... 1999, Helen Clark was elected Prime Minister of New Zealand. On December 5 of the same year Clark (right), born in 1950, was sworn in to the office that she holds to this day. The eldest of 4 girls who grew up on the family sheep ranch, Clark eventually studied and became a lecturer in politics at the University of Auckland. Inspired by issues such as the Vietnam War and South African apartheid, she was elected a Labour Party member of Parliament in 1981. Eventually Clark was dubbed "Mother of the House" as the woman who'd served the longest time in that legislative body. She served in a number of Cabinet ministries before becoming Prime Minister.... 1963, the Convention on the Unification of Certain Points of Substantive Law on Patents for Invention was signed in Strasbourg, France. Number 47 in the European Treaty Series of the Council of Europe, this Strasbourg Patent Convention, which entered into force on August 1, 1980, helped harmonize patent laws throughout the region.
