e-learning centre of the European Patent Academy

Patents play an important role in the area of green technology. This advanced lecture series provides participants with insights into the innovations happening in green tech and reveal how IP strategy can lead to success.

Do you want to learn how to apply the criteria for clarity as well as the methodology for determining unity of invention in line with EPO practice (Guidelines and case law)?

This course provides you with the information you need on these topics, while giving examples of relevant Boards of Appeal decisions related to clarity and unity of invention.

This distance learning course is offered to patent examiners at national IP offices. Participants will learn to assess novelty and inventive step in line with the EPO practice (Guidelines and Case Law). Virtual classroom sessions allow for direct interaction with expert tutors from the European Patent Office.

This self-paced course will give you an overview of how patentability requirements are assessed at the EPO and what objections might be raised during the process. It includes a number of examples of different situations.

This distance learning course is intended for search champions nominated by their national office to help their local peers with the new Common Search Tool.

This course examines the patentability requirements, legal basis and other criteria in the field of information technology. In particular, it focuses on patentable and non-patentable subject-matter and on the examination of computer-implemented inventions with respect to the requirements of Art. 52 EPC (exclusion, industrial application, novelty and inventive step).   

This course comprises recorded lectures in which expert examiners present their CPC technical fields.

The lectures are based on the presentations delivered during the CPC field-specific trainings that took place from 2018 onwards. The events were aimed at staff who use the CPC in classification at national offices in both member states and non-member states.

The publication of information related to patent applications and granted patents is anchored in the EPC under Chapter II of Part VII.

The EPO maintains a variety of tools for searching and analysing this information and regularly conducts public webinars. 

Find out more about this conference, where European and international user organisations, universities were discussing key substantive patent law harmonisation issues.

This distance learning course is offered to patent examiners at national IP offices who have started to use the EPOQUE Net tool. The course comprises on-line material, such as e-learning modules and will be articulated around a series of 6 virtual classroom (VC) sessions. The course has a focus on the hands-on experience, translated in the form of assignments, exercises and examples. The material will help EPOQUE Net users at national offices to efficiently perform searches using EPOQUE Net. The tutors are experienced EPO examiners.

During the VC sessions, participants have the possibility to communicate live with the experts and ask questions.

From October to December 2021, D-type questions were sent on a daily basis to subscribers. You can still find the questions in an online course room with the answers and a forum which was tutored until the end of December 2021.

"Boards of Appeal and key decisions" is an annual conference where experienced patent practitioners, judges and staff from national patent offices meet to discuss the most recent key decisions and developments in the EPO's boards of appeal case law.

On 4 December 2018 the EPO hosted as the first major patent office a conference entitled “Patenting Blockchain”, an event designed to open a discussion around the impact of Blockchain on the patent system. This course room offers access to the recordings of the lectures and panel discussions.

Examination Matters has become the go-to event for patent attorneys interested in finding out more about the patent granting procedure at the EPO. This year's event focused on procedural and substantive aspects of the examination procedure, including: auxiliary requests from the division's perspective, communicating successfully with the examining division, overcoming clarity issues efficiently, double patenting, late filings, efficient application drafting in the light of Rule 42(1)(c) EPC, correction of errors, hindsight when assessing inventive step, preparation of Rule 71(3) communications.

There was also a panel discussion on harmonising practices in applications relating to computer-implemented inventions.

This year’s event was once again organised in close co-operation with the epi.

The conference Examination Matters has become the meeting place for patent attorneys dealing with the EPO in the patent granting procedure. This course room offers access to the recordings of ten public lectures covering some of the most popular topics of the event.

The conference Examination Matters has become the meeting place for patent attorneys dealing with the EPO in the patent granting procedure. This course room offers access to the recordings of ten public lectures covering some of the most popular topics of the event.

This course offers CPC field-specific training for CNIPA examiners for selected sub-classes:

• G01N29
• H04L9
• A61K8

This course offers CPC field-specific training for INPI examiners for selected sub-classes:

This course offers CPC field-specific training for UKIPO examiners for selected sub-classes: 

- G06F21 
- H04L67 
- A61K 

This self-paced course provides an overview of the benefits of the intellectual property system, and of patents in particular. You will discover the importance of patents from two perspectives: as a valuable source of information when it comes to researching whether an idea or a product has already been patented, and as a means of protecting inventions.

This course room offers access to videos giving an overview of the new Guidelines (in force as of March 2022) and the updates relevant for examiner procedures.

Applying for a patent can be a complex undertaking, with many different aspects to consider. The two modules that take you through the Guide for Applicants give an insight into the procedure to be followed when examining European applications and patents in accordance with the European Patent Convention. The module on oral proceedings also shows you what happens in such proceedings relating to the examination procedure before the EPO.

This series provides a unique opportunity to interact with former European Inventor Award finalists, learn from their inspiring experiences, and look at what goes into successfully bringing an invention to market.

The talks will be streamed on social media platforms, more details can be found on the EPO training page.

The set of recorded lectures around IP management tackle issues on IP strategy, valuation, evaluation and commercialisation. Experts from different areas provide an insight on those topics with many practical examples.

In diesem Kurs finden Sie die Videos einer Vortragsreihe für Formalsachbearbeiter, welche im Februar und März 2017 stattfand. Juristen und erfahrene Formalsachbearbeiter des EPA behandelten Verfahrensfragen, Beispiele und aktuelle Entwicklungen aus speziellen Bereichen der Formalsachbearbeitung.

This course keeps you up to date with some of the most recent changes in patent law.

The rise of innovative solutions in cinema, video games, human-machine interfaces and the food industry has made it all the more important to protect these fields through IP rights.

Watch the recordings of public lectures organised by the EPO and the EUIPO to find out how IP rights can be integrated and combined to support and protect innovation in these rapidly evolving industries.

Opposition Matters follows in the footsteps of its sister events, Search Matters and Examination Matters, which over the years have become key events for patent searchers and attorneys alike. Have you ever wondered what the day-to-day work of an examiner in opposition involves? The Opposition Matters conference offered the opportunity to find out - direct from our examiners and with senior European patent attorneys co-presenting alongside EPO examiners.

This high-level event was once again organised in close co-operation with the epi.

The course is aimed at professional representatives seeking to improve their practical expertise. Basic experience in oral proceedings is recommended. It is not open to EQE candidates.

The EPO is conducting oral proceedings by videoconference before examination divisions, and since 4 May 2020 also before opposition divisions.

Get a feel for this way of conducting oral proceedings by watching a recording of mock proceedings featuring a real EPO opposition division and experienced European patent attorneys.

This course is restricted to the participants of the BIT Knowledge eXchange (BKX). For inquiries on access please contact Ms Rogier at BKX@epo.org

The European Patent Convention (EPC) sets out the legal framework for a single, harmonised patent granting procedure for the European patent, which exists in parallel with national patents subject to national prosecution procedures.

Post-grant litigation and enforcement procedures differ quite substantially across the EPC contracting states, as do the courts adjudicating on patent matters. This online course provides a country-by-country overview.

This course room offers access to material covering topics related to the substantive European patent law applicable specifically to healthcare and EPO's approach to examining patent applications in this field.

This course gives an insight into the specific patentability requirements and legal basis for particular topics such as biotechnology, computer-implemented inventions or patents based on traditional medicinal knowledge.

This seminar series focuses on patenting in the medical field and includes three complementary seminars, each of which comprises two online sessions: theoretical session (also open to patent attorneys) and practical session for examiners only. Topics covered are diagnostