The homepage of LES Austria was revised and went recently online again! The set objective was to shape up the design of the homepage and make its content more current and thus make it a better tool of communication; the re-design project was kindly supported by Graz University of Technology.

To this end, a section was introduced with information about LES Austria and LES International. The information provided has been updated, along with a section on news and activities, as well as a section with contact information regarding the society and general membership information. Moreover, a glossary and several hyperlinks to relevant Web sites and forums have been provided as well as an exclusive member area. Future plans include providing access to relevant forms for download purposes.

We hope that these improvements will facilitate the communication of the latest news and activities to the existing members, encourage more interaction among the membership itself, and in particular will assist in attracting new members and emphasize the prominence of LES Austria.

We are certainly pleased to invite you to visit our national society at www.les-austria.at and to get a first impression of our improved and re-designed homepage.

March 2010

By Shaojie Chi, Secretary, LES China

Around 40 people from Beijing and other cities in China came to Hainan Island to attend the 2009 Annual Meeting of LES China. Honorable Justice Dongchuan Luo of the PRC Supreme People’s Court was there to deliver a marvelous keynote speech on the latest development in enforcing IPRs in China and the new practices in judging disputes arising out of licensing deals. Hon. Justice Luo was appointed to head a working team for the establishment of a Research Center affiliated with the Supreme Court to study practical issues in the trial of civil disputes, including IP disputes.

Hon. Justice Luo spoke highly of LES China’s involvement in giving him valuable advice in the past, and he expected to see more efficient and fruitful interchange of ideas between his Centre and LES China.

Ms. Huan Shu, head of the Division of Control of Cross-border Tech-transfer under PRC Ministry of Commerce, introduced her practice in the approval and recording of licensing contracts under PRC Technology Import and Export Regulations. According to her, the approving authorities now paid more attention to the administration of technology categories rather than to the contractual terms and conditions, meaning that it will be easier to get licensing contracts involving foreign parties approved and recorded with the authorities.

Professor Jun Ma, head of the Office of Technology Dealings under Tsinghua University, China’s top higher learning institution, made a case study based upon her personal experiences. Her information taught attendees to conduct R & D collaboration and tech-transfer between universities and industries, and was cheered by the attendees for her success in transferring the university’s inventive achievements to manufacturing companies.

An in-house meeting was conducted for the discussion of the society’s future activities.

March 2010

As there has been a lot of development in the licensing and intellectual property legislation in China, activities of the chapters have focused on bringing members up to date in these areas. For example, a workshop entitled “Cross Border Licensing from Chinese Perspective and its Market Practice” was held in June 2009 at the LESI Conference in Manila. At the LES (USA & Canada) conference in San Francisco, LESCHK Chairman, Ms. Alice Ngan together with a U.S. lawyer
and a Chinese lawyer gave a talk on “From Invention Disclosure to Application in the U.S. and China: A Road Map.” The highlight of the activities was the seminar, “Intellectual Property Developments in China—an Introduction to the Revised Patent Law of China,” held on November 13, 2009 in Hong Kong where Mr. Yin Xintian, Director-General of Legal Affairs Department of State Intellectual Property Office, along with three other legal professionals from China briefed members on the latest development of the patent law in China. The seminar attracted a full house with 130 attendees from 76 companies attending. Many attendees stayed behind for a robust Q&A session. We also received membership applications as a result of the event.

We continue to promote various licensing related activities through supporting functions arranged by other related organizations, participating in these functions as well as arranging workshops.

For 2010, we aim to put more emphasis on the business aspects of licensing beginning with the AGM meeting of LES China in December 2009 on the topic “Promoting Licensing in a Global Financial Crisis” to be followed by a joint function with one of the business schools in Hong Kong on cross cultural licensing practice.

March 2010

LES Hungary: Pan-European Conference Coincides With Elton John Concert

By Michael Lantos

On December 17, 2009, there was an assembly meeting of LES Hungary, and a number of changes were made in the Foundation Document. That includes the name of the Chapter, which in English is: LES Hungary, advancing the business of intellectual property globally

The short name is LES Hungary.

