Roland Edouard Grossenbacher[1] is a Swiss lawyer, who served as chairman of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation from 5 March 2000 to 4 March 2009. He was appointed at this post for a first three-year term on 5 March 2000.[2] He was then reelected in 2002 for a second term, beginning on 5 March 2003.[3] In December 2005, he was again re-elected as Chairman of the Council from a third term from 5 March 2006 to 4 March 2009.[4] After he stepped down in March 2009, he was made "Honorary Chairman" of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation.[5]
He joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in 1976, and was its director from 1989 to 2015.[6][7] His first contact with patents was when he was involved "in a lawsuit while working as an attorney at law for a very small law firm."[6] He originally came "from the copyright area" and wrote his PhD on copyright.[6] He studied at the Zurich University from 1969 to 1974.[6]
He was candidate for the position of President of the European Patent Office, which was to be filled on 1 July 2010,[8] but was not elected to the position.[9]
Publications
- Die Entwicklung des Welturheberrechtsabkommens im Hinblick auf den Beitritt der Sowjetunion, Diss. Zürich 1977[10][11]
- Das Uebersetzungsrecht des Welturheberrechtsabkommens und Schutzausnahmen im sowjetischen Urheberrecht: konventionsrechtliche Grenzen innerstaatlicher Einschränkungen des Uebersetzungsrecht, Film und Recht, 1977, Vol 21 No 12, p 816-821 [12]