The member states of the European Patent Organisation met on March 1, electing Benoît Battistelli as president of the European Patent Office (EPO).
Battistelli will begin his five-year term as president of the EPO in July this year, succeeding current president Alison Brimelow, who decided not to stand for re-election.
The new president required a qualified majority of three-quarters of the votes cast by member states represented on the Administrative Council, the legislative body of the European Patent Organisation.
Battistelli, who is currently director general of the French National Institute of Industrial Property, beat Susanne .s Sivborg, director general of the Swedish Patent and Registration Office, and Roland Grossenbacher, director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, in the vote.
Brimelow’s departure from the EPO presidency was announced in the summer of 2009. The council’s decision on her replacement was deferred three times. On each occasion, the delegates were unable to select a new president, as none of the candidates received a three-quarters majority of the votes cast by member states