T A C P I

	CUTTING-EDGE PATENT ISSUES: A TRANS-ATLANTIC VIEW Day 1: Tuesday, November 14th
8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.	Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.	Welcome / Opening Remarks
9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.	*The American KSR* Obviousness Case and Evaluation of Inventive Step by the EPO** KSR is the most important U.S. Supreme Court obviousness case in forty years; the standard of patentability will be raised. A comparative view will be presented from the European — including the House of Lords Sabaf case — and American sides as to how to draft patent specifications to establish nonobviousness or inventive step, including similarities and differences to presentation of winning arguments in Munich and Washington, D.C. The European Patent Office (EPO) problem and solution approach to evaluating inventive step will be discussed in detail.
10:30 a.m.– 11:15 a.m.	Claim Drafting Drafting simplified claims for both Europe and the United States have obvious advantages and some pitfalls. Peripheral, dadurch gekennzeichnet, and Jepson claims will be considered; how to craft claim language to ensure the broadest interpretation; uniquely American doctrine of “prosecution disclaimer” will be discussed.
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.	Universal Patent Specification / Universal PCT Application The quest to create a “universal” Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application suitable for trilateral filing continues, subject to unique American pitfalls created by LizardTech and Hoffmann-LaRoche cases dealing with the importance of examples. However, the patent fraud aspects of prophetic teachings create unique problems. Similar trends at the EPO, following the decision T1329/04 in re John Hopkins University, also will be discussed.
12:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.	Lunch
2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.	New Laws, New Rules, New Treaties Europe is poised to implement the 2000 revision of the European Patent Convention in December 2007, which introduces a second appeal instance, voluntary limitation of granted patents, and many other new provisions; prospects of EPLA — the European Patent Litigation Agreement; American regulatory changes are imminent to largely eliminate continuations, effectively limit numbers of claims and create greater burdens on patent applicants; a fresh set of new proposed patent laws for the 110th (2007-2008) Congress will be considered.
2:45 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	Global Litigation and Cross-Border Patent Enforcement Mega patent wars with parallel actions in Asia, Europe, and the United States tax resources and require macroscopic strategy decisions and international cooperation amongst legal teams; management of global litigation is featured and illustrated by examples: the NCI/3M case, the Kaken/Hoechst case.
3:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.	Coffee Break
3:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.	Patent Management: The Corporate IP Leader’s Perspective Effective patent management strategies are considered from the viewpoints of a former vice-president of a large American electronics company, the European general counsel and vice-president of a Japanese pharma company, and views from senior partners of European and American law firms; efficiency coupled with effectiveness in managing small-, medium-, and large-size corporate patent operations.
4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.	Q&A
	Day 2: Wednesday, November 15th
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.	Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.	Business Method and Software Patents After rejection of the European Union (EU) Directive on computer implemented inventions, intra-European strife continues over granting business and software patents; the present practice at the EPO; and entry of software patents through the back door. Effective strategies to skirt proscriptions are considered; the U.S. Supreme Court Metabolite “dismissal” creates an ominous future for the State Street Bank case — certain to be challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming years, while the USPTO in the meantime may tighten standards of patentability.
9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.	Electronic Records, Discovery in the United States and How to Obtain Evidence in Europe Under the EU Enforcement Directive E-mail creates a virtual “transcript” of once-oral business activities; what tools are available, both legally and technically, to obtain discovery; what search engines can ferret out useful information; and the EU Directive 2004/48 aimed at strengthening the patentee’s rights to enforce his patents. One major issue is securing evidence of patent infringement, which can be very difficult in continental Europe where no pre-trial discovery system exists. What has changed in the European jurisdictions in view of the EU Directive, which had to be implemented in national law by April 29, 2006?
10:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.	Coffee Break
10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.	*International and National Patent Exhaustion: How Would the Japanese IP High Court Canon Ink Tank* Case Be Decided in Europe and the United States?** The scope of patent exhaustion has become a major issue in Japan after the IP High Court’s decision in the Canon Ink Tank case. The relevant questions of international and national patent exhaustion will be discussed from a European and U.S. perspective, and an answer will be given to the question how the facts of the Canon Ink Tank case would be assessed in Europe and the United States.
11:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.	*Interim Injunctions: A European Case Study and the Situation in the U.S. Supreme Court eBay* Case** A study of the 2006 Astellas Tamsulosin case in Europe will demonstrate how proactive strategies and interim injunctions can be used effectively to enforce patents until the very last day of their duration, and how the legal system for provisional protection of the patentee’s rights works in practice. The many open questions in the United States in the wake of the eBay case from the U.S. Supreme Court will be considered in detail.
12:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.	Lunch
2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.	Top Cases in the United States and Europe The “top 10” patent cases from the United States will be contrasted with the leading developments in Europe. While the list will change up until the last minute, clear winners include KSR (obviousness at the U.S. Supreme Court to be decided winter 2007; MedImmune (argued October 4th at the U.S. Supreme Court; opening the door to greater patent licensee validity challenges); Tamoxifen Citrate (patent antitrust involving settlements with “reverse payments”); and Microsoft v. AT&T (infringement for domestic sale of unpatented software for offshore creation of patented combination). Recent top European cases (GAT v. LuK and Roche v. Primus) changing the practice in European cross-border litigation and the noteworthy series of German Federal Supreme Court decisions on contributory infringement (Flügelradzähler, Antriebsscheibenaufzug, et al.) will be introduced.
3:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	Coffee Break
3:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.	Advanced Patent Law Study Opportunities This session will discuss the best and most reliable sources for American case law; Westlaw, Lexis, the Crouch blog; analysis of how American patent law is and will be made through committees, lobbying, and government liaisons; the Master of Intellectual Property Law programme at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC); the Centre d’Etudes Internationales de la Propriété Industrielle in Strasbourg (CEIPI); Euro Law and Life Science patent law courses; study and internship opportunities in Europe; presented by an expert panel.
4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.	Roundtable with Q&A, Answer of Written Questions and Closing Remarks