Tony Howard (Deputy Director, UK Patent Office)
Opening Address, 1 December 2005
Tony Howard graduated from Cambridge in Natural Sciences in 1976 and, following two years in industry, joined the Patent Office as an examiner in 1978. Following spells in various policy functions, in 1995 he became a Deputy Director in charge of a patent examination group. Between 2000 and 2003 he was seconded to the European Commission's Internal Market Directorate-General, where he covered IPRs in relation to the pharmaceutical sector, as well the proposed directive on patentability of computer-implemented inventions. More recently he led the examining group dealing with pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, and since May 2005 has been attached to the Patent Office's Intellectual Property Policy Directorate with responsibility for co-ordinating EU presidency activities across the whole range of IPRs.