EPO User Day 2024

Manuel Walther
Moderator, Patent Examiner Team Medical Injection & Infusion, EPO
Manuel is an examiner with a strong background in medical engineering and management science. Prior to joining the EPO in 2017, he worked in medical R&D and strategic management consulting. Alongside his role as an examiner, he actively participates in various knowledge management initiatives, emphasising peer-to-peer exchanges of best practices.  

Victor Veefkind
Moderator, Patent Examiner Team Detergents, EPO
Victor is examiner and opposition chairman at the EPO. Victor has been involved in tracking patents relating to climate change mitigation for over a decade at the EPO and spends part of his time working for the Chief Economist Unit.  

Roberto Vacca
Director Quality Management, EPO
Roberto is Director Quality Management in DG1. Before moving to his present position, he managed a directorate of about 130 examiners and formalities officers in the area of Automotive Engineering. He has extensive experience as an examiner in various mechanical fields, has led technical co-operation with China for the past four years and has actively taken part in several quality projects, such as the working group on Strategic Quality and the pilot for Collaborative Quality Improvements. Before joining the EPO, he graduated cum laude in nuclear engineering at the Polytechnic School of Turin and worked in the aerospace industry.  

Udo Steinhauser
Auditor, EPO
Udo studied aeronautical engineering and began working with a team of 11 examiners at the EPO in 1999 in the technical area of gas turbines. For the past 3 years Udo has also worked as an auditor in the area of mechanics for the EPO's internal Directorate for Quality Audit. He has been involved in reviewing many of the Office's quality initiatives, such as the Stakeholder Quality Assurance Panels.   

Valérie Mellet
European Patent Attorney, PATENT42
Valérie has more than 20 years of experience as a patent attorney in the fields of chemistry and mechanics. She has worked in both industry and private practice and is the founding partner of Patent42 S.A.  She is actively involved in professional organisations such as the epi and is interested in human creativity and inventiveness in general.  

Dolinda de Proost
Manager IP support, AOMB
Since 1990, Dolinda has been an IP support manager in at AOMB in The Netherlands. She is responsible for all the patent paralegals and formalities officers employed by AOMB and is also responsible for the optimisation of all patent processes within AOMB. She is one of the founders and a chairwoman of EPIPA (European Platform of Intellectual Property Administrators). Dolinda has also been a member of the SACEPO Working Party on e-Patent Process since 2016.  

Markus Klein
European Patent Attorney, Preh GmbH
Markus received a Master's degree in physics from the University of Umea and a PhD from the University of Würzburg. After working in the nuclear energy industry for three years, he moved to the automotive supplier Preh GmbH in 2012. There he works as a European Patent Attorney in the patent department.  

Yvan de la Fuente del Agua
Principal Director, Search & Patent Grant Process Products, EPO
Yvan joined the EPO in 1988 as an examiner. Later, he managed IT projects internally as well as under the context of international co-operation in DG5. In 2019, Yvan joined BIT where he now contributes to the digitalisation efforts of the Office.  

Céline Fusil
Patents Manager, Pfizer
Céline joined Pfizer in 2001 and is a patents manager responsible for the European patent administrative team. In her role, she handles IP administration matters related to Pfizer's patent portfolio in Europe and is the company's EPO administrator, serving as a liaison between the EPO and the Pfizer patent department on EPO online services and tools.  

Benoît Berthommé
Patent Administration Manager, L'Oréal
Benoit has been a manager within L'Oréal's International Industrial Property Department since 2004. He is responsible for overseeing the administration of the department and driving its digital transformation.  

Martin Adu
User Support Expert and Key Account Manager, 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 provides specialist support to users in this area and in the use of smart cards. He recently joined the Key Account Managers to strengthen the team.  

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 became assisting users with accessing the EPO Mailbox and My Files. For four years, she worked as an Instructor for EPO formalities officers in patent grant procedures. In July 2022, Eimer assumed the role of Key Account Manager.

Maria Lennung
Senior Patent Paralegal, Senior IP Coordinator, Zacco
Maria has more than 20 years of experience in the IP industry, working with private practice IP firms of various sizes. She is interested in the full patent lifecycle and is passionate about staying up to date with patent laws and regulations across different jurisdictions. 

