Chairmans of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation
1. Georges Vianès Georges Vianès Georges Jean Gabriel Vianès is a former French civil servant, corporate officer and politician. He was head of the French National Intellectual Property Institute , the French national intellectual property office from 1975 to 1982...  (19 October 1977 - 18 October 1981), French France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... .
2. Ivor J. G. Davis (19 October 1981 - 18 October 1984), British United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... .
3. Otto Leberl (19 October 1984 - October 1987), Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... n.
4. Albrecht Krieger Albrecht Krieger Dr. jur. h. c. Albrecht Krieger was a German civil servant. He was Chairman of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation from October 1987 to 18 October 1990....  (October 1987 - 18 October 1990), German Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... .
5. Jean-Claude Combaldieu (19 October 1990 - 18 October 1993), French.
6. Per Lund Thoft (19 October 1993 - 30 November 1995), Danish Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... .
7. Julián Álvarez-Álvarez (1 December 1995 - 4 March 1997), Spanish Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... .
8. Sean Fitzpatrick (5 March 1997 - March 4, 2000), Irish Ireland Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth... .
9. Roland Grossenbacher Roland Grossenbacher Dr. Roland Edouard Grossenbacher is a Swiss attorney at law, who served as chairman of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation from March 5, 2000 to March 4, 2009. He was appointed at this post for a first three-year term on 5 March 2000. He was then reelected in 2002 for a...  (March 5, 2000 - March 4, 2009), Swiss Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... . a
10. Benoît Battistelli Benoît Battistelli Benoît Battistelli is a French civil servant and current president of the European Patent Office . Before taking up this post, he was head of the French National Intellectual Property Institute .- Career :...  (March 5, 2009 - June 30, 2009), French.
10a. Alberto Casado Cerviño Alberto Casado Cerviño Alberto Casado Cerviño is the Director General of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. He has held this position since May 24, 2008. From July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, he also acted as Chairman ad interim of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation.-References:...  (July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010) (Chairman ad interim Ad interim The Latin phrase ad interim literally means "in the time between" denotes the meaning of "in the meantime", "for an intervening time" or "temporarily" in the English language... ), Spanish.
11. Jesper Kongstad Jesper Kongstad Jesper Kongstad is the current Director General of the Danish Patent and Trademark Office and Chairman of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation. In 2009, he was candidate for the position of President of the European Patent Office, which was to be filled on 1 July 2010. In...  (July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2013), Danish Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... .
.21	a After he stepped down, Roland Grossenbacher was made "Honorary Chairman" of the Administrative Council.

The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation

European Patent Organisation

The European Patent Organisation is a public international organisation created in 1977 by its contracting states to grant patents in Europe under the European Patent Convention of 1973...

 (EPOrg), the other being the European Patent Office

European Patent Office

The European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation , the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative...

 (EPO). The Administrative Council acts as the Organisation's supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body. The actual legislative power to revise the European Patent Convention lies with the Contracting States themselves when meeting at a Conference of the Contracting States. In contrast, the EPO acts as executive body of the Organisation.

Composition and competences

The Administrative Council is made up of members of the contracting states and is responsible for overseeing the work of the European Patent Office, ratifying the budget and approving the actions of the President of the Office. The Council is also competent for amending the Rules of the European Patent Convention

European Patent Convention

The Convention on the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973, commonly known as the European Patent Convention , is a multilateral treaty instituting the European Patent Organisation and providing an autonomous legal system according to which European patents are granted...

 (EPC) and some particular provisions of the Articles of the EPC.

Jesper Kongstad

Jesper Kongstad

Jesper Kongstad is the current Director General of the Danish Patent and Trademark Office and Chairman of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation. In 2009, he was candidate for the position of President of the European Patent Office, which was to be filled on 1 July 2010. In...

 was elected as Chairman of the Administrative Council on June 29, 2010 and took up office on July 1, 2010 for a period of three years. The Chairperson of the Administrative Council is responsible for the work of the Council and its function. The Chairperson also presides over the meetings of the Council.

Under , the Administrative Council has set up a Board composed of five of its members, including the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman and three other members elected by the Administrative Council, to perform duties assigned by the Administrative Council. The Board is informally called "Board 28", named after Article 28 EPC, and as of 2008 was carrying out a "workload study", i.e. a study on how to manage the workload facing the European Patent Office.

The Administrative Council is in charge of appointing the President of the European Patent Office (EPO). A majority of three-quarters of the votes of the Contracting States represented and voting is required for appointing the President of the EPO. Reaching a decision on the appointment of a President was difficult in 2003, leading to a split tenure (as a result of a compromise, Alain Pompidou

Alain Pompidou

Alain Pompidou is a French scientist and politician. A former professor of histology, embryology and cytogenetics, he was the fourth president of the European Patent Office from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2007...

 (France) was elected for three years and Alison Brimelow

Alison Brimelow

Alison Jane Brimelow CBE is a British civil servant and former Chief Executive and Comptroller General of the UK Patent Office, now known as the Intellectual Property Office...

 (United Kingdom) succeeded him for an equal term), and was difficult again in 2009, requiring twenty votes and four meetings. When voting, a lot of the members of the Administrative Council are reportedly working under instructions from their respective government, whereas the governments "can have many motivations for supporting one person rather than another."

Criticism

The Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) has criticized the Administrative Council as being in a conflict of interest

Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....

 situation:

"The heads of the national delegations in the Administrative Council are almost without exception heads of their respective national patent offices. For many of the national offices their 50% share of the renewal fees constitutes a very substantial proportion of their annual budget (in several cases well over 50%). In their function as heads of national offices these heads of delegation thus have an interest in having many patents granted, and having them granted quickly."

External links

• Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation on the European Patent Office web site