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Report of the Professional Conduct Committee

M. Stork (DE), Chair

This report covers the PCC activities since the last report in epi Information 4/2023.

Inaugural Meeting

An inaugural meeting of the newly elected Professional Conduct Committee was held online on 4 December 2023. In this meeting, a new PCC chair, vice chair and secretary were elected:

  • Chair: Martina Stork (DE)
  • Vice Chair: Francis Leyder (SI)
  • Secretary: Giorgio Checcacci (IT)

During the inaugural meeting, PCC confirmed that the three permanent working groups (WG Database of Opinions, WG Training Activities, WG Amendments of CoC) will be continued. The President separately confirmed that a further WG Advising the epi President in Disciplinary Matters will continue.

Furthermore, six PCC Chambers were set up and a chair was appointed for each Chamber. Within the Chambers, enquiries of epi member are discussed and an opinion in written form is prepared. Every PCC member (full and substitute) is part of one of the chambers. The possibility of obtaining an opinion on the permissibility of an action or an omission of an enquiring epi members is laid down in Art. 7( c)Due to the revision of the CoC, the article number changed from 7(d) to 7(c). of the Code of Conduct.

A brief review of the last eight years

Giorgio Checcacci (IT), who had been PCC chair since 2015 did not stand for re-election as a chair but remains actively involved in the Committee. As the newly elected chair, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Giorgio for his dedication, energy, and passion as PCC chair!

This provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on PCC activities during the past eight years:

Due to the launch of the Unified Patent Court, significant efforts were dedicated to formulating conduct provisions for representatives before the UPC, finally resulting in an amendment of the epi Code of Conduct. Furthermore, a general revision of the Code of Conduct was completed at the end of last year with the adoption by the epi Council. The revised Code of Conduct has been published in the Official Journal of the EPO in March 2024: https://www.epo.org/en/legal/official-journal/2024/03/a35.html

Constant attention was also directed towards improving the knowledge of the Code of Conduct among epi members. Among others, a WG for offering trainings for epi members in cooperation with PEC was established, resulting in several webinars. Furthermore, advice and recommendations on a variety of conduct-related topics were given or prepared for adoption by the epi Council, e.g.:

A database of anonymised opinions given be PCC on request of epi members was established, which will serve as a valuable resource, aiding in the discussion of new enquiries and facilitating the identification of potential inconsistencies in past advice.

Current Activities of PCC Working Groups

All Working Groups resumed their work in January 2024. For the WGs Database of Opinions, Training Material and Amendments of CoC, new chairs were elected. The compositions of these WGs are published on the epi Website (https://patentepi.org/en/epi-bodies/epi-committees/professional-conduct-committee.html).

I. WG Database of Opinions

The WG Database of Opinions is now chaired by Jonna Sahlin (FI) and currently has six members.

Main Tasks:

The main task of the WG is to anonymise enquiries by epi members and the opinions given by PCC. A database of the anonymised cases is maintained by the WG. The database is presently an internal database for PCC members.

Current Work:

The database of opinions currently contains 55 anonymised cases since 2016. The database is searchable for terms in free-text, for disciplinary and conduct regulations and for specified keywords attributed to each case. The WG is presently completing the anonymization of the cases from 2023, which relate to a wide field of topics, including matters such as LinkedIn profiles of epi members, potentials for conflicts of interest, charging clients for specific actions, and exercising due diligence when representing clients.

The WG has developed written guidelines for anonymising the enquires and opinions, as well as for entering the anonymised cases in the database. Furthermore, the WG checks anonymised cases in the database for consistency and proper anonymisation.

II. WG Training Activities

The WG is now chaired by Timothy Powell (UK) and currently has five members.

Main Tasks:

The WG suggests topics for webinars and podcasts and offers the events in collaboration with the Professional Conduct Committee (PEC). The WG also discussed to set up and maintain a collection of PCC webinars (including their abstracts), published PCC recommendations and published anonymised advice cases.

Current Work:

Four potential webinar topics and one potential podcast topic have been identified (a. Terms of Engagement; b. Obtaining an opinion (podcast); c. CoC Basics; d. Ethics; e. Advertising / use and misuse of professional titles; f. Risks when investing in clients’ businesses (open topic from last term). An abstract is presently drafted for each topic and will be submitted to PEC, which will make a selection of the topics and set dates for respective events.

III. WG Amendment of CoC

The WG is now chaired by Johan Bottema (NL) and currently has ten members.

Main Tasks:

The WG deliberates and refines potential further amendments to the Code of Conduct. The proposals are then to be discussed within the whole PCC group, the By-Laws Committee and finally presented to epi Council for further discussion or approval.

Current Work:

Several topics have been identified as potential areas for amendments or additions to the CoC. Further amendments in respect of diversity and inclusion are intended to be made in cooperation with the D&I group.

  • keeping of files
  • transfer of files
  • provisions for members responsible for training EQE candidates
  • provisions for EQE candidates
  • possible conflict situations related to national address for service for granted (validated) patents
  • non-payment of bills
  • inconsistent language versions of Articles (e.g. Art 3c, 5c) and lack of clarity of Articles (for reasons other than inconsistent (e.g. Art 3c)

IV. WG Advising the President in Disciplinary Matters

The members of the WG Advising the epi President in Disciplinary Matters were directly appointed by the epi President. An inaugural online meeting was held in January. Several cases have been already intensely discussed in writing at the request of the epi President, thereby supporting the epi President in exercising his right to comment and to appeal in disciplinary proceedings.

Further PCC meetings and WG Use of AI

The first full PCC meeting after the inaugural meeting was held online on 12 March 2024. In this meeting, reports of the activities of the WGs, of the chamber activities in 2023, of the WG Disciplinary System (not part of PCC) and of the D&I WG (not part of PCC) were given.

Additionally, during the meeting, it was decided to establish an ad-hoc WG Use of AI. Its primary objective will be to formulate guidance for using AI in the work of patent attorneys. The WG currently has five members and Timothy Powell (UK) volunteered to serve as chair. In the first meetings of the WG, specific tasks of patent attorneys were identified and associated risks and benefits with utilizing AI support have been discussed.

The next full PCC meeting is scheduled for 16 September 2024 as an in-person meeting in Munich.

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