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, 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 (KAM) in 2017 and primarily covers Italy, Germany and France. As a KAM, she follows and promotes technical progress in the area of the EPO Online services and supports users with their implementation.  

Yann Debrit
European and French attorney, Partner, Plasseraud IP
Yann is a European and French patent attorney as well as a representative before the UPC, focussing on mechanical, electronic and IT fields. At Plasseraud he is responsible for relations with IP offices on IT matters and advanced aspects of the INPI's online solutions for users.

Yann also teaches intellectual property at an engineering school and is a member of the panel of examiners for the French IP attorney exam.  

Ulrike Engels
Key Account Manager, EPO
After joining the EPO in 2000 as a Formalities Officer, Ulrike became a local procedural specialist and provided related training to EPO formalities officers. She became a Key Account Manager in 2014. Her accounts are located in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the UK and Scandinavia. Ulrike has also been heavily involved in the development of 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 and has provided training to internal and external audiences. As a Key Account Manager, she has supported EPO users with online tools and services since 2015. She has also contributed to various projects, notably the technical implementation of the Unitary Patent.  

Verena Keil
Head of Patent Paralegal Services, DSM-Firmenich
With 18 years of IP experience in both IP law firms and corporate IP, Verena is internationally recognised for her deep knowledge of global IP management. She joined DSM in 2022 as Head of IP Support and transitioned to Head of Patent Paralegal Services at DSM-Firmenich following a merger, a role in which she has been responsible for aligning processes between the two teams. Her expertise includes over 10 years at Continental where she held several leadership roles in global IP support. Her international experience extends to the APAC region, where she has established and supported IP paralegal teams and processes in China and Singapore.  

Céline Peyrat
Senior IP Paralegal, Saint-Gobain
Céline Peyrat has two decades of experience working in both in industry and IP law firms.

At Saint-Gobain her primary responsibilities include managing the patent filing process from prosecution to grant, as well as overseeing opposition and appeal procedures. Céline is also responsible for ensuring proper management of annuity payments and is involved in the use of digital tools specific to industrial property.

She holds a French Patent and Trademark Administration Certificate and European Patent Administration Certificate.  

Catherine Humbert
IT Application Manager Front Office, EPO
Catherine is the product owner of Online Filing 2.0 and she contributes to the digital transformation projects laid out in the EPO's Strategic Plans. She works with EPO experts and external users to build tools that better address user needs, including those of non-specialists.  

Kieran Donnelly
Business Change Manager, Business Information Technology, EPO
Kieran is a business change manager for the EPO’s New Online User Engagement programme, supporting the evolution of the EPO’s online services for external users. He joined the Business Information Technology unit of the EPO in 2014, bringing a wide range of business consulting and IT management experience from both industry and government. 

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. He also completed his legal studies with a Master's in IT & Telecommunications law, which complements his role as he provides user feedback for the next generation of EPO tools under the Strategic Plan 2028.  

Elke von Brevern
Expert Patent Filing Process and PCT Affairs, EPO
Elke joined the EPO in 2008 as an online filing application manager, working on projects which included online filing tools for the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). In 2015 she joined the PCT Affairs department as an expert, where she co-ordinates and legally supports the implementation of PCT-related projects at the EPO.

Jeremy Philpott
Communication Manager, EPO
Jeremy coordinates many of the EPO’s communication campaigns, which include the annual Patent Index, numerous aspects of the patent grant process and stakeholder communications related to the Unitary Patent. He also promotes the work of the new Observatory on Patents and Technology, including their economic studies, technology platforms and Deep Tech Finder. He conceived and developed the "New to patents" area of the EPO website, which provides basic introductory information to inventors, startups and SMEs.  

Carsten Wallenhauer
Team Leader Patents, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Carsten manages the larger part of Fraunhofer’s standard essential patents portfolio. He also plays an active role in co-operations with a wide spectrum of partners, including SMEs, multinationals and universities. He holds a doctorate from the Technical University of Munich and previously worked for Siemens Corporate Technology.

