“Patents 2011”, the 13th congress of its type, will be hosted by Management Circle in Munich from 21st to 22nd March 2011. The congress will address current challenges in the field of IP management. At the centre of thematic areas of interest this year are efforts to establish an EU Patent system, the right to information in matters of patent infringement and the new standards governing patent assessment. Congress participants will be able to attend any of six web-based seminars being conducted parallel to the congress. BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner Dr. Jan Krauss will lead a web seminar entitled “Current issues in US patent law”.

The UNION of European Practitioners for Intellectual Property will host its annual Round Table on 25.02.2011 at the German Patent and Trademark Office in Munich. This year, the hot topic will be: “Enforcement of Patent Rights through Customs Confiscation Proceedings”. European IP experts will present various aspects over three sessions with keynote speakers and invites participants to take part in discussions and share experiences. BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner Nils T. F. Schmid will organise and coordinate this Round Table as Vice President of the UNION.

In the winter semester of 2011 three departments in Berlin’s Freie, Humboldt and Technische Universities will co-host a series of seminars on the theme of patents and property rights targeting scientific teaching staff at Berlin institutes of further education. Underpinning the seminars is the fact that universities, too, will in future be under increasing pressure to profit commercially from their own research findings. The series will be hosted in partnership with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office and will be composed of blocks covering five themes. The block entitled “Special forms of property rights: Copyright” will be led by BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner Dr. Thomas W. Boddien on 22nd February 2011 and will focus on copyright issues associated with the internet. On 8th March Prof. Dr. Jan Bernd Nordemann will lead the “Domain and trade mark law” seminar and address practical issues such as obstacles to be overcome in choosing a trade mark or domain. The seminars aim to set out the scope of industrial property rights and explain the procedures for securing these rights.

On 17.11.2010, Austria Wirtschaftsservice (AWS) will host a workshop on the subject of “Contract Models in Technology Transfer” with further cooperation partners in Vienna. BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner Dr Klaus Dieter Langfinger will look at the “EU initiatives for the improvement of technology transfers 10 years after Lisbon – the EU targets and what has been achieved up to now”. The event will be hosted together with various cooperation partners, including the NCP National Contact Point (unit for IPR in the Austrian Ministry for Science and Research (BMWF)), the development bank Austria Wirtschaftsservice (AWS) and the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT).

The German Lawyers Academy (Deutsche Anwalt Akademie) will host a seminar to be given by Prof Jan Bernd Nordemann on 12 November 2010. The seminar will be held in Frankfurt and is entitled “Introduction to Copyright Law”. Copyright law has been extensively reformed over recent years, both in Germany and at European level (“2nd basket” as well as the implementation of the EU Enforceability Directive). Prof Nordemann will present the foundations of modern copyright law by discussing a number of practice-relevant issues illuminated by recent case law. The seminar is aimed at lawyers, publishers, music and film production companies, radio and television, internet and software companies, companies operating in the advertising and design industry, associations and collecting companies. Further information