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The current EU Presidency has prepared a new Document 12342/09 titled Towards an Enhanced Partnership between Patent Offices under the Community Patent - European Standard for Searches and addressing the Working Party on Intellectual Property (Patents).

According to the findings as set out in the recent Document, a previous working Document 6044/09 titled Towards an Enhanced Partnership between Patent Offices in Europe under the Community patent as presented by the Czech Presidency in February 2009 (see also my earlier posting here), has received broad support from Member States at the meeting of the EU Council Working Party on February 17, 2009. The Swedish EU Presidency now appears to conclude that there might be an emerging consensus that a common ground should be explored, in order to enable National Patent Offices (NPO) who wish to do so to enter into enhanced partnerships with the EPO, in particular in the context of the future Community patent.

Against this background the Swedish EU Presidency now proposes the development of a European Standard for Searches (ESS).

According to the present Document 12342/09, ESS should be based on and implemented as a further development of the European Patent Network (EPN), in particular the Utilisation Project and the European Quality System.

The Document 12342/09 suggests to establish a filter which interested NPOs must pass in orther to be accepted a working partners for search in the context of the EPO: Meeting all criteria in a European Standard for Searches – ESS is envisaged to enable an NPO to qualify for an Enhanced partnership with the EPO. According to the draft, as a long term objective, the implementation of ESS should make it possible for the EPO to make use of searches with regard to applications first filed at an NPO. This standard could ease the workload and diminish the backlog of the EPO, hereby facilitating the timely delivery of patents and should fully respect the central role of the EPO in granting and administering of European patents, including the Community patent.

A few days ago the EU Commission has adopted a Communication (COM(2009) 388 final) setting out the key elements of the competition regime which will apply to the motor vehicle sector after the expiry of the current Block exemption Regulation N° 1400/2002 of July 31, 2002 on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty to categories of vertical agreements and concerted practices in the motor vehicle sector. The Commission's Communication is accompanied by an Impact Assessment Report. For annexes and other materials, see here.

There is a new press release on the website of the European Patent Office (EPO):

"The EPO has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc Standards Association (IEEE-SA).

Signed by EPO's ad interim Vice-President for Legal and International Affairs, Wim Van der Eijk, and IEEE-SA Managing Director Judith Gorman, the memorandum aims to increase co-operation between the two institutions on standards and intellectual property.

The Byzantine system of interwoven institutions and bodies within the context of the European triangle of power, namely the EU Commission, the EU Parliament, and the EU Council, appears to be some inexhaustible source of surprises.

Did you ever hear of the 'Friends of the Presidency Group'?

Mr Jesper Kongstad	Dr. Roland Grossenbacher
Mr Benoît Battistelli	Ms Susanne Ås Sivborg

Some time ago I had reported on Mr Jesper Kongstad and Dr. Roland Grossenbacher announcing their candidature for the Office of the President of the European Patent Office (EPO).

Later on it become known that also Mr Benoît Battistelli will run. He is of French citizenship. At its 116^th meeting held on December 11, 2008, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) had decided to appoint him as its next Chairman. Mr Battistelli is also Director General of France's Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI), and has served as Deputy Chairman of the EPO's Administrative Council since 2006.

Today, I am receiving fresh reports saying that also Ms Susanne Ås Sivborg desires to get the successorship of Ms Brimelow. She is a Swedish citizen and serves as Director General of the Swedish Patent och Registreringsverket.

BTW, if anybody else wants to run for the election: Applications for EPO president position are formally and open requested. The deadline for submitting an application lapses by September 15, 2009. Citizenship of any of the EU Member States is required. However, you don't need to apply if you won't get the formal support of your Government for your candidature.

According to a recent report on IP Watch, the latest round of negotiations for an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) held in Rabat, Morocco on July 16 to 17, 2009, resulted in the announcement that after closed-door discussions on transparency, the only agreement reached on transparency was to release draft agendas of future closed-door negotiating rounds. The next round of negotiations will be hosted by Korea in November 2009, and the intention is still to conclude the agreement 'as soon as possible in 2010', according to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).

In his Blog Chroniques de la propriété intellectuelle, the French-based patent attorney Mr Pierre Breese writes that now parliamentary work on the finalisation of the merger of the profession of the patent attorneys into the profession of the attorneys-at-law in France continues with hearings. According to Mr Breese, Mr Bernard Carayon, a lawyer, chairman of the Committee for economy intelligence, this body is currently hearing the representatives of different interests. The proposal already passed by the Senate should be debated in the National Assembly in late September 2009, but the agenda is not yet known officially.

According to Mr Breese it seems unlikely that the process is interrupted despite some opposition expressed e.g. by Bâtonnier Mr Jean Castelain who had not failed to recall the reservations of Parisian lawyers in the Bulletin of the Paris Bar. The willingness of government to create a large legal profession by re-grouping small professions and whip of the Members of Parliament without doubt will lead to the adoption of the text before the end of the year and the disappearance of the profession of french patent attorneys in September 2010, Breese reckons.

These political proceedings are hardly imaginable to happen in a corresponding manner in Germany. They give the impression that France still has a more authoritarian and centralised political culture than Germany, be it for good or worse. If the Government makes big plans to re-organise the regulated professions, they appear to have stamina and public acceptance to push this trough. In Germany, any such attempt most probably would be watered down to eventually die in the Second Chamber of the Parliament, the Bundesrat.

With regard to this particular project, the merger of the professions of the attorneys-at-law and of the patent attorneys, I am still observing the French scenery full of wondrousness but without being able to bring myself to express any definitive opinion thereon as to whether this might be seen as a strike of genius or as the begin of some sort of desaster.

(Photo: (C) 2009 by *clairity* via Flickr, licenced under a CC licence)