Unified Patent Court - the Training Centre for Judges was opened in Budapest

The Hungarian Government marked with a two-day conference, on 13-14 March 2014, the inauguration of the Training Centre for Judges of the Unified Patent Court in Budapest. The new Training Centre will function as a coordinating office for the training of judges of the new court system which, alongside the unitary patent, is expected to start operating until the end of 2015. Nevertheless, the Training Centre might start its functions earlier. Preparations for the establishment of the new court are already under way. It is expected that after the selection of candidate judges, their training will start already in the second half of 2014. If this roadmap will be pursued, the first trainings could be organised in this autumn, and this work can be supported from Budapest.

The Conference was co-organised by the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary, the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO). The Conference was opened by Mr. Tibor Navracsics, Minister of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary, Mr. Zoltán Cséfalvay, Minister of State of the Ministry for National Economy of Hungary, Mr. Benoît Battistelli, President of the EPO, Mr. António Campinos, President of the Office for the Harmonization in the Internal Market and Dr. Miklós Bendzsel President of the HIPO. Keynote speeches were held by Mr Paul van Beukering, Chairman of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Preparatory Committee and Mr. Olivér Várhelyi, Human Resources and Training Group Co-ordinator of the Preparatory Committee, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary accredited to the EU.

The first day of the Conference was devoted to a general introduction to the Unified Patent Court, the work of the Preparatory Committee thereof, and the current system of training for judges in the EU Member States.

On the second day an overview was given on the work of the Select Committee of the Administrative Council of the European patent Organisation, working on the preparations for the implementation of the unitary patent protection. Finally, the possible professional content to be included in the curriculum of the training for UPC judges was also discussed.

The Conference was a great success and brought together some of the greatest personalities in intellectual property protection and patent litigation in Europe. The HIPO is grateful for the high number of very positive feedbacks that it received from the participants of the conference. We would also like to commend the EPO and the OHIM, our professional co-organisers, for their constant support in this important exercise.
 

Photogallery

The video recording made at the Conference can be downloaded here
 

The programme and the presentations of the Conference can be downloaded here.

Welcome on behalf of the Government of Hungary   
Mr Tibor Navracsics, Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary

Welcome on behalf of the European Patent Office 
Mr Benoît Battistelli, President

Welcome on behalf of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office
Mr Miklós Bendzsel, President

General introduction to the Unified Patent Court and the work of the Preparatory Committee
Keynote speech on the occasion of the inauguration of the Training centre for judges of the Unified Patent Court

Mr Paul van Beukering, Chairman of the UPC Preparatory Committee, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation of the Netherlands

Human Resources and Training at the UPC 
Mr Oliver Várhelyi, Coordinator of the Human Resources and Training Group

Features of the Training Programme for the Candidates Selected in the Pre-selection Procedure
Mr Carl Josefsson, Advisory Panel, HR&Training Working Group, Senior Judge of Appeal, Svea Court of Appeal

UPC training conference-Dutch Perspective 
Mr Edger F. Brinkman, Court of Appeal the Hague

Summary of the first day's discussions
Ms Katalin Kiszely, Deputy Minister of State of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice

Overview of the work of the Select Comittee
Mr Jérôme Debrulle, Chairman of the Select Committee

The European Patent Academy and its Judicial Training initiatives
Mr Jean-Michel Zilliox, Director, IP Practice, European Patent Office

The Training of the Judiciary: a Key to Success for the Unified Patent Court 
Mr Christophe Geiger, Director General of CEIPI, University of Strasbourg

Role and expertise of the Academy of European Law
Mr Wolfgang Heusel, Director of the Academy

European  Judicial Training Network
Mr Wojciech Postulski, Secretary General Elect of the EJTN, Brussels

EU Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights 
Mr Paul Maier, Director of Observatory

Conference on the training of UPC judges - Panel Discussion-Stocktaking 
Mr Eugen Popp, Moderator

15 October 2013