Willy Manfroy, LESI President, Addresses the German Association of Patent
Assessors and Patent Attorneys, the VPP, Jubileum

April, 2005

Delivered at the Aquis Mattiacis Kurhaus –Wiesbaden Germany

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

When Rolf Einsele asked me, as President of the Licensing Executives Society International to come and briefly greet you on the occasion of your 50th Anniversary, I was certainly thrilled. It is a great honor to participate in your Jubilee. VPP and LES have a lot in common. They have about the same age, started with few dedicated members about 50 years ago, have similar goals and are both business oriented.

It is therefore no surprise that VPP and LES Germany, of which Rolf Einsele is a distinguished past president, have a very close relationship. They share members and leadership and have organized several joint seminars for the benefit of their members.

My first introduction to VPP was in the 90’s when Dr. Holler, your deceased Past President invited me to speak at one of your conference. Dr. Holler went out of his way to make me feel welcome and comfortable. We still miss him and he would certainly have relished this occasion.

VPP is a leader in promoting intellectual property in Germany. As already mentioned by some of my predecessors education on all aspects of the trade is their major focal point. It has also taken an important role in discussions with the European institutions to try to develop sensible IP processes, regulations, and institutions.

Not only do VPP meetings provide instruction at a high level, but Rolf Einsele always manages to include outstanding cultural events in historical places, as exemplified here. This is unique and appreciated by us all.

On behalf of the LESI family, it’s Board of Directors, its 12000 members and in particular LES Germany, I wish that VPP’s next 50 years be as successful as the first ones.

Willy Manfroy
President LES International

Name change LESI Pan American Committee into Committee of the Americas

By Clarisse Escorel, chair and John Paul, Vice Chair

LESI's attention to the licensing practices of the American Continent (North, Central and South Americas) has been focused through the Pan American Committee, which has now been renamed the Committee of the Americas to avoid any misconception that the Committee is directed only to Latin America.

Even though Latin America is of great importance to our activities, our mission is to reflect the whole American Continent scenario in which regards Licensing practices. The Committee will continue to follow the most recent developments in intellectual property and antitrust laws, cases, regulations and other related matters regarding all the countries of the American Continent. We truly believe that such name change, among many others that are on their way, will contribute to the success of the Committee's activities.

We are currently working on a survey of licensing activity within and between the countries in the Americas in an effort to understand the nature of that activity and identify possible licensing opportunities. We will publish the results of the survey in LES Nouvelles, and use them to provide a basis for educational programs throughout the Americas and the upcoming LESI conferences in 2005. Being a multinational Committee with broad scope we will collaborate with other committees of LESI such as the European, Patent and Technology Licensing, Copyright Licensing and Life Sciences and look forward to making the Committee of the Americas a fruitful contributor to the LESI community.

Rio de Janeiro, 20 July 2004