EPO User Day 2022

Lina Patel
Programme Area Manager, EPO

Lina studied law in the UK and has worked at the EPO since 2005, when she joined as a Change Manager in the Business Information Technology (BIT) unit. She has since taken up various roles, including Head of Department and Deputy Director in BIT. After delivering training programmes for Procurement and Finance, Lina joined the Patent Academy, where she now works as a Programme Area Manager with responsibility for key events, courses and training in the field of artificial intelligence, as well as judicial training.

Mihály Zoltán Ficsor
Principal Director Legal Affairs, EPO

Mihály joined the EPO in 2020 following three years at the EUIPO, first as Deputy Director for European Co-operation and then as Head of Cabinet. From 2011 to 2016, he was Chairperson of the Administrative Board of OHIM. He has also served as Hungary's representative to the EPO's Administrative Council and chaired its Committee on Patent Law from 2005 to 2011. During almost thirty years working for Hungary's Ministry of Justice and IP office, Mihály contributed to the preparations for Hungary's accession to the European Union and the adaption of the country's IP legislation.

Michael Fröhlich
Director PCT and International Patent Law, EPO

Michael is Director of European and International Legal Affairs, PCT. He is a fully qualified German lawyer with a post-graduate degree and PhD in the area of intellectual property.
He oversees a team of lawyers and paralegals supporting the EPO's key policy projects, including the implementation of the Unitary Patent.

Stefan Schorling
Managing Director and COO, SurgVision

Stefan is an experienced senior executive and entrepreneur with a proven track record in diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, life sciences and the medical device industry. He started his career at Roche Diagnostics in 2001. In 2015, he became COO of the Dutch start-up SurgVision, where he has also acted as Managing Director since Bracco Imaging acquired the company in 2017. In addition, through his private company Schorling Consulting, Stefan advises SMEs on strategy. He holds a PhD in Chemistry and Pharmacy from Ludwig Maximilian University Munich and is a certified systemic coach.

Heli Pihlajamaa
Director Patent Law and Procedures, EPO

After studying law at Helsinki University, and at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Heli worked in both the private and public sectors. She joined the EPO as a lawyer in the Patent Law Directorate before taking up her current post in 2011. Heli is responsible for supporting EPO policy by developing, strengthening and promoting the EPC, including with regard to proposals for legal changes, operational compliance with patent law-related norms and case law. She also advises senior EPO management on policy issues and legal amendments.

Pasquale Foglia
Director, Office of the Vice-President Patent Granting Process, EPO

After studying electronic engineering at the University of Naples Federico II, Pasquale joined the EPO as a patent examiner in 1991. He passed the EQE in 1997 and was appointed Director in DG Operations in 2006. Pasquale currently leads the EPO taskforce on opposition by videoconference and co-ordinates the management teams of the five EPO Opposition Directorates and of Procedural Support under Principal Directorate Quality, Business and User Services.

Krishna Chellapilla
Head IPR - Patents, Prosecution and Copyrights, Tata Consultancy Services

Krishna has around 20 years of experience in various aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and currently plays the role of Head IPR - Patents, Prosecution and Copyrights at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).  Prior to joining TCS in 2011, he was heading an Indian law firm and prior to that was engaged with a US-based law firm as IP attorney.

Ina Schreiber
European and French Patent Attorney, Plasseraud IP

Ina joined Plasseraud IP in 2004 and became a partner in 2012. She started her career in Peugeot's IP department. Ina specialises in patenting activities, including disputes, in the fields of chemistry, materials, pharmaceuticals and agribusiness. She co-chairs the Unitary Patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court (UPC) committee of CNCPI and is a member of the UP and UPC committee at AIPPI.

Kieran Donnelly
Business Change Manager, Business Information Technology, EPO

Kieran is a business change manager on the New Online User Engagement programme, supporting the evolution of the EPO's online services for external users.  He joined the EPO's Business Information Technology unit in 2014 with wide-ranging business consulting and IT management experience spanning industry and government.

Borja Rojano
MyEPO Portfolio Technical Application Manager, EPO

Borja is a technical application owner in the EPO's Business Information Technology unit, and project manager for the user area initiative under the New Online User Engagement programme. Previously he worked for 13 years as an examiner.

Gabor Lieber
European Patent Attorney, Nordic Patent Service

Gabor worked for 3 years as patent examiner at the EPO. Following a transition to private practice, he has been working as patent attorney for a boutique Scandinavian patent firm for the past 5 years, using this combined experience to provide a unique insight into both sides of the European patenting process, mainly in the field of computer implemented inventions. Gabor is an active participant in the development of the ‘MyEPO' user interface for patent professionals.

