Patent seminars focus on differences in claim construction, patentability standards

Despite his natural preoccupation with trade marks while attending this year's International Trademark Association annual Meeting, this Kat has not forgotten about patents. He notes that his friends at Management Forum have a couple of patent seminars coming up in the very near future -- next week, in fact. both seem pretty useful, but their very usefulness highlights what can be described as arbitrary and objectively unjustifiable differences between patent systems and the way they work.

Merpel indulges in a little
purposive construction ...*

On Thursday 16 May there's "The Impact of Patent Construction – How to prove Infringement and Validity in the USA, UK and Germany" (details here), which seeks to provide both an analysis and a comparison of the varying approaches in the US, UK and Germany regarding patent claim construction, their respective doctrines of equivalents, purposive construction and validity. This seminar, the organisers promise, will be illustrated with examples and case studies. As usual there will be plenty of opportunities for questions and discussion. The big question which Merpel hopes will be asked is why there should be differences between these jurisdictions in terms of claim construction: he accepts that different modes of claim construction may be engaged with regard to different types of patent and different sectors of technology, but feels that the basic principles -- even if they may be applied inconsistently from time to time -- should by now be set in concrete. Perhaps speakers Ulrich Blumenröder (Grünecker, Kinkeldey, Stockmair & Schwanhäusser, Munich), William Cook (Marks & Clerk, London) and Bradley Hulbert (McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff, Chicago) can be tempted to explain why this is not, or should not be, the case.

On the next day (Friday 17 May) comes "Prosecution of EPO and US Patent Applications Based on a Single Specification"  (details here)--  another useful seminar which has been designed to help applicants wanting to adopt a single approach when prosecuting patent applications before both European and US Patent Offices. Say the organisers: "Learning how to work with the parallel but substantially different standards of patentability employed by the EPO and USPTO should prevent seminar attendees from making avoidable mistakes thereby saving time, money, and unnecessary aggravation". Again, Merpel feels that, after so many years of discussing standards of patentability and their mode of assessment, whether in conferences, meetings of international bodies or anywhere else, it is sad and regrettable that major patent-granting organisations' standards of patentability should remain far enough apart to form a credible basis for a patent seminar.

Both seminars will be held in the Cavendish Hotel, Jermyn Street, London, and details of available discounts for IPKat readers are available from Josephine Leak at josephine.leak@management-forum.co.uk -- so long as you remember to mention 'IPKat' in your email.

* Bob Cat the Builder, by CaptainScratch (Deviant Art}