In 2023, I appreciated the honor of an invitation from WIPO to serve as an instructor for the second International Patent Drafting Training Program (IPDTP), which was a joint production of WIPO and Fédération Internationale Des Conseils En Propriété Intellectuelle (FICPI). Following an online Phase 1 training program, the 30+ talented participants (selected from a pool of nearly 300 applicants) from across the globe joined us at WIPO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland for a week of in-person instruction and practice exercises in June. I also squeezed in a visit to observe aspects of the Large Hadron Collider, their early synchrocyclotron, and other scientific research and facilities at CERN, which was a modest bike ride from Geneva on the French/Swiss border. This workshop was one of the most rewarding thus far, and I treasure all of the new connections made.

2023 IPDTP instructors, participants, and facilitators

Arrived

After 16 years of working with WIPO, I finally arrived at WIPO Headquarters in Geneva.

On the shore of Lake Geneva in Genthod

with Tomoko, James, and Aida

Creux de Genthod

The perch fillets from Lake Geneva were absolutely delicious.

Bike paths in Geneva

Riding to dinner on Tuesday evening--good bike lanes are available almost everywhere in Geneva.

Nomades Restaurant

A tasty lamb tagine dish at Nomades, a Morrocan / Lebanese restaurant in Geneva.

WIPO IPDTP reception

with fellow-instructor Anupam

WIPO ssistant Director General Marco Alemán

WIPO Assistant Director General Marco Alemán addresses our group at the reception.

image_eabc3bf6-3088-411f-871b-e3111929efad20230617_045203.jpg

View fromWIPO

A splendid view of Lake Geneva and the surrounding snow-capped Swiss mountains from the 13th floor of WIPO headquarters.

A view of the United Nations buildings and the broken chair from WIPO

WIPO Headquarters

WIPO lobby

The lobby of the WIPO A/B building where our workshop was held.

Broken Chair

The 12-meter-high broken chair wooden sculpture by Daniel Berset opposite the United Nations--from the inscription at its base:

Broken Chair is a symbol of both fragility and strength, precariousness and stability, brutality and dignity.

Originally conceived by Handicap International with the aim of urging nations to ban anti-personnel mines (in 1997) and cluster munitions (in 2008), Broken Chair is an ongoing symbol of the desperate cry of war-torn civilian populations.

Broken Chair is a reminder to the world's nations to protect and aid our civilian victims. It invites each one of us to denounce the that which is unacceptable, to stand up for the rights of individuals and communities and call for their rightful compensation.

Bike path en route to CERN

Outside the reception at CERN

waiting to sign up for a tour

CERN tour

The Tour at CERN offers a fabulous view of their synchrocyclotron, which is a predecessor ion accelerator to the Large Hadron Collider, with a projected video presentation showing all key components and operations of the synchrocyclotron.

video projection on synchrocylotron

This projection shows the magnetic field generated by the massive magnetic yoke.

More videoprojection of synchrocyclotron operation

This projection illustrates the radio-frequency dee electrode structure accelerating a proton in an outwardly spiraling orbit.

Massive

The diameter of the CERN synchrocyclotron is 20-some meters.

ATLAS detector explanation

Our guide, Claude, a researcher/professor from France, explains how the Atlas detector works, though we couldn't see the full detector because it was in operation (it operates 20 hours a day front elementary particles, including the Highs boson).

ATLAS detector

The ATLAS elementary-particle detector building where the ions collide and the resulting elementary particles are detected in a process similar to electronic x-ray imaging but with many layers of detector, each producing different responses to different elementary particles.

Physics Ribbon

A cool ribbon sculpture inscribed with expressions of fundamental physics.

Langrangian equation

The standard model Langrangian equation and an expression from string theory characterizing elemental particles and their interactions - and, no, I don't really understand either one

Lawrence accelerator

The first circular accelerator prototype from Ernest Lawrence--I had no idea that it was this small!

LHC beam pipes

This exhibit provides a sectional view of the beam pipes (through which the ions accelerate) surrounded by superconducting magnetic coils from the Large Hadron Collider.

First WWW server

The first world-web server from Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in the invention of the Internet.

"Big Bang" bike loop at CERN

A path on the "Big Bang" bike route at CERN that leads you to many exhibits demonstrating the research being performed at CERN, though, unfortunately, many of the exhibits were not well maintained and were no longer working.