After three failed attempts, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Office has elected Benoît Battistelli to become its next president.

Battistelli will serve a five-year term after incumbent president Alison Brimelow steps down in July this year.

To become president, Battistelli required a three-quarters majority of votes in the Administrative Council - composed of the 36 members of the European Patent Convention. None of the candidates had secured such a majority in the previous three meetings of the council in October 2009, December 2009 and February 2010.

"It is very encouraging to see that not only has the Administrative Council now succeeded in agreeing on one of the candidates, but also that it has chosen someone with experience of running a major national intellectual property office - in France - as well as an impressive background in international trade, economics and law," said John Brown, president of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

This is not the first time that the election of a new EPO president has proved difficult. In the last contest, in 2004, the vote remained stubbornly split between the French candidate, Alain Pompidou and former head of the UK Patent Office, Alison Brimelow. In that instance, the office was shared between Brimelow and Pompidou until Brimelow took over as sole president in 2007.

Battistelli is currently director general of France's Institut national de la propriété industrielle and has served as deputy chairman of the EPO's Administrative Council. He represents France in the Administrative Council of the EPO.

To secure his presidency Battistelli had to defeat Susanne Ǻs Sivborg, director general of the Swedish Patent and Registration Office; Roland Grossenbacher, director of the Eidgenössisches Institut für Geistiges Eigentum, Switzerland; and Jesper Kongstad, director general of the Danish Patent and Trademark Office.

In previous interviews, Battistelli has indicated he will only serve as president for one term.

Source: IP world