Matthias Gärtner
IT Application Domain Manager, EPO

Matthias is a technical application owner in the EPO's Business Information Technology unit. Since 2019, he has taken a lead role on services such as the EPO Mailbox, My Files and online fee payment. In the last two years, he has contributed to the launch of MyEPO Portfolio, which is an initiative under Goal 2 (digital transformation) of the EPO's Strategic Plan 2023.

Michael Lindblom
Key Account Manager, EPO

Michael has been working on EPO online user services since 2002, with a focus on the implementation of user-centric products. He covers jurisdictions such as the Nordic countries, the UK and Germany.

Theodor Paleolog
Project Manager New Electronic Filing, EPO

Theodor is an enterprise architect and project manager for the EPO's new electronic filing and processing system. He previously worked as a consultant. As a trained engineer, he is experienced in assisting large public and private organisations with ambitious business and digital transformation initiatives.

Catherine Humbert
IT Application Manager Front Office, EPO

Catherine is the product owner of Online Filing 2.0 and she contributes to projects under Goal 2 (digital transformation) of the EPO's Strategic Plan 2023. She works with EPO experts and external users to build tools that better address user needs, including those of non-specialists.

Christophe Ego
European Patent Attorney, DenK iP

Christophe worked as a researcher from 1998 to 2005 and then entered private practice at a Belgian patent firm. In 2012, he joined the intellectual property practice DenK iP, where he heads the chemistry department. In addition, he has worked as a CEIPI tutor since 2016.

Martin Adu
User Support Expert, EPO

Martin is an experienced trainer who has worked in e-services at the EPO since the early days of online filing software in 2000. He supports users in this area and in the use of the smart card.

Alan Garry
Key Account Manager, EPO

After joining the EPO in 1998, Alan managed the User Business Assessment team responsible for the customer relationship management ticketing tool and the user experience. Since 2018, he has worked in key account management, where he covers countries including the UK, Ireland and Germany.

Maria Lennung
Patent Paralegal, Zacco

Maria joined Zacco Denmark in 2018. Her previous positions as patent paralegal dates back to 1995, being employed by industry as well as by agencies.

Ulrike Engels
Key Account Manager, EPO

After joining the EPO in 2000, Ulrike became a local procedural specialist and provided related training to EPO formalities officers. She covers the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as Germany. Ulrike has also been heavily involved in Online Filing 2.0.

Christina ten Hövel
Key Account Manager and Patent Administration Expert, EPO

Since joining the EPO in 2003, Christina has worked as an expert in patent grant procedures. As a Key Account Manager, she supports EPO users with online tools and services. She also co-ordinates related training events, mainly in German-speaking countries.

Stephan Freischem
European Patent and Trademark Attorney, FREISCHEM & PARTNER

After studying mechanical engineering at the Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technical University in Aachen, Stephan became a patent attorney in Cologne. During the course of 27 years in the profession to date, he became an early user of the online filing systems of both the European Patent Office and the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. He is a member of the committee on digital technologies at Germany's Chamber of Patent Attorneys and General Secretary of the German Association of Intellectual Property Rights (GRUR).

Serge Anni
Key Account Manager, EPO

Serge joined the EPO in 2007. In his current role, he manages key accounts and provides support for online filing tools, the EPO Mailbox, My Files and online fee payments.

Roberta Andreatta
Key Account Manager, EPO

Roberta joined the EPO in 2001. She became a Key Account Manager in 2017 and primarily covers Italy, Germany and France. . As key account manager she follows and promote technical progress in the area of the EPO Online services and supports users with their implementation.

Richard Monni
European, French and Belgian Patent Attorney, LLR

Richard holds a PhD in human genetics, is European Patent Attorney and is also qualified in France and Belgium. He joined the patent and trade mark firm LLR in 2012, where he is now an expert partner and member of the firm's Executive Committee. He assists with patenting activities and strategy in France, Europe and the rest of the world (mainly the United States, Canada, Japan, China, India and Australia). Prior to entering private practice, he gained a decade of experience in research laboratories at the Institute of Molecular Genetics and the Curie Institute  in Paris, with a focus on molecular and cellular biology, human genetics, cancerology and haematology. His practice covers a wide range of fields mainly including biology, biotechnology, medicine and pharmacy.

