harmonization process is not easy, because it has to accommodate a wide range of viewpoints on how patent, trademark and copyright laws should be used to advance each country's economic and social goals. One of the themes that emerged from this most recent AIPPI World IP Congress is that, while all countries are seeking to implement the World Trade Organization agreement mandates to harmonize their intellectual property laws, in both statutory and enforcement areas, divergent results are occurring due to differences in local cultures, legal systems, and governments."

Environmental Technology: Corporate citizens can and should "do good" by their patents

In a workshop on intellectual property rights on environmental technologies, IBM, Nokia, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development announced that several large corporations, including Bosch, DuPont, and Xerox have joined an initiative to pledge patents that help the environment to the public domain. The initiative, called the Eco Patent Commons, launched in January 2008, originally included IBM, Nokia, Pitney Bowes and Sony. David J. Kappos, IBM's Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for IP Law and Strategy, explained that IBM had donated a patent on a packaging invention that replaced petroleum based Styrofoam with paper-based packaging material. Similarly, Donal O'Connell, Director of Intellectual Property for Nokia in the United Kingdom, noted that Nokia has donated patents that cover the use of materials in discarded cell phones.

Cutting Edge Trial Techniques

Providing a look at trial techniques across five countries, the U.S., Japan, China, England and Germany, participants were treated to a mock trial concerning a patent on a hamburger with a hole for condiments. The results of the five trials were different, ranging from a jury verdict finding the patent infringed and valid in the United States trial, to a judgment of no infringement by the judge of the Shanghai, China High Court, to judgments of infringed and invalid in the Japan and England trials (with the losing side being ordered to pay costs to the winner in the England trial), and to a holding of infringement of an amended version of the patent in the German trial. Alan Smith (Fish & Richardson, P.C., Boston), Chair of the Program Committee for the Congress, said "This is the very first time a mock patent program was done on this scale, with five sitting judges from five leading jurisdictions, and lawyers from those countries conducting the trial under their respective legal system. The fact that the results were different shows that there is a great deal of strategy involved in selecting the forum to enforce your patents."

Women in IP

Over 200 women IP attorneys from all over the world attended a breakfast roundtable discussion. Speaker Jane Direnzo Pigott of R3 Group LLC in Chicago presented a detailed analysis of the progress of women in law. Ms. Pigott pointed out that 83% of partners in U.S. law firms are men; however, the number of women who serve as general counsel at Fortune 1000 companies is increasing significantly, and now stands at 20%. AIPPI United States Group President Elect Judy Saffer, Assistant General Counsel for BMI, Inc. in New York, initiated a motivating discussion encouraging women to network and cooperate with one another to increase the presence of women at all levels of law firms and industry.