CIPA life sciences: the year in review
Following last year’s successful conference in Luton Hoo, for 2013 the UK’s Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) takes its annual life sciences conference to Eastbourne, on the UK’s south coast.
Starting on November 14, the conference will kick off with an introduction by morning session chair Simon Wright of JA Kemp & Co, after which panels will cover procedure at the European Patent Office (EPO) Board of Appeal, ethics and morality, and the state of the pharma and biotech sectors. To end the morning session, Neil Jenkins of Bird & Bird LLP will address the topic of how to maximise protection for innovative products, looking at patents and supplementary protection certificates.
The afternoon session, chaired by Maria Nichol of CIPA and ITMA’s Joint Examination Board, will take in research exemptions for using patents in the EU, the new litigation environment promised by the proposed Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court, and a roundtable discussion with representatives from Novartis, the UK Intellectual Property Office, and leading international law firms.
Dr Michael McArthur of antibacterials company Procarta Biotech will then give the conference’s ‘science lecture’ on tackling the antibiotic resistance crisis. After last year’s memorable lecture on epigenetics from Pfizer’s Nessa Carey in the same slot, it promises to be an intriguing address.
Day two will be chaired by Jasper Clube, vice president in charge of IP at biopharmaceutical company Kymab. Following Clube’s introduction, David Resnick of Nixon Peabody will update the conference on US legal developments in the industry; he will be followed by Philip Webber of Dehns patent and trademark attorneys, who will do the same for UK and EU law.
Hari Subramaniam of Subramaniam & Associates will take the floor after a coffee break, looking at IP issues in the Indian subcontinent, and finally, Enrique Molian Galan, director of biotechnology at the EPO, will update on EPO practice and case law.
The CIPA annual life sciences conference takes place on November 14 and 15, at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne. For more information visit www.cipa.org.uk
