AIPPIe-News
No.1
April 2008
April 2008
AIPPI General Secretariat |Toedistrasse 16 | CH-8027 Zurich
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WIPO-AIPPI Conference on Client Privilege in IP Professional Advice
Michael Dowling (Australia), Chair of Q199Preparations for the WIPO/AIPPI Conference on client privilege in relation to IP advice are proceeding rapidly. The Conference is to be held in Geneva on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 May 2008.
Invitations to attend the Conference have been issued by WIPO to the Member States. WIPO has also issued invitations to chairmen and speakers for the Conference. AIPPI has issued invitations to other NGO's and its members shortly.
The Programme is reasonably settled now.
Reporter General Jochen Buehling and Chairman of Q199 Michael Dowling have proposed plots for the speakers. The speakers are invited to use these as guides and to speak as well to related subjects of their own.
For example, Michael Jewess of ICC is to speak on the issue of client privilege (in this case, employer privilege) in relation to internal counsel. Michael has pointed out that the privilege issues for clients in relation to internal counsel are not confined to the 'Akzo problem'. The Akzo problem is the finding of the ECJ that clients cannot have a relationship of privilege with their internal counsel because employment means lack of the 'independence' required to sustain privilege.
Michael will also deal with the need for parity between employee patent attorneys who give advice on copyright, contract and competition law, and their counterpart external counsel. Such patent attorneys have parity with external counsel in the UK but not in Europe!
Michael proposes to widen the subject of his address to "Privilege and in-house counsel" in order to reach out to the related "lack of parity" issue.
Michael Jewess has also suggested that the Conference should deal with the European Directive on patent attorney privilege. We had that in mind - Jochen Buehling will deal with that issue.
The speakers' papers and slides are now being submitted to Michael Dowling and Jochen Buehling for coordination with Philippe Baechtold of WIPO in relation to the Conference.
There is widespread enthusiasm in AIPPI and other NGOs for this Conference and its topics. We need Governments to match that enthusiasm by their involvement in the Conference. Only the Member States of WIPO can 'make it happen!
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