European Patent Office elects new President

On 1 March 2010, Benoît Battistelli was elected the next President of the European Patent Office (EPO) to succeed Alison Brimelow of Great Britain. Currently Mr Battistelli is Director General of the French National Institute of Industrial Property. His five-year term as President of the EPO will begin on 1 July 2010.

The EPO is an agency granting patents for countries party the European Patent Convention (EPC). It is also possible to directly file a national patent application in each state party to the EPC, which means that EPO offers a parallel and alternative way of patenting in those countries.

In Finland, national validation of EPO patents is carried out by the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland.

Further details:
Pekka Launis
Vice President
National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland
Email: firstname.lastname@prh.fi
Tel. +358 (0)9 6939 5443