Siobhán Yeats

A graduate in natural sciences with a focus on genetics, Siobhán spent 31 years at the European Patent Office (EPO). She was one of the first biotech specialists to be recruited as a patent examiner, later becoming a Director Patent Grant Process, managing around 30 examiners performing search, examination and opposition of applications in biotechnology. Her specialities included patents for biopharmaceuticals and for groundbreaking inventions concerning plants, genes and proteins, genome modification, immunology, and stem cells.

 

Siobhán has extensive experience in general patent procedure and life sciences patenting, including opposition procedure, and has authored a number of patent-related publications. She was involved in drafting the EPO’s Guidelines for Examination and Opposition and was a member of the committee responsible for the examinations for qualifying as a European Patent Attorney. She also assisted the EPO's media relations and communications specialists for biotech and general patent matters, and has lectured extensively for the EPO´s International Patent Academy and at numerous other forums. She represented the EPO on the European Commission's Expert Group on the Development and Implications of Biotech Patent Law, and has acted as an advisor on biotech patenting for several other organisations.

 

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