Eli Lilly and Company v. Canada (ICSID Case No. UNCT/14/2), Expert Report of Fabian Ramon Salazar (September 26, 2014)
I. Background and Qualifications
1. My name is Fabian Ramon Salazar and I reside in Mexico City, Mexico. I submit this written expert report in Spanish, which is my native language. If called to testify in person, I would intend to testify in Spanish. I confirm that I have no relationship to Eli Lilly and Company or any of its affiliates.
2. I joined the Directorate General for Technological Development, under the Secretary of Commerce and Industrial Development, on May 1, 1993. Today this agency is known as the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property, or as “IMPI” for its acronym in Spanish.
3. Prior to joining IMPI, I served as an Assistant Professor and Researcher on the Chemistry Faculty at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (“UNAM”).
4. My first position at IMPI was as Patent Examiner between 1993 and 1997. During this time, I was in charge of the review, processing, analysis, and issuance of official communications for the patent files of the chemical division.
5. In 1997, I was promoted to Departmental Coordinator of Substantive Examination for the Chemical Division. My responsibilities as Coordinator extended to the review, approval, and signing of all official actions on patent applications for inventions related to chemistry, including pharmaceutical inventions. In addition, I participated as an expert in assignments led by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), providing training and education about substantive patent examination in Central and South America.
6. In 2000, I was appointed Advisor to the Director General responsible for Technical Opinions. As such, I was responsible for the preparation and issuance of technical opinions on the proceedings of invalidity and infringement of patents, utility models, and/or industrial designs, as well as the appeals brought against decisions rendered in such proceedings. Also, I was in charge of the training and education of new examiners, as well as the design of those trainings, which sought to harmonize the practice of the office, streamline the training process, and identify and correct any deficiencies in the office’s practice.
7. In 2002, I was appointed Director of the Patent Division, a position I held for 10 years. As head of IMPI’s Patent Division, I was responsible for overseeing all procedures for patent, utility model, and industrial design applications. In addition, I was the direct supervisor of examiners in the six Departments of Substantive Examination, with responsibility for 230 employees, 120 of whom were patent, utility model, and/or industrial design examiners.
8. Additionally, at the international level, I participated as Head of the Mexican Delegation to various committees of WIPO, such as the Committee on Traditional Knowledge and Genetic Resources, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (“PCT”), the Patent Law Treaty, and the International Classification of Patents, and as a member of Mexican delegations on committees relating to industrial property in the World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization, and World Trade Organization. I served as representative and advisor to IMPI in negotiating international treaties relating to aspects of patents, such as the PCT reform group and the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as in negotiating the necessary agreements for reaching mutual acknowledgement as per the Accelerated Patent Procedure (or Patent Prosecution Highway) with countries or offices in Japan, the United States of America, China, Korea, and Spain.
9. At the national or domestic level, I represented IMPI in various discussions related to patents, as well as in proposed amendments to the Industrial Property Law (“IPL”) and the Regulations to the Industrial Property Law (“Regulations” or “RIPL”). Since 2013, I have been working as an independent consultant in Industrial Property.