News Item

New EPO President elected

5 March 2010

Benoît Battistelli, Director General of the French National Institute of Industrial Property of France, has been elected as President of the European Patent Office (EPO). Mr Battistelli will take over from Alison Brimelow on 1 July 2010 for a five-year term.

The election took place at the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation meeting on 1 March in Munich. The Council is the legislative body of the Organisation and is responsible for supervising the EPO’s activities and appointing senior officials, including the EPO President.

In an interview with MIP magazine at the end of 2009, Mr Battistelli set out his priorities and said: “Cooperation between the EPO and the member state patent offices should be developed and some new ways should be explored, like pooling resources, human and material (IT tools)."

For more information, visit the EPO website www.epo.org.