He obtained a Doctorate in Dutch Law from the University of Amsterdam in 1946.[3] Then, he worked for the Netherlands Patent Office (Octrooiraad), first as a lawyer starting in 1946, then later on as President of the Netherlands Patent Office from 1968 to 1977, prior to working at the European Patent Office (EPO).[2] "He was awarded honorary doctorates by the law faculties of Munich and Strasbourg Universities."[2]
Since the beginning of December 2007, a street near the buildings of the European Patent Office in Rijswijk, near The Hague, Netherlands, is named after him. More particularly, "the stretch of Koopmansstraat between Tinbergenstraat and Limpergstraat [is] known as Van Benthemlaan".[4] In October 2013, the address of the EPO headquarters in Munich was also renamed in his honor.[5][6]
^"40 years of the European Patent Convention"(PDF). Patent Information News (4). European Patent office: 1–2. 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2013. To mark the 40th anniversary of the signing of the EPC, Munich city council agreed to name the area in front of the EPO headquarters (Isar building) Bob-van-Benthem-Platz in honour of the EPO's first president, Johannes Bob van Benthem. Christian Ude, mayor of Munich, conducted the inauguration ceremony on 17 October. The Isar building's street address is thus no longer Erhardtstrasse 27 but Bob-van-Benthem-Platz 1, 80469 Munich.
