On October 17, 2019, S&E
held a European IP law seminar titled, “Recent patent law cases in EPO and BGH,
and the recent recommendations for drafting effective patent claims and
specifications”.

For this seminar, S&E
invited Dr. Erik Richly, LL.M. who is a German patent attorney and European
patent, trademark and design attorney and Mr. Robert Ritschel, a European
patent, trademark and design attorney from the patent firm, RICHLY & RITSCHEL Patentanwälte which is
located in Gladbach, Germany.

At the seminar, Dr. Richly and Mr. Ritschel explained the description of patent
applications for Europe and the key points for successful patent prosecution
and enforcement in Europe. They focused on providing attendees with a detailed
explanation of the matters which should be written on and excluded from applications,
as well as evaluation criteria for novelty and inventive steps with concrete
examples (such as decisions of the EPO). Dr. Richly and Mr. Ritschel also informed
attendees on the know-how for the setup of descriptions of an application.

The seminar was held in English and Mr. Felix Einsel, our firm’s managing partner, provided an interpretation in Japanese.

S&E also had a reception
after the seminar to allow participants further opportunities to communicate
with Dr. Richly and Mr. Ritschel.