Alain Pompidou
1979668
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2008-05-15T00:52:52Z
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'''[[Professor|Prof.]] Alain Pompidou''' (born [[April 5]] [[1942]], [[Paris]], [[France]] <ref> Personal web page, [http://www.alain-pompidou.org/cv_long.html Detailed resume]. Consulted on April 2, 2007. </ref><ref> [[European Parliament]] web site, [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/term3/view.do;jsessionid=68AB5CD8B1A174B1A5B167A6061C64F3.node2?language=EN&id=1206 MEP profile, Alain Pompidou]. Consulted on April 2, 2007.</ref>) is a [[France|French]] [[scientist]] and [[politician]]. A former professor of [[histology]], [[embryology]] and [[cytogenetics]], he was the fourth president of the [[European Patent Office]] (EPO) from [[July 1]], [[2004]] to [[June 30]], [[2007]]. He is the [[foster care|foster son]] of [[Georges Pompidou]], former [[President of France]].
== Biography ==
=== Professor of histology, embryology and cytogenetics (1974-2004) ===
He took doctorates in [[medicine]], [[biology]] and [[science]]. From [[1974]] to [[2004]], he was professor of histology, embryology and cytogenetics in the medical faculty of the [[University of Paris]]. Until 2004 he was also director of the laboratory of the Cochin - St Vincent de Paul - La Roche Guyon Hospital in Paris, head of the cytogenetics and pathology department, and chairman of the hospital group's advisory board. He hold tenures at the [[University of Alabama at Birmingham]] and at the [[Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center]] in [[New-York]]. {{Fact|date=April 2007}}
He is also the author of numerous articles and monographs on science, ethics and society, as well as on biomedical ethics. <ref> COMEST web site, [http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=6770&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html COMEST Members: Alain Pompidou]. Consulted on April 2, 2007. </ref>
=== Advisor for science policy and science ethics ===
Pompidou served on the consultative and scientific committee of numerous national, European and international organisations, including the [[World Health Organization]] (WHO), [[UNESCO]] and the [[European Commission]]. {{Fact|date=April 2007}}
From 1990 to 2004, he was a member and founder of the [[French Academy of Technologies]].
Between 1986 and 1997 he acted as a special adviser to the French prime minister, the minister of research and higher education and the minister of health. {{Fact|date=April 2007}}
He is also the author of ''Souviens-toi de l'homme: l'éthique, la vie, la mort'' (Payot, Paris, 1990).<ref> {{fr icon}} ''Souviens-toi de l'homme'' on Amazon: [http://www.amazon.fr/dp/2228883247] </ref>
He was rapporteur of the subcommission on ethics of outer space activities of the World Commission on Ethics (COMEST) of the UNESCO, and he became a member, then vice-chair of COMEST in 2004. From 1999 to 2004, he served as a spokesman on research and space policy on the French Economic and Social Council. In 1999, he authored the joint report of UNESCO and the [[European Space Agency]] (ESA) about ''The Ethics of Space Policy''. <ref> The Ethics of Space Policy, ESA/UNESCO/[[European Center for Space Law|ECSL]]/COMEST, [http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1959&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html] </ref>
=== Member of the European Parliament (1989-1999) ===
As a member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1999, he was particularly concerned with the EU [[Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development]], with the preparation of the [[Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions]] ("gene patent directive"), and with bioethical issues as well as in innovation policy.
From 1994 to 1999 he was president of the European Parliament's Scientific and Technological Options Assessment, as well as President of the "Intergroupe Ciel et Espace Européen".
=== President of the European Patent Office (2004-2007) ===
In 2004, he was elected by the Administrative Council of the EPO as a result of a compromise. Although former presidents of the EPO held their post for at least seven years, Alain Pompidou was president for three years. He was succeeded by [[Alison Brimelow]] for an equal term. Alain Pompidou was the first Frenchman to hold the post of President of the EPO.
On June 30, 2004, i.e. the day before becoming president of the EPO, he and Albert-Claude Benhamou were granted {{Cite patent|EP|1358481}}, filed on [[March 16]], [[2001]], for a "Device for in situ analysis and/or treatment consisting of a flexible rod and a micro-system fixed at one end of said flexible rod".
As the first president of the EPO with a background that is not specific to [[intellectual property]], his action aimed at making the Organisation more open and at raising awareness about the importance of patent policy, in particular among policy makers. <ref> Joff Wild, [http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.asp?id=1910 ''European Patent Owners May Have Found Their Champion''], ipFrontline web site, January 19, 2005. </ref>
=== The Saint Vincent de Paul Mortuary ===
Between 1990 and 2004 he was Professor in charge of a number of medical services at Saint-Vincent-de-Paul hospital, in Paris, where in 2005 a collection of 351 [[fetus|foetus]]es and [[still-born baby|still-born babies]] was discovered.
The Parquet de Paris (Paris Public Prosecutor's office) found that no violation of French criminal law had taken place. The relevant ministries decided to put the case to the so-called Disciplinary Commission (the competent jurisdiction regarding lecturers and hospital employees of university hospitals) which has reprimanded Prof. Pompidou. <ref> {{fr icon}} Cécile Prieur, ''[http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3226,36-800685,0.html Deux médecins blâmés dans l'affaire des fœtus de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul.]'', [[Le Monde]], August 3, 2006. </ref> <ref> {{fr icon}} Cabinet de [[Xavier Bertrand]], Ministre de la santé et des solidarités (French Secretary of State for health), [http://www.sante.gouv.fr/htm/actu/31_060802.htm ''Affaire de la chambre mortuaire de l’hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul''], Communiqué, Paris, August 2, 2006 </ref> Incurring a reprimand is extremely rare. <ref> {{fr icon}} Eric Favereau, [http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/societe/196827.FR.php ''Blâme après l'affaire des foetus de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul''], [[Libération]], August 3, 2006. </ref>
==References==
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== See also ==
* [[Roland Grossenbacher]], chairman of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation
* [[Dominique Guellec]], former chief economist at the European Patent Office
* [[Peter Messerli]], Vice-President of the European Patent Office, head of the DG Appeals
* [[Bruno van Pottelsberghe]], chief economist at the European Patent Office.
==External links==
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20061206181415/http://www.european-patent-office.org/epo/ap_cv.htm Biography] on the EPO site, as archived on the [[Internet Archive]] (December 6, 2006 version)
* [http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=6770&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Biography] on the Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology of UNESCO (COMEST)
* [http://www.alain-pompidou.org/ Personal web page]
* [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/term3/view.do;jsessionid=68AB5CD8B1A174B1A5B167A6061C64F3.node2?language=EN&id=1206 Alain Pompidou] on the [[European Parliament]] web site
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{{succession box|title=President of the [[European Patent Office]]|before=[[Ingo Kober]]|after=[[Alison Brimelow]]|years=2004–2007}}
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[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Paris]]
[[Category:MEPs representing the French constituencies before 2004]]
[[Category:French RFP MEPs serving 1989-1999]]
[[Category:Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts]]
[[es:Alain Pompidou]]
[[fr:Alain Pompidou]]