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Munich, 1 March 2010 -- The Administrative Council of
the European Patent Organisation, meeting in Munich on 1 March 2010 under the
chairmanship of Jesper Kongstad (DK), has elected Benoît Battistelli (FR) to
succeed Alison Brimelow (GB) as President of the European Patent Office (EPO).
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 Administrative Council, made up of delegations from the member states, is
the Organisation's legislative body. It is responsible for supervising the
activities of the Office, approving the budget and appointing senior managers,
including the President of the EPO. Under the European Patent Convention (EPC),
a qualified majority of three-quarters of the votes cast by the Organisation's
member states is required for the decision on the appointment of a new
President.
The European Patent Organisation is an intergovernmental organisation set up on
the basis of the EPC, which was signed in Munich in 1973 and entered into force
on 7 October 1977. The Organisation currently has 36 member states - all of the
27 EU members plus Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland,
Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and Turkey. Its task is
to oversee the granting of European patents under the EPC by the European Patent
Office.
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