Opposition Matters 2025

Speakers and panellists

• Speakers and panellists

  Angélique Iyer-Baldew 

  Angelique is a director in Operations for oppositions covering the area of health, materials and production. She holds a PhD in chemistry and has worked as European Patent attorney prior to joining the EPO. 

  Julia Gwilt

  Julia has worked in private practice in the Cambridge area for over 25 years specialising in software inventions. More recently, she has been involved in supporting companies protect their inventions in the emerging fields of bioinformatics and artificial intelligence. Before qualifying as a European patent attorney in 2001, Julia did a mathematics degree at Cambridge University and further study at the Ecole Centrale de Paris. She is currently the Chair of the Professional Education Committee for epi.  

  Ben Husband 

  Ben has a considerable practice in the MedTech field which covers a broad spectrum of mechanical and software technology. Ben’s practice also includes original drafting and handling extensive patent portfolios in a variety of technology areas including wireless communications, robotic process automation, call centre routing, and memory devices. Ben also has a wealth of experience from handling a significant opposition portfolio across a number of different medical and electronics technology areas. Recently Ben has been involved with several matters at the UPC. 

  Magdalena Kolasa 

  Lawyer Patent Law & Processes | Post-grant Processes and Substantive Patent Law 

  Magdalena advises on oppositions and acts as legally qualified examiner. She also advises on substantive patent law, with a focus on computer-implemented inventions and artificial intelligence. Before joining the EPO in 2013 she has worked for several years in private practice and academia. She studied law in Lodz, Poland and in Munich, Germany, where she obtained her LL.M in intellectual property and Ph.D. in trade secrets law. She is an author of several publications on trade secrets. 

  Tobias Pichlmaier

  Tobias Pichlmaier is Presiding Judge at the District Court in Munich. In 2000 he started as a judge at the District Court in Munich (Chamber for Patent Litigation). From 2001 to 2004 he worked in the Copyright Department of the Federal Ministry of Justice in Berlin. In 2004 Tobias was public prosecutor at the public prosecutor’s office in Munich. After another stage as judge at the District Court in Munich from 2005 to 2012 (Intellectual Property Rights, especially Patent Litigation), he served as judge at the Higher Regional Court in Munich from 2012 to 2016. From 2016 until January 2022 Tobias was Presiding Judge of a patent litigation chamber at the District Court in Munich. Since February he leads the chamber for antitrust law. He is appointed as a legally qualified judge to the Munich local division. 

  Tobias is author of various publications (Patent Law, Copyright Law, Law of Trade Secrets) and lecturer in Germany and abroad. 

  Timothy Powell

  Tim Powell is a European Patent Attorney, with nearly 40 years experience, specialising in engineering, signal processing, materials and automotive inventions. He is a qualified UK litigator and advocate and for the past 15 months has chaired the European Patents Institute's Working Group on Use of Artificial Intelligence by Patent Attorneys. 

  Régis Quélavoine 

  Régis Quélavoine, PhD, is a Director in Opposition at the European Patent Office, The Hague – NL. He is responsible for the technical communities Digital, Energy, Electro-Physics, Agri-Food, Infrastructure and Mechanics, Mobility and Space Technologies. Régis holds a PhD in computer science, specialised in speech processing and artificial intelligence. He is a member of the EPO Patents and Procedures Committee. 

  Stephen Rowan 

  Stephen Rowan joined the EPO in January 2019 as Vice-President for DG1 – Patent Granting Process. He is responsible for the entire Patent Granting Process, from the receiving of applications up to and including opposition and the grant of the patent. He is also the Office lead on Diversity & Inclusion 

  Xavier Seuba

  Xavier Seuba is Principal Director Academy, Professional Certifications and Learning Partnerships. Prior to joining the EPO as Director of the European Patent Academy and EQE, Xavier Seuba was Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and before that, Academic Co-ordinator and Scientific Responsible at the Center for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI), in Strasbourg. He has also worked for several international organisations (e.g., WIPO, WHO, UNCTAD, UNHCHR, IDB, EUIPO) and governments in the context patents and health.  

  Nathaniel Taylor

  Nathaniel Taylor is a UK and European Patent Attorney and Director at Keltie LLP. He has an engineering background and specialises in high-tech sustainability, intralogistics, and automotive technologies. Nathaniel has in-house experience at Jaguar Land Rover, and a major part of his practice is devoted to opposition and appeal proceedings before the EPO. 

  Matthias Ulbrecht

  Matthias Ulbrecht, Senior Expert, EPO Munich. Team (D)NA and Analysis B, Dir. 1111 – Biotech & Immunology, DNA, Peptides& Cells. Joined the Office in 2001. MD in Medicine, LMU Munich, Habilitation in Anthropology and Human Genetics LMU Munich, Involved as First Examiner or Chair in may CRISPR/Cas oppositions.

  Dr. Katarzyna Walert

   

  She joined the EPO in 2013 as a lawyer in the Directorate Patent Law & Processes. Katarzyna is experienced in various legal aspects of the examination and post-grant proceedings before the EPO, in particular she acts as a legal member in opposition proceedings. Before joining the EPO she worked as a qualified Polish lawyer in private practice in Warsaw, specialising in litigation, intellectual property and commercial law. 

  Simon Wright

  Simon has a Chemistry (with Biochemistry) degree from Bristol University and qualified as a European Patent Attorney in 1992. Simon handles patent work in a wide variety of life science, chemical and pharma fields, including stem cells, human genes and genomics, drug delivery systems, contrast agents, GM crops, algae technology and CRISPR technology. He also handles mechanical work ranging from drones to electric vehicle charging. He works for a broad variety of clients ranging from individuals, SMEs and private clients up to UK universities and biotechnology start-ups. He also acts for EU and US genomics and academic institutions. Simon has chaired CIPA’s Life Sciences Committee for 20 years, and now also Chairs the epi Biotech Committee. He is Vice President of CIPA and will be President in 2026.