LES BENELUX

NEWSLETTER

TWENTY FIFTH ISSUE - MARCH 1999

This quarterly newsletter is written specifically for LES Benelux members and others with a professional or business interest in all aspects of technology transfer and the licen-sing of intellectual property. Further copies are available on request. Unless indicated as author's copyright and subject to acknowledgement of the Society, all material may be used freely in other publications. Unless otherwise agreed, acceptance of any submission for publication in this Newsletter is on the understanding that the author also consents to publication in the same or edited form on the LES Europe site at http://www.les-europe.org/. Editorial insert, advertising enquiries and contributions should be addressed to Saskia van Dijk-Struyk, LES Benelux, P.O. Box 6050, NL-2600 JA DELFT; phone +31 15 269 49 23; fax +31 15 261 24 03; e-mail saskia.dijk@wxs.nl 


 

Dear Members,


Dear Members,


It was a pleasure to work in the board of LES Benelux during the past three years and I was very honored to have been elected as your President during the AGM of November in Brus-sels. I hope to continue the work of LES Benelux following the example of the past presidents Ruprecht Hermans and Dennys Watson. On this occasion I would especially like to thank the im-mediate Past President, Dennys Watson, for all his work for and dedication to LES. Dennys will of course remain active within LES Benelux and LES International. I am fortunate to be able to call upon his experience and kind advice as before and if necessary he will stand in for me as Vice-President. I was very pleased that Nigel Wagstaff joined the board and congratulate him on his appoint-ment as Secretary. 
Your board now consists of Dennys Watson, Vice-President, Nigel Wagstaff, Secretary, Saskia van Dijk-Struyk, Treasurer, Wil van der Voorde, Membership Secretary, Bruno Vandermeulen, Chair Meetings Committee, Ruprecht Hermans, Thomas Vinje, Michel van Malderen and the undersigned as President. LES Benelux has a good reputation as a very active Society within LES International. This is for a large part owing to the yearlong activities of our Past-President Saskia van Dijk-Struyk. Many of you will already know that Saskia was elected Vice-President of LES International last year! A well-deserved position for Saskia and an honor for LES Benelux.


It is important that our Society is represented in the various working Committees of LES International; all members are encouraged to attend the Committee meetings, which have their interest. The Committee meetings are held twice a year: just before the LESI conference and immediately after the Annual Conference of LES USA and Canada. LES Benelux is represented in Communications, Copyright Licen-sing, European, Health Care Products, Industrial Sectors, LESIAC, Long Range Planning, Meetings, Membership, Patent and Technology Licensing, Publications, Trade Mark and Character Licensing, Chemical Industries and Biotechnology. We still need representatives for the Education and the Environmental Technology Committees. If you would like to have more information, please don't hesitate to contact me. 


The planning and preparation of the LES 2000 Conference (May 21-24, 2000) in Amsterdam continue. The moment I write this there are only 458 days left before the first participants will arrive at the Amsterdam Krasnapolsky Hotel. All available information regar-ding the conferen-ce can be found at the LES Benelux web-site, www.les-europe.org/benelux, which is of course up-dated regularly. The organizing committee (con-sisting of Saskia van Dijk-Struyk, Ruprecht Hermans and the undersigned as chair) hopes to be able to present the program during the LES International Conference in Melbourne (Australia) April 26 - 30, 1999. Any suggestions or requests for information on sponsorship are welcome; please contact me at +31 70 32 44 464, fax +31 70 3280 814 or e-mail:  emmy.oosterom@wxs.nl


If you intend to take one or more of your colleagues to the LESI Conference in Amsterdam who are not yet a member of LES Benelux, it might be a good idea to let them become a member. They then also profit from the discount on the registration fee members enjoy. For your convenience a membership application form can be found at this site as well (see Membership).


As before LES Benelux hopes to provide high level Topic Meetings throughout 1999. All dates and topics can be found in this Newsletter and appear on our web-site. Bruno Vander-meulen, Thomas Vinje and Michel van Malderen are responsible for the planning and organi-zing of the Topic Meetings and will welcome any suggestions for future topics and/or speakers at e-mail: Bruno.Vandermeulen@online.be


Finally I would like to thank you for giving me the oppor-tunity to act as your President during this important period for LES Benelux, where our Society will act as host for the LES International Conference. I look forward to seeing many of you during our next Topic Meeting (Recent Trends in Bio-tech Licensing - whole day meeting) on June 23, 1999 in Rotter-dam !