Niclas Morey
Principal Director Customer Journey & Key Account Management, EPO

Niclas joined the EPO in 1990 as a Patent examiner in Mechanics. In 1994, he moved to run international cooperation projects and between 2000 and 2004 he was Head of President's Office. In 2008 he became Director for IP5/Trilateral Affairs and International Organisations and in 2016 this directorate merged with International Cooperation where he assumed the overall responsibility. In 2017 he was appointed Principal Director for Quality, Business and User Support, a position where he leads the entire operational support covering the areas of Users, Classification, Patent Procedures and Quality/Risk Management. In 2022, the PD changed name to Customer Journey and Key Account Management when quality and practice and procedures move to other areas.

Emma Ó Donnabháin
Principal Director Quality and Practice Harmonisation, EPO

As an electrical engineer, Emma joined the EPO in 1997 and worked as an examiner in the field of CDMA, frequency hopping and physical layer aspects of radio communications. As team manager and operational director from 2016-2022, she had managerial responsibility for examiners and operational units in the ICT sector. She was appointed to her current role as principal director in April 2022 and is part of the senior management team responsible for developing and implementing the quality strategy of the EPO for the patent granting process.

David Mazur
General Counsel R&D, Nestlé

David is General Counsel for R&D at Nestlé, leading a global team of patent attorneys, lawyers, IP analysts and paralegals responsible for enabling and protecting Nestlé's innovations. He is a European Patent Attorney, and before joining Nestlé he was responsible for IP management and licensing at CERN (Geneva, CH), and prior to that he was an EPO patent examiner (The Hague, NL).  David holds an M.Sc. in Computer Engineering (KU Leuven, Belgium) and an LL.M. in International Business Law (University of London, UK).

Antonio Pizzoli
European Patent Attorney, Notarbartolo & Gervasi

After 26 years at a well-known patent consultancy, Antonio joined the intellectual property firm N&G in 2020. He specialises in patents relating to mechanics and electronics, particularly in the automotive, electro-technical, packaging, software and medical sectors. Antonio also has extensive design experience, particularly in fashion and consumer products. Since 2003, he has regularly appeared as a court-appointed expert witness in civil or criminal matters concerning patents, design validity and infringement. He has also handled patent litigation in Italy and elsewhere, as well as opposition and appeal proceedings at the EPO.

Theano Evangelou
Senior Sustainability Specialist, EPO

Theano has more than 21 years' experience at the EPO. Before her current position in the office of the Chief Sustainability Officer, she was advisor to the Chief Operating Officer in the areas of Mobility and Mechatronics and of Health, Biotechnology and Chemistry. She is passionate about environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Having studied law at UCL in London and qualified as a barrister (Gray's Inn, UK) and advocate (Cyprus), Theano practiced law for five years before joining the EPO.

Miguel Angel Ruiz Ferrer
Patent Examiner and Process Manager Young Inventors prize, EPO
 
After studying electrical engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and receiving a master's degree in Engineering and Management of Renewable Energy at the University of Barcelona, Miguel worked in the photovoltaic and wind power sectors. He then joined the EPO in 2019 as a patent examiner. In addition, he is the process manager for the EPO's new Young Inventors prize, which supports the EPO's commitment to sustainability and aims to raise young people's awareness of intellectual property.

Alexandros Papaderos
Head of Sector Research, Tach2yone

From 2008 to 2022, Alexandros was responsible for innovation and technology transfer at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he worked as Deputy Head of the Office for Research and Innovation, and as Head of Innovation. He has more than 21 years' experience of protecting and commercially exploiting research results, collaboration between academia and business, and university entrepreneurship, including the creation of university start-ups and spin-offs. In July 2022, Alexandros joined the Munich-based Tach2yone, a green energy investment firm.

Abderrahim Moumen
Director Operations, EPO

After completing a PhD in telecommunications and radar technologies at Delft Technical University, Abderrahim joined the EPO in 2000 as an examiner in the field of antennas and microwaves. He subsequently became a team manager and, in 2020, a director. He assumed his current post in the Directorate Data Communications and Applications this year. Additional roles and responsibilities include co-chairing the AI and Emerging Technologies Task Force in operations, member of the CII working group and Contact Director for Standards. Further areas of interest include IoT, quantum computing, 5G and smart antennas.                                                                                   

Francesco Zaccà
Principal Director Operations, EPO

After receiving a master's degree in electronic engineering from the University of Pisa, Francesco gained experience in the telecommunications industry and then joined the EPO as an examiner. He went on to become a director in operations (medical technology, telecommunications, IT) and principal director in operations (ICT, mobility & mechatronics). In his current position as Principle Director Operations for the Patent Granting Process, he oversaw the creation of the EPO's eight new technology communities, which are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development goals and EU industrial ecosystems.

