Publications: Penn Program on Regulation Launches RegBlog

The Penn Program on Regulation has just launched a new blog, RegBlog. Housed at Penn Law and staffed by law and graduate students from multiple schools at Penn, RegBlog provides regulatory news, analysis, and opinion. Contributors include staff members, scholars, practitioners, and others interested in regulatory developments. Anyone interested in contacting RegBlog should email the staff at regblog@law.upenn.edu. We welcome RegBlog to the blogosphere!

Administrative Conference of the United States: ACUS Schedules April 28 Regulatory Leadership Workshop on Trade and Enforcement

On April 28, acccording to a notice by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), ACUS will hold a regulatory Workshop entitled, "Going Global – The Case for U.S. Regulatory Leadership on Trade and Enforcement." The Workshop will take place at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 1615 I Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon.
Speakers for the event include ACUS Chairman Paul Verkuil; C. Boyden Gray, founding partner in the firm of Gray & Schmitz and former Ambassador to the European Union and former White House Counsel; Michael Fitzpatrick, Associate Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB (invited); and Dan Price, senior partner in the firm of Sidley Austin and former Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs.
Interested persons can register for the Workshop by email.

Administrative Conference of the United States: ACUS Publishes Public Committee Meeting Schedule for April

The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) has published its scheduled Committee public meetings in April. Upcoming public meetings include:
- Committee on Administration and Management: Government Contractor Ethics
Monday, April 18, 2011, from 2p.m. to 5 p.m.
- Committee on Rulemaking: E-rulemaking—Legal Issues
Wednesday, April 20, 2011, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- Committee on Collaborative Governance: FACA in the 21st Century
Thursday, April 21, 2011, from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Committee on Regulation: Rulemaking Comments
Monday, April 25, 2011, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Committee on Adjudication: Video Hearings
Wednesday, April 27, 2011, from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Intellectual Property/International Law: European Court of Justice Rejects Patents Court Proposal

On March 8, the European Court of Justice issued an opinion that a proposal to create a European Patents Court was not compatible with the provisions of the European Union Treaty and the Functioning of the European Union (FEU) Treaty.
In 2007, the European Commission had made various proposals to enhance the patent system in Europe. This and other developments led to the drafting of an international agreement -- to be concluded between the Member States, the European Union, and third countries that are parties to the European Patent Convention -- that would establish a European and Community Patents Court with jurisdiction to hear actions related to European and Community patents. The proposed Patent Court would be composed of a court of first instance, comprising a central division and local and regional divisions, and a court of appeal that would have jurisdiction to hear appeals brought against decisions delivered by the court of first instance.
The European Court of Justice held that the proposed agreement, "by conferring on an international court which is outside the institutional and judicial framework of the European Union an exclusive jurisdiction to hear a significant number of actions brought by individuals in the field of the Community patent and to interpret and apply European Union law in that field, would deprive courts of Member States of their powers in relation to the interpretation and application of European Union law and the Court of its powers to reply, by preliminary ruling, to questions referred by those courts and, consequently, would alter the essential character of the powers which the Treaties confer on the institutions of the European Union and on the Member States and which are indispensable to the preservation of the very nature of European Union law."