Re-election of Leopoldo Belda, Head of the General Mechanics and Construction Patents Area, as Chairman of the WIPO Standing Committee on Patent Law at SCP33

For another year, our colleague Leopoldo Belda Soriano (Head of the general mechanics and construction patents area of the OEPM), was re-elected Chairman of the Permanent Committee on Patent Law of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

His re-election took place at the thirty-third session of the Standing Committee on Patent Law (SCP) held at WIPO in Geneva on December 6 and 9.

In addition to his re-election, the debates revolved around the 5 usual themes of the Committee in recent years: Exceptions and limitations to patent rights, Quality of Patents, Patents and Health, Confidentiality in communications between patent agents and clients, and Technology Transfer.

Likewise, they highlighted the sessions for the exchange of experiences in relation to the use of AI by the Patent Offices, where it was appreciated that this technology is being incorporated into a large number of offices and the presentations in relation to the bases of free access on the legal status of patents on drugs and vaccines; Pat-informed, Medicines Patent Pool and the Pharmaceutical Registry of the Eurasian Patent Organization. The SPTO participated with statements and presentations regarding the report on the international patent system, quality of patents, confidentiality in communications and technology transfer.

On the other hand, during the meeting a future work agreement loaded with multiple activities was drawn up:

• In exceptions and limitations to patent rights, a study will be prepared on the exhaustion of patent rights;
• In acting, a report will be prepared on the exchange of information on the use of AI in patent offices;
• An information exchange on the patentability of AI inventions will be organized in session 34;
• An information exchange session will be organized on mechanisms for the accelerated examination of patent applications according to a proposal from the USA;
• A study on descriptive sufficiency will be prepared based on the proposal from Brazil and Spain.
• In patents and health, it is worth highlighting the preparation of a presentation on the WHO C-TAP initiative to facilitate equal access to covid-19 health technologies in which the CSIC was the first institution to participate.

Congratulations Leopoldo for this well deserved re-election!

For more information on SCP33, click here.