Patents Dates - Patenting Lives, EPO Patent Forum and EUPACO
(Apologies for cross-posting)
A few dates for your patents diaries ...
Right: The IPKat updates his diary
The Patenting Lives Project is presenting a free lunchtime seminar - "Patenting Lives: GMOs and (Cultural) Co-Existence in Europe" - at the University of Queensland this Friday, 13 April. Co-hosted by ACIPA and the TC Beirne School of Law, the seminar will run from 12-1pm, Forgan-Smith Building (Room 1-W341). If any of you are in Brisbane it would be great to see you there.
The European Patent Forum will be taking place in Munich, 18-19 April. The Patent Forum will consider the broader context in which the development of patent law takes place: "one of the first attempts to examine intellectual property as a whole, taking into account political, social, ethical, technological, environmental and historical factors". Johanna Gibson will be there following work on the Scenarios for the Future project and Patenting Lives.
Another important event in the discussion of patent policy is EUPACO-2. This next meeting in the series of EUPACO events will be held in Brussels, 15-16 May and the draft programme is now available. EUPACO (the European Patent Conference - "Towards a New Patent System") was conceived by the Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), largely in response to the proposed software patents directive. But from this work, EUPACO has developed the debate towards sustainability in the patent system more broadly, with particular attention to the context and framework for policy development in the area of patents. Johanna Gibson was at the earlier meeting (24 January 2007), which was a very successful example of the diverse interests contributing to EUPACO, with a wide range of contributions from various stakeholders, including practitioners and academics, industry and civil society. The forthcoming 2 day meeting in May promises to be an equally stimulating event and a further example of genuine policy debate.
