Axel Plas, European Patent Attorney and Managing Director IP Hills will introduce each webinar and will guide the audience through the chat sessions.
Thursday 15 October 2020, 3PM-4PM
Patent protection on artificial intelligence, machine learning and ledger technologies: is the European patent system fit to address innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
The advent of new technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain is often equated with the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. Although real economy applications might still be speculative in many fields of technology, AI and Blockchain based inventions are one of the fastest growing patent sectors. However, AI and Blockchain raise new questions for which the current patent law does not always provide clear guidelines. In this webinar, Michael Plevan will address recent developments in EU and German patent law in order to provide you with an overview of the essential approaches.
Dr. Michael Plevan is a patent attorney based in Munich whose daily patent work at the law firm df-mp heavily focused on encryption and data processing in telecommunication, video encryption and online payments. Protecting and attacking patent claims based on data science is his day-to-day business. Michael already contributed to successful seminars on blockchain in front of an audience with different knowledge levels and various technical / non-technical backgrounds.
Tuesday 20 October 2020, 3PM-4PM
The "technical character" of software inventions: patentability criteria applied by European examiners.
Technical effect, further technical effect, virtual technical effect, … The current European case law and guidance on patenting software inventions before the European Patent Office may not provide the clear-cut answer that an inventor or applicant is looking for. In this webinar, different European decisions will be discussed with a focus on example claims and why they were awarded with some sort of technicality or the opposite.
Jeroen Declerck is a European patent attorney based in Leuven. As partner at IP Hills, Jeroen assists start-ups, SME’s and multinationals in the field of ICT in general. Jeroen has a specific interest in software inventions applying artificial intelligence and teaches the course "EPC Procedures" for the Advanced Master in Intellectual Property Law and Knowledge Management (LLM/MSc) at Maastricht University.
Tuesday 27 October 2020, 3PM-4PM
Protecting Computer-Implemented Inventions in United States: are recent court decisions in US converging with evolutions in Europe?
Protection of Computer-Implemented Inventions (CII) in the US has changed dramatically over the last decade, going from a system where almost anything was patentable to a system where very few CII patents survived any challenges, and now seeming to settle into a more middle-ground where the US Patent & Trademark Office is attempting to offer guidance for increasing patent quality with the courts more open to upholding the CII patents. The movement in caselaw has taken it closer to the approach in Europe though there are subtle differences to be aware of when preparing an application to ensure the best chances of success under the constantly evolving caselaw.
Catherine A. Shultz is US IP lawyer and European patent attorney. As Associate partner at NLO, Catherine assists clients in a wide range of technical areas including electrical engineering in developing their IP strategies. Her background in US litigation and prosecution allows Catherine to compare case law evolution on computer-implemented inventions in US with the trends she sees in Europe.