Guest post: Catriona Hammer on the CIPA Congress

We are very excited about our annual Congress this week and are delighted that our IP Minister, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, will be attending to give the opening keynote address. Her business background should give her plenty to say on the topic of IP.

She has already led a highly successful delegation to China in which CIPA was pleased to be represented by Gwilym Roberts.

The Congress theme is “The Lifecycle of Intellectual Property: Intellectual property from cradle to grave”. We look forward to hearing from a full programme of distinguished speakers taking us all the way through from recognising inventions to licensing and litigation.

There will be a keynote speech from Heli Pihlajamaa of the EPO after lunch on the opening day.

In addition, we expect a provocative lunchtime debate on the second day when Dr Mohga Kamal-Yanni, Senior Health and HIV Policy Advisor for Oxfam GB, will speak on the effect that the charity believes “Big Pharma” companies are having on public health in the developing world and John Pender from Glaxo Smithkline will reply for the industry.

For those attending the President’s Dinner, there will be the Rt Hon The Lord Justice Vos as guest speaker – plus a few surprises in store.

There is certainly a lot happening in the world of IP and CIPA is actively engaged in a diverse range of issues such as: the European Trade Mark Directive and Regulations; the proposed Trade Secrets Directive and, of course, the ongoing saga of the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court. All of these topics feature on the agenda for Congress and, of course, we expect to get many contributions and questions from the audience.