The Administrative Council of the Munich-based European Patent Organisation on 1 March elected Benoît Battistelli of France as next president of the European Patent Office (EPO), starting on 1 July. Battistelli is director general of the French National Institute of Industrial Property. He will succeed Alison Brimelow of the United Kingdom, and will serve a 5-year term, according to the EPO.
The Administrative Council is made up of delegations from the member states and is the EPO legislative body. Under the European Patent Convention (EPC), a majority of three-quarters of the votes cast by the 36 member states is required for the decision on the appointment of a new president. It took several votes in council to finally reach agreement (IPW, IP Burble, 26 February 2010). The EPO includes the 27 European Union members plus Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland and Turkey.