Stefan Luginbuehl
Head of Department, IP Lab - Patent Law Harmonisation, EPO
Stefan deals with a wide range of patent law and patent litigation related subjects, with an emphasis on the EPO’s recently adopted new fee policy and all policy and legal aspects related to Unitary Patent System. He has participated in several diplomatic and intergovernmental conferences on the reform of the European patent system and international litigation system. He lectures at various universities and is the author and editor of several books and articles on patent procedure, on topics which include the Unitary Patent system and patent litigation in Europe and China.  

Cornelia Peuser
Stream Leader Diversity & Transformation, Observatory on Patents and Technology, EPO
Cornelia is one of three Stream Leaders in the EPO's newly established Observatory on Patents and Technology, where she is primarily responsible for making patent data and information accessible to a wider audience.

She coordinates Observatory projects and acts as an intermediary for internal and external stakeholders with an interest in a variety of IP topics.  An economist by training, she brings her experience from the IP service industry to the EPO’s activities.  

Arndt Althaus
Partner, Patentanwälte Buschhoff Hennicke Althaus
Arndt has 28 years of experience working in the field of intellectual property and studied mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University. He is partner at the Cologne-based patent law firm Buschhoff Hennicke Althaus where he advises individual applicants, startups, SMEs and large companies, supporting them in the worldwide protection and enforcement of trade marks, designs and patents for technical developments.  

Maria Chountoulesi
Intellectual Property & Research Liaison Officer, OFET-Tsetis Group of Pharmaceutical Companies
Maria holds a MSc in industrial pharmaceutics and a PhD in pharmaceutical nanotechnology. She is responsible for matters relating to OFET's patent portfolio, including patent drafting and patent searches, as well as the co-ordination of OFET research projects in collaboration with academic institutions.    

Michaela Mota
Formalities Officer, EP&C
Michaela is a certified formalities officer and previously worked for 8 years in DSM's IP department. Since joining EP&C in 2018 she has also been the company's EPO key user, a role in which she maintains contact with the EPO key account manager, takes care of the maintenance of EP filing systems and trains colleagues in new features such as My EPO Portfolio and Online Filing 2.0.

Adrien Betrancourt
Head of innovation, European Patent Engineer, IPSIDE
Adrien is a European patent attorney at industrial property firm IPSIDE, a member of the Santarelli Group. Within the group he is especially involved in assisting users with tools developed by the EPO for filing patent applications, as well as retrieving official notifications and responding to them. He regularly interacts with the EPO to provide user feedback on these tools.  

Dirk Geivaerts
Head of Department Front Office Tools, EPO
Dirk joined the EPO in 2000 as examiner working in the field of Civil Engineering. Throughout his examiner career Dirk has been closely involved with the development and maintenance of various key software applications of the EPO. In 2019 Dirk joined BIT and is currently managing the team responsible for the MyEPO Services.   

Stamatios Gkinis
Technical Application Owner, EPO
Stamatios began working at the EPO in 2017 as the project manager for Online Filing 2.0. Since then, he has remained in the Front Office team in various roles related to Online Filing, and he is now the technical application owner of Online Filing 2.0. Prior to joining the EPO, Stamatios worked in the private sector where he gained significant business knowledge around patents and trademarks as well as experience in the implementation of enterprise IT projects.   

Ron Blijleven
IT Manager, Arnold & Siedsma
Ron has over 25 years of experience in the IT sector, of which he has spent the last 7 years at IP firm Arnold & Siedsma. He manages and optimises all IT processes and systems within the company to ensure a secure, stable and modern IT infrastructure.  

Eric de Jong
Consultant intellectual property systems and integrations, Arnold & Siedsma  

Bríd Murphy
Customer Services Officer, EPO
After several years in customer service roles, Bríd joined the EPO to work in the filing office in Munich in 2002. In 2009, Bríd moved to EPO Online Services and has since been providing support to all kinds of EPO Online Services users on various technical, procedural, patent information and access matters. Since 2018, Bríd has been the team specialist for Mailbox MyFiles support and now also for MyEPO Portfolio.  

Betrand Gineste
Examiner, EPO
Bertrand has worked as an examiner at the EPO for 18 years, searching and examining patent applications in the field of spraying apparatuses. 

