The AIPA, the Association of Patent Attorneys in Israel elected a new committee at their General Meeting today. The new committee includes, inter alia, outgoing chairperson, Michal Hackmey - partner at Reinhold Cohen, who stood for another term in Office, Ed Langer – an experienced practitioner who should be able to represent the sole practitioners, Henry Einav who works in industry, Avi Avital and Ronnie Ben Shafrut.
Outgoing chairperson, Michal Hackmey, gave a general review of activities, and outgoing treasurer, Dr. Gal Ehrlich, presented a balance sheet, showing that the organization is in a relatively healthy financial position.
The turnout at the event was poor, with about 30 people attending – perhaps 10% of the potential membership, i.e. a tenth of the approximately 300 licensed Israel Patent Attorneys. It is not clear what percentage of actual membership this represents.
A small number of the larger firms block-voted by proxy, which, considering the list of candidates was not published in advance, makes something of a mockery of the democratic process. That said, it is unlikely if voting had been limited to those attending, it probably would have affected the outcome.
Apparently, although not covered by the constitution of the organization, voting by proxy is well established practice within the organization; something that may have contributed to the poor turn-out.
We hope that under the new committee, the organization will be more active than it has been in the past, and wish the new committee the very best of luck with what is probably a thankless task.
Posted by Dr Michael Factor 
