The CET held a meeting in Stockholm over the weekend of 1-4 June, 2002 to continue with its work programme. During the meeting progress was made on a number of important matters for the Federation including the upcoming Prague EXCO and Forum and also the Berlin Congress. The CET also worked on a number of current technical issues including the Trade Mark Law Treaty and OHIM issues, the Community Design Regulation, the substantive Patent Law Treaty and PCT Reform, European Patent Developments, Implementation of the European Biotechnology Directive, Patent litigation issues including the recent Festo decision, the draft European software directive and the WIPO Biodiversity discussions. Although the working programme was extensive the thirty-five delegates and accompanying persons also had the opportunity to enjoy some of the sights of the "Venice of the North". During the visit of the CET the city of Stockholm was celebrating its 750th anniversary - the founding of the city being attributed to Birger Jarl on the basis of a letter he wrote in 1252 citing Stockholm as the place written from. The CET also had the pleasure of meeting a number of board members of the Association of Swedish Patent Attorneys (SPOF) and board members of the Association of Intellectual Property Law Firms in Sweden (SEPAF) closely affiliated with SPOF.

The proposed position of FICPI, as developed by the CET in relation to many of the technical areas under study, will be put before the next Executive Committee Meeting which is due to take place in Prague in October 2002.

The FICPI Forum in Prague will take place immediately after the EXCO and with the expected large attendance of FICPI members, the opportunity will arise for each of the CET Groups to meet and work on the various group topics. For information on the various group topics see: CET Activities.