Venturino Heads Team of AIPLA Representatives at Virtual Meeting of Industry Trilateral and Group B+

On May 18, 2021, Anthony Venturino, a partner in the Vorys Washington, D.C. office, headed a team of AIPLA members from AIPLA Leadership and the AIPLA Harmonization Committee at a virtual plenary meeting of the Industry Trilateral and the Group B+. 

The meeting focused on continued discussions of the key issues being considered by the Industry Trilateral and the Group B+ in an attempt to reach consensus on a broad package of substantive legal matters for patent harmonization, including grace periods, prior user rights, conflicting applications, 18 month publication, and prior art.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the patent offices of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, the European Patent Office, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

In addition to Mr. Venturino, who is an AIPLA Board Member and Immediate Past Harmonization Committee Co-Chair, the AIPLA was represented by Executive Director Vince Garlock, and five other existing or past members of the AIPLA Harmonization Committee.

The Group B+ was established to promote and facilitate progress on key issues under consideration at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and in particular to move forward on substantive patent law harmonization.  Chaired by the Director-General of the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (PRV), and its members include all members of WIPO's Group B, EU member states, the European Commission, EPOrg member states, the EPO and South Korea.