In the articles, a number of corresponding changes were made; the address has changed to 16 Bajcsy Zsilinszkyút, Budapest, ZP: H-1051, as the host at the old address will soon go out of business.

We have updated the definitions of the objectives of the Association and made slight changes, especially concerning more efficient handling of the bank account.

The assembly has equivocally accepted the suggestions, and the changes will be filed to the competent Court for registration. The changes will be effective from the date of registration.

The Board and the organizing committee are intensively working on the preparation of the forthcoming LES Pan European Conference, June 6-8 in Budapest.

The conference Web site is active at http://www.les-hungary.hu/ and registration can be made including reservation of hotels.

The professional program is almost final, and by the second week of February at the latest, it will be available on the Web site. The reason for the delay lies in the upcoming election of certain nobilities in Europe, and the organizers wish to have the elected officials address the conference.

From all other aspects, the preparations are finished and Budapest is cordially awaiting LES members from everywhere to attend. An interesting coincidence is that in the last evening (June 8, 2010) when no social program has been planned, Elton John will give a concert in Budapest, and attendees can reserve tickets to the concert when registering.

LES Hungary wishes to express sincere thanks to those LES Chapters, Committees and members who offered assistance in this event, which appears to be very interesting, entertaining and will provide a good chance for networking. The participation fee will be moderate and Budapest can be reached easily from everywhere.

March 2010

LES Germany: Spring Meeting Updates

LES Germany started the year 2010 with the election of the Board for the next two years term. We welcome Prof. Christian Klawitter as the new President. Christian Klawitter is 55 years old and has served as a member of the Board and Secretary since 2001. He is a lawyer specializing in Intellectual Property law for over 20 years and Partner of the IP and media law firm KNPZ Rechtsanwälte.

Frank Zacharias, Patent Attorney and General Patent Counsel of Porsche AG, was elected President Elect. Peter K. Hess, Patent Attorney and Partner of Bardehle Pagenberg Dost Altenburg Geissler, follows Christian Klawitter as Secretary. Christian W. Appelt, Patent Attorney and Partner of Boehmert & Boehmert, will be the new Treasurer.

Further members of the Board are Thomas Ahrens, Ingo Brückner, Klaus-Dieter Langfinger, Hermann Mohnkopf and Thomas Schöck. We wish the new Board a successful and entertaining term.

LES Germany is proud to report that there are many projects ahead, among others, the traditional Spring Meeting in Königswinter on 25-26 March 2010. It highlights current issues of technology transfer. The German LES group is delighted to welcome Pat O’Reilley, President of LES International, who will join the Spring Meeting and make a presentation on University-Industry Collaboration in the U.S.

June 2009

LES France Life Sciences Working Group

by Elisabeth Thouret-Lemaître and Hélène Santa-Cruz

The Life Sciences Working Group of LES France was created in December 2007. To start, all the members of LES France acting in this area have been invited to a meeting where each member has presented the  different themes he/she would wish to hear, or work on. The principle for these work sessions was to generate many live exchanges between the participants and to provide some tools to supplement each member’s usual practice.

A first meeting (60 attendants) in March 2008 touched upon two general and different topics:

• Public and Private Collaborations: this subject was treated from a very practical point of view, based on real experiences in order to improve mutual understanding and to suggest useful solutions
• Life Cycle Management of the Products: this session has presented the basics of how to increase and optimize, through IP valorisation, the return of investment of new product development 

During the second meeting in July 2008, the topic deepened to include Court Decisions in Europe relating to secondary patents (enantiomers, polymers, galenical formulations). A comparison of the different recent decisions (FR, UK, DE) was made by André Bourgouin.

