Conference Report

The 25th anniversary conference of ECTA took place in London from 8-11 June 2005, in continuous fair weather. The conference celebrated the silver jubilee of the Association originally formed in October 1980. Since its relatively modest beginnings, the Association has grown from a membership of a few hundred to one of approaching 1400.

With 624 delegates and 90 accompanying persons, the conference began on 8 June with meetings of the various ECTA committees, followed by the 49th Council meeting. In the evening a concert of classical music was performed at St John’s, Smith Square, Westminster by the Giardini Quartet. The concert featured in particular the exquisite singing of soprano Kim Sheehan, whose pieces included Aminta’s Aria by Mozart. It was preceded by speeches of welcome to London by David Tatham, Chairman of the Organising Committee, and by Lord Woolf, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. Lord Woolf complimented ECTA on its 25th anniversary and further highlighted recent developments in the field of trade mark practice in the United Kingdom, namely the granting of litigators’ rights to trade mark attorneys and the extension of jurisdiction in trade mark matters to the English County Courts. This was likely to increase the opportunity for trade mark attorneys and their clients to settle disputes quickly and at reduced cost. After the concert, the members attending returned to the Queen Elizabeth ll Conference Centre for a Welcome Reception.

On 9 May, the conference proceedings began with the Annual General Meeting of the Association, during which an increase in membership of 150 during the preceding year was announced. New Council members elected were Petra Korejzove (CZ), Ida Londal (DK), Kay Rupprecht (DE) and Slawomira Piotrowska (PL).

The conference proper began with welcome speeches by David Tatham on behalf of the hosts, Robin Webb, Director of Trade Marks and Designs at the UK Patent Office, and ECTA President Max Oker-Blom (FI).

These were followed by an address by Florent Gevers, ECTA Member of Honour (BE), on the role of ECTA in its early years and its subsequent evolution. He concluded that the Association had done good work in attempting to find a balance between the rights of trade mark owners and users. Max Oker-Blom noted that this was an open issue yet to be solved - it is addressed in the Association’s 25th Anniversary book, distributed to delegates. The role of ECTA and other NGOs in the legislative process was next discussed by Wubbo de Boer, President of OHIM and Ernesto Rubio, Assistant Director General of WIPO. Mr de Boer said he regarded ECTA as OHIM’s "prime partner" in the CTM process but was not without his criticisms of its representations on some issues. Mr Rubio acknowledged ECTA’s contribution to the work of WIPO and noted the challenges the accession of the USA and the EU to the Madrid Protocol posed. Finally Alexandra Poch of the European Commission (deputising for Erik Nooteboom unavoidably detained in Brussels) spoke concisely of ECTA’s relationship with the Commission, emphasising the need to encourage the member states themselves to support relevant initiatives.

The next sections of the conference comprised segments relating to the evolution of the European system, chaired by Luis-Alfonso Duran (ES), where the industrial viewpoint was expressed by Maryse Philbert (FR), the administrative by Vincent O’Reilly (OHIM) and the academic by Spyros Maniatis of Queen Mary University of London; and the possible importation into the system of external features, under the chairmanship of Fabrizio de Benedetti (IT), where Cynthia C. Weber (US) and Professor Jeremy Phillips (GB) made entertaining contributions.

In the evening, delegates and guests enjoyed an original conference party at the Cafe Royal, London, where a Fairground format was followed. Sideshows and other entertainments including silhouettist, tableau artist, shooting gallery and tug of war competition were all popular. A draw for the completed artwork was won by Pedro Merino (ES) and the tug of war by a team led by Jim Bikoff (US).

On 10 June, the opening session, under the chairmanship of Michael Harrison, President of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, consisted of an update of the present situation, with contributions from Judge Marianne Grabucker (DE), Alexander von Mühlendahl (OHIM), Emanuele Montelione (IT) and Paul Fields (US); and a session on the Enforcement of IP Rights: Customs and Counterfeiting by Annick Mottet Haugaard (BE) and Nikki Sheath of Harley-Davidson Europe (GB).

After lunch, updating of the present situation continued under the chairmanship of Stephen James, President of the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (a very independent organisation, according to Dr James), when the speakers on the new internet Top Level Domain Dot-eu and the Dot-eu Sunrise Validation Services for EURid were Knud Wallberg (DK) and Bart Lieben (BE).

The conference concluded with a session on Alternative Dispute Resolution, a possible solution for future IPR disputes. The speakers were Katrina Burchell (GB) and James Bridgeman (IE). This subject had been touched upon by Lord Woolf at the outset of the conference as a means of expediting the settlement of cases which, in the UK, would be judicially encouraged.

Texts of the speeches given at the conference will be distributed to attendees in CD format. An attractive feature of the conference overall was that the speakers at the sessions in all cases acted cooperatively to provide a homogenous contribution to their subjects. All agreed that the visual facilities provided by the Conference Centre had been first class.

The last formal event of the conference was the 25th Anniversary Dinner at The Guildhall in the City of London. A drinks reception in the Old Library was followed by a fine dinner in the Great Hall, during which there was a surprise entertainment by "Tenors and Divas Incognito". During his closing speech, the President Max Oker-Blom presented a gift to Claude Sautory (FR), ECTA’s former Executive Secretary, and expressed thanks on behalf of the attendees to the members of the Organising committee who, in addition to its Chairman, had been Messrs Michael Golding, Clarke Graham, Keith Havelock and Simon Reeves. Thanks were also expressed to the Chairman’s wife Jenefer, whose touch had been evident at many points in the organisation. Prior to departure, guests were entertained in the Guildhall courtyard by the Minden Band, a military marching band.

We are aware that a problem arose concerning the return of attendees to their hotels after the performance. This is under investigation at the time of writing. We sincerely apologize to those affected.

The fair weather continued on the next day, much to the relief of the organisers and management, for the visit to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, when a day in the English countryside was much enjoyed by those attending.

And so concluded another successful ECTA Annual Conference - London 2005.

Keith Havelock, Secretary General