Berenika Depo

The IPKat is shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden and unexpected passing of his very good friend Berenika Depo earlier today.

A partner in the Warsaw-based intellectual property practice of LDS Łazewski Depo, Berenika was known and greatly admired by a wide circle of practitioners, academics and administrators around the world. From her Polish base,

Berenika practised the art of being a truly cosmopolitan European. She studied law first in Stockholm, Sweden, before furthering her studies in Freiburg and Berlin, concluding with a Postgraduate Degree in Industrial Property at the Jagellonian University, Kraków. Before founding her own firm, Berenika led Baker & McKenzie’s Polish trade mark prosecution and litigation practice. She was a member of the Bar and a European Patent Attorney too. In between, she was a trade mark examiner in OHIM, Alicante, having the distinction of being the first Polish examiner appointed following Poland’s accession to the EU.

As a teacher, writer and public speaker, Berenika was a powerful spokesman on behalf of intellectual property rights. A warm and natural communicator, and also a natural linguist, she spoke fluent English, French, Spanish and German in addition to her two native languages of Polish and Swedish.

This Kat worked with her in her capacity as a contributor to the journal he edits -- not just a contributor of articles but of ideas to be shared with others. He also very much enjoyed crossing swords with her in debate on contentious IP issues, when she would demonstrate her depth of legal and commercial knowledge as well as some shrewd human insights.

The world will be a less exciting place without Berenika. She was a vivacious and inspirational character and there are many of us who will greatly miss her.