Gareth Lord
Director Operations, EPO
As a director of operations, Gareth manages a department of 300 patent professionals and is responsible for the end-to-end patent grant process in the fields of measurements and optics.  

Andrea Bork
Examiner, Team manager, EPO
Andrea joined the EPO in 2017 and works as an examiner in the technical field of spraying. Since 2021 she has also been a team manager, leading a team of 8 examiners.     

Christopher Milton
Partner, European and UK Patent Attorney, J A Kemp LLP
Chris is a European and UK patent attorney specialising in patent work in chemistry and pharmaceuticals.    

Olivier Roche
Examiner, EPO
Olivier has worked at the EPO since 2000, started in The Hague before moving to the Munich office in 2005. He is an examiner in the dentistry field of orthodontics, implants and electric toothbrushes (A61C). As a Gérant, oversees the reorganisation and development of classification in A61C and works as a quality nominee, reviewing and assessing the quality of classification in A61C done by the EPO and USPTO. 

Adrian-Léon Gex-Collet
Director Classification Support, File Management. SCAPES&CDR, EPO
Adrian holds a Master’s in mechanical engineering and joined the EPO in 2003 as an examiner after 7 years spent working in industry. He has extensive experience as a patent examiner in various interdisciplinary technical field and since 2020 has served as the EPO's director of operations in the areas of mechanics, applied physics and specialised central services.   

Damien Bagarry
Examiner, EPO
Damien has worked at the EPO since 2001, first in the field of sports and then in the fields of games, toys, amusement parks and riding sports. As a Gérant, Damien oversees the reorganisation and development of classification in in the field of games (A63F). 

Christof Mathoi
Lawyer, EPO
Christof joined the EPO in 2011 after having graduated in law and business law. He works in the EPO's department for Patent Filing Processes & PCT Affairs where he mainly deals with the processing of patent applications in the international and European phase and related policy matters. Previously, he worked for ten years in the EPO’s directorate for European and International Legal Affairs. Christof is co-author of a commentary to the European Patent Convention.  

Boris Tchitchanov
European and German Patent Attorney, UPC Representative, Hoffmann Eitle
Boris is a partner at Hoffmann Eitle, where he advises clients on all aspects of technical IP rights. He studied chemistry and biochemistry at the LMU in Munich and obtained a doctoral degree in chemistry at the ETH in Zurich in 2015. His areas of expertise include pharmaceuticals, antibodies, cosmetics, electrochemistry and sustainable and functional materials.

Markus Grammel
Partner, Grünecker
Markus is a German and European patent attorney. Before joining Grünecker he graduated from the Technical University of Munich with a degree in biology and from Rockefeller University with a PhD in chemical biology. Markus is an expert in drafting and prosecuting patent applications as well as managing patent portfolios for small molecule pharmaceuticals, antibodies, diagnostics, immunotherapies and other biotech and pharma-related inventions. In addition, Markus represents his clients in complex opposition and appeal proceedings and advises on infringement and supplementary protection certificate matters.   

Matthias Sachseder
Deputy Director IPR / Head of Patents, Huawei
Matthias joined Huawei in 2009 and is currently Deputy Director of the European IPR Department / Head of Patents. He has extensive experience in patenting work, patent portfolio management and IP management. As a German and European Patent Attorney, Matthias has extensive experience in proceedings before the EPO, including opposition proceedings, as well as in proceedings before national courts. 

Filip De Corte
Head of IP Crop Protection, Syngenta
Filip is the Head of Intellectual Property at Syngenta Crop Protection, overseeing teams based in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, United States, Switzerland and China. 

He previously worked in the patent department of Johnson & Johnson and as Chief IP Counsel Europe at Cargill, where his responsibilities spanned patents, trademarks and IP contracts. 

With a PhD in organic chemistry and an MBA, he holds a qualification for European Patent Litigation, is a qualified European Patent Attorney and has passed the US patent bar exam. He has lectured on IPR management at University of Leuven and currently lectures in the CEIPI European Litigator Course, focusing on multi-national litigation.  

Steve Rowan
Vice-President Patent Granting Process, EPO
Steve joined the EPO in 2019 as Vice President for the patent granting process and as site manager for 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.