Yann Ménière
Chief Economist, EPO

Yann joined the EPO as Chief Economist in 2016. He has many years of experience of providing economic insights into issues relating to patents, innovation and economic growth. He contributes high-level expertise and analysis to public and expert forums on a regular basis. Yann led the Chair on IP and Markets for Technology at MINES ParisTech, where he was previously a professor of economics  and lectured on the economics of IP.

Steve Rowan
Vice-President Patent Granting Process, EPO

Steve joined the EPO in 2019 and as Vice-President is responsible for the patent grant process and PD User Support and Quality Management, as well as managing the EPO site in The Hague. After graduating with a law degree in the UK, he went on to help steer IP policy issues in government and serve on several executive boards.

Benjamin Dankers
Financial Administration Officer, Revenue Controls, EPO

Benjamin joined the EPO in 2017. He is jointly responsible for all tasks related to patent fee payments and refund handling as well as the development of the EPO's Central Fee Payment service. He also deals with finance-related enquiries from external users and participates in cross-departmental projects that impact fee handling.

Katrin Garlip
Financial Administration Officer, Revenue Controls, EPO

Katrin joined the EPO in 2003. She is jointly responsible for all tasks related to patent fee payments and refund handling as well as the development of the EPO's Central Fee Payment service. She also deals with finance-related enquiries from external users and participates in cross-departmental projects that impact fee handling.

Frédéric Matthiss
Finance Revenue Controls Officer, EPO

Frédéric joined the EPO in 2001. He is jointly responsible for all tasks related to patent fee payments and refund handling as well as the development of the EPO's Central Fee Payment service. He also deals with finance-related enquiries from external users and participates in cross-departmental projects that impact fee handling.

Camille-Rémy Bogliolo
Head of Department, PCT Affairs and Procedures, EPO

Camille-Rémy joined the EPO in 2006 and took up his current position in 2016. He worked at the French Patent and Trademark Office (INPI) as a lawyer in international and European legal affairs before joining the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2001, where he specialised in the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Elke von Brevern
Expert PCT Affairs and Procedures, EPO

Elke joined the EPO in 2008. As an online filing application manager, her portfolio included online filing tools for the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Since 2015, she has co-ordinated the implementation of PCT-related projects at the EPO.

Hansjörg Kley  
European Patent Attorney

Intellectual Property in the early 1980s, he joined Siemens Schweiz and then qualified as a European Patent Attorney in 2003. Hansjörg jointly edited the authoritative Kommentar zum EPÜ 2000. In 2011, he was elected to the Institute of Professional Representatives before the EPO (epi) as a Council member, then re-elected in 2014, 2017 and 2020.

Richard Garvey
Key Account Manager, EPO

Richard joined the EPO in 1998. His main responsibility is to facilitate streamlined interaction between the EPO and its users. To complement this, he provides user feedback for the next generation of EPO tools under the Strategic Plan 2023.

Eimer Luck
Key Account Manager, EPO

Eimer joined the EPO in 1992. For ten years, she promoted and supported the use of EPO electronic tools and services. Her main area of expertise came to be assisting users with accessing the EPO Mailbox and My Files. For the last four years, she worked as an Instructor for EPO formalities officers in patent grant procedures. In July 2022, Eimer took up a post as Key Account Manager.

Gabriele Mohsler
Vice President Patent Development at IPR & Licensing, Ericsson

Gabriele is Head of Patent Development at Ericsson, where he is responsible for all patent creation and portfolio development worldwide. She is also in charge of several of the company’s patent units, which together comprise more than 200 people. Throughout the years she has held various management positions and was previously responsible for European litigation at Ericsson. Gabriele studied electrical engineering at the Rheinisch Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) in Aachen and commenced her career as a trainee patent attorney at Alcatel.

Elvira Renner
Head of IP Regions and IP Admin Munich, Siemens

Elvira Renner is Head of IP Regions and IP Admin at Siemens in Munich. She has been working for Siemens IP since 2000, before which she held positions at various IP law firms. Elvira trained as an IP paralegal and translator. At Siemens, part of her work focuses on IP processes supported by software tools. Diversity, equity and inclusion are important to her and she co-leads the Diversity@IP Team at Siemens.

Nikolaos Minas
European Patent Attorney, Aptiv

Nikolaos is a patent counsel at Aptiv, where he is responsible for managing the patent portfolio and leading the IP harvesting efforts in the Advanced Safety & User Experience business line for the EMEA region. He is a European Patent Attorney specialising in advanced software solutions, with extensive experience in advising deep technology ventures on IP strategy, portfolio management and IP monetisation.