EPO Suspends Decision On New President

An extraordinary session of the European Patent Organisation Administrative Council intended to help elect a replacement for outgoing president Alison Brimelow today was again unable to come to a conclusion between the three remaining candidates for the post.

There will be another extraordinary Council meeting on 1 March, just four months before the post was originally intended to go vacant at the start of July. Meetings in October and then December of 2009 similarly were unable to make a final call, which requires three-quarters of the votes of the body. After the December meeting, however, Brimelow was given an extension of mandate until the end of 2010, though she may step down any time after July if the next president is ready to take over.

The three remaining candidates are 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.