Emma van Oosterom, President of LES Benelux

e-mail: emmy.oosterom@wxs.nl


Membership

New members

    

  • J.J. Bosma, Delft Univerisity of Technology, Delft;

  • Gabriël Demeester, N.V. Bekaert S.A., Zwevegem;

  • Ton Paul Ebbink, Licentec, Utrecht;

  • Emiliano Garayar, Gomez-Acebo & Pombo, Brussels;

  • Jan Nys, Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., Beerse;

  • Wouter E. Pors, Buruma Maris, The Hague (NL);

  • Bipin Taneja, Southern Cross, Delft (NL);

  • Jean-Paul Triaille, Maindiaux-Barthelemy, Mons.

    For information on membership, please contact Wil van der Voorde: phone +31 70 3906873; fax +31 70 3909113 or e-mail: prsnl@euronet.nl




LES Benelux

Meetings in 1999
 

24 March, Brussels - For technical reasons this meeting has been cancelled. 

23 June, Rotterdam - Biotech and IPR's: recent trends. 

This will be a full-day meeting held at the offices of Nauta Dutilh in Rotterdam. A draft list of topics with which will be dealt is:

    

  • Genomics research - where it's heading, who owns what results?

  • Effects of the 1998 EU Directive on Patents & Biotechnology;

  • The role of IPRs at the interface between smaller biotech firms and 'big pharma';

  • Bio-informatics - cross-fertilization of technologies, a new game with new rules;

  • GMOs and licensing - a potential minefield in the trade war?



15 October, Brussels - Character licensing in the Benelux: are there substitutes for Disney?

This full-day meeting will be organized together with the AIPPI Group Belgium and the BMM and held at the Loeff Claeys Verbeke premises in Brussels.

17 November, Rotterdam - Tax aspects of international licensing: a comparison between Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg experiences. 

This meeting will be combined with the Annual General Meeting 1999.

Details of program, venue and registration will be sent to all members in due time. 

For more information on meetings, please contact Bruno Vandermeulen, chair Program Committee, e-mail: Bruno.Vandermeulen@online.be



LES International

LESI Conferences

"Licensing in the 21st century: the big picture" - Melbourne, 26-30 April 1999

In les Nouvelles and at the LESI web site (www.lesi.org) detailed information can be found about this LESI Conference. Also the latest update of the program can be downloaded.


"A World of Innovation" - Hotel Krasnapolsky,  Amsterdam, 21 -  24 May 2000

The theme of the Conference "A World Of Innovation" will be the framework for a wide range of interesting topics. 

For information about sponsoring, please contact Emma van Oosterom, phone + 31 70 324 44 63; fax + 31 70 328 08 14; e-mail: emmy.oosterom@wsx.nl


LES Europe

At a meeting of the LES European Presidents, held on 9 and 10 February in a snow-white Amsterdam, a draft program for the LES International Conference 2000 in Amsterdam was discussed, supported and approved. Also very helpful suggestions were made for additional topics and speakers.


LES Czech Republic plans to organize on 7 June a one-day conference devoted to Management and Successful Commercialization of Research. The morning session speakers will cover the topic from the perspective of EU, the Czech Government Committee for Science,  the Czech Industrial Property Office and the Czech Grant Agency. The afternoon will be devoted to presentations and discussions with scientists and research workers, who successfully co-operate with or license their results to industrial companies. The Conference will be held in Hotel President, Prague. 

For further information, please contact Vladimira Husakova, e-mail: inventia@ inventia.anet.cz


On 30 March LES France is organizing a seminar on Success in Licensing .. Lessons for the Future at Hotel Meridien Montparnasse, Paris. The formation of technology-based businesses is of increasing importance for economic development. Unfortunately, the barriers are formidable and the actual process is not well understood. In particular, IPR issues are often treated as "peripheral" when, in reality, they are "central". 

For more information please contact Florence Lazard, e-mail: flazard@ordipat.fr


LES Germany organizes at Munich on 20 September, just before the European Conference in Venice, a full-day seminar on License Trade with NAFTA Countries. 

For program and registration, please contact Heinz Goddar, e-mail:  goddar@boehmert.de


LES Italy has finalized the program for the LES European Meeting in Venice (Le Zitelle - Isola della Giudecca) which will be held on 22-25 September 1999. Theme of the conference is "Business and Licensing, a challenge for European companies in a changing world".  

For more information and (pre-) registration, please contact Secretariat LES Italy, fax +39 11 56 22 102; e-mail:info@studiotorta.it


Other events for 1999