Read the highlights from the AIPPI World Congress

The AIPPI World Congress took place in Milan this week. The Managing IP team was onsite producing the AIPPI Congress News daily newsletter.

You can download the AIPPI Congress News by visiting our Conference Newsletter section here, or by clicking on the individual days below.

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Among the highlights were a speech at the opening ceremony by WIPO’s Director General Francis Gurry, who outlined five challenges for the IP system. In an interview with us after the speech he discussed the trend towards bilateral and multilateral agreements, many of which address IP – including TTP, TTIP and RCEP.

“It would be a pretension to think you can impede that,” Gurry said, adding: “It raises the question of coherence. Things should fit like Russian dolls. If one is square and not round, you’re in trouble.”

The following day, EPO President Benoît Battistelli gave a lunchtime keynote speech outlining how the EPO is tackling its backlog. The Office expects to register about 90,000 patents this year, an increase of about one-third on last year, when it registered 68,400 patents.

Battistelli said the growth in registrations was due to “a record increase in productivity” without compromising patent quality. The number of products (such as search reports) completed by each full-time equivalent staff member has increased from 49.8 in 2014 to 60.3 this year.

Other highlights from the Congress include Jordan being accepted as new AIPPI national group, a panel of judges discussing the role of expert evidence, a session on the implications of Brexit, food companies having a taste for 3D trade marks, pharmaceutical practitioners outlining their concerns about patentable subject matter and an interview with the new AIPPI President, Hao Ma.