The last meeting in February 2009 was attended by about 40 members who actively participated in the discussions:

• EPO decisions in the Myriad case were presented by Jacques Warcoin
• Patrick Hubert gave his views on the European Commission’s enquiry in the pharmaceutical field
• Hélène Santacruz presented the industrial challenges of the development of a vaccine in the case of Pandemic Flu
• Finally, Daphné Descarpentries and Catherine Lafarge presented a practical case of public/private cooperation 

The next working meeting in October 2009 will be dedicated to “Biological Collections: Definitions, Ethical Questions, Contractual Questions.”

The constant attendance of members confirms the need for such a group and quality presentations and discussions. This success has encouraged LES France to continue to actively run this Life Sciences Working Group.

June 2009

by Masau Takayanagi - President, LES Japan

The Licensing Executive Society Japan (LES Japan) has been encouraging younger generations to improve their skills in licensing and technology transfer, and offering licensing courses as excellent educational opportunities.

In 2009, LES Japan will provide four licensing courses, basic and practical courses both in Licensing and English License Agreement courses, at Tokyo and Osaka schedules are shown in Table1.

Table1. Course schedules

Locations Course	Tokyo	Osaka
Basic	Licensing Course - Basic Date: May 13, 2009 Lecturer: Prof. Chozabro Minagawa	Licensing Course - Basic Date: May 29, 2009 Lecturer: Prof. Chozabro Minagawa
	English License Agreement Course - Basic Date: June 22, 2009 Lecturer: Prof. Kazuo Tanami	English License Agreement Course - Basic Date: June 15, 2009 Lecturer: Prof. Kazuo Tanami
Practical	Licensing Course - Practical Date: October 9, 2009 Lecturers: Mr. Torahiko Maki, Mr. Katsumi Harashima	Licensing Course - Practical Date: September 17, 2009 Lecturer: Mr. Kazuhiro Kobayashi
	English License Agreement Course - Practical Date: September 9, 2009 Lecturer: Prof. Jinzo Fujino	English License Agreement Course - Practical Date: October 6, 2009 Lecturer: Mr. Kiyohide Okamoto

The Basic Course is suitable for the early-career licensing professional (less than three years). Participants will gain a comprehensive knowledge of the essentials of licensing.

The Practical Course is intended for those who have a minimum of three years of experience in the licensing profession.

This course is designed to develop more advanced professional licensing skills through lectures on the extensive real-world experiences of the faculty, case study applications, and opportunities for question and answer.

These courses feature a distinguished faculty, who are experienced professionals in the licensing field and members of the LES Japan.

Our licensing courses in 2008 had a total of 298 participants (167 in Licensing courses and 131 in English License Agreement courses), out of which 90% belong to corporations, 7% are at the law or patent offices, and 3% are in universities.

In addition, LES Japan has two training committees (Kanto-Training committee and Kansai-training committee). Each seminar is given generally ten (10) times every year, almost monthly with the exception of July and August.

The topics of every seminar are selected from four categories, i.e. 1) licensing, 2) intellectual property, 3) company legal matters and 4) foreign information regarding the above items 1), 2) and 3). This year, three (3) seminars have been already held during January to March.

These past seminars were as follows;

Kanto Training Committee:

January Seminar
The topic was “Brand Strategy of Panasonic Corporation.”
The speaker was Mr. Yoshinori Nishino, Team Leader, Brand Management Team, Brand Management Department, who actually participated in the unification of brands.

Kansai Training Committee:

January Seminar
The topic was “Mock License Negotiation—Cross Licensing Between Both Parties.” The mock was played by four LESI members, Mr. Toru Kobayasi, Mr. Hideyuki Ogata, Mr. Makoto Ogino and Mr. Katumi Harashima.

February Seminar
The topic was “The Possible Affect on the Practice to be Caused By Quanta V. LGE Case and the Comparison Regarding Exhaustion of Patent Between Japan and America.” The speaker was a Japan and U.S. lawyer, Mr. Yukihiro Terasawa.

March Seminar
The topic was “The Practice of Dismissal of an Amendment as Viewed from the Court Decisions.” The speaker was patent attorney, Mr. Yahei Takase.

News from LES India

LES Japan Licensing Courses & Seminars 2009

LES Austria: Re-launch Of Homepage