The European Patent Organisation will hold an extraordinary session this week in Munich to try once again to find a replacement for current President Alison Brimelow.
At meetings in October and December 2009, none of the then four applicants (IPW, European Policy, 17 September 2009) succeeded in gaining the necessary three-quarters votes to take over the patent office.
Now down to just three candidates – Susanne Ǻs Sivborg, director general of the Swedish Patent Office, Benoît Battistelli, director general of the French Patent Office, and Roland Grossenbacher, director of the Swiss Patent Office – the EPO will once again vote for its new leadership on 2-3 February. Jesper Kongstad, director general of the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, withdrew his candidacy in December.
The position falls vacant in July; the next president will be given a term of 5 years.