English / Nederlands 
English / Nederlands
I was a Patent Examiner at the Dutch Patent Office until I retired early on 1 October 2003.
For those of you who never had to do with patents: In
countries with a system of examination of patent applications, a patent
application has to be examined before it will be granted. In the
examination proceedings the examiner decides if the applications
fulfills all the requirements of the Patent Act, of which the most important are: -novelty, -inventive
step and -industrial applicability.
It was my job to do this examination in the Netherlands.
My former office has built up its reputation under the name "Octrooiraad".
Apart from that, since 1991 I was a deputy judge at the District Court ("Arrondissementsrechtbank") in The Hague for patent cases.
In 2011 the District Court sent (almost) all the deputy judges a friendly letter in which they were asked to resign. Although I did not have much understanding for this friendly request, I complied with it and after 20 years of service my work as a deputy judge ended. It would have ended anyway within two years, because of my age.
There are some very good websites about patents.
- You can consult all the US Patents on-line through the site of US
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
- If you are interested in patents, you
should visit the extensive website of the EPO
(European Patent Office)
- The site of the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) also is very extensive.
Now that I am retired, I spend quite some time as the secretary and volunteer of the Stichting Wireless Leiden
Further hobbies include photography, video filming and searching for my family history. I also play the piano.
Any comments about this page?
Email me at the address below. (To prevent spamming please type the address yourself):
or use my feedback options
Some of my concerns:
WWF (International) (in English) / WNF (the Netherlands) (in Dutch)
Vogelbescherming Nederland / (Bird protection in the Netherlands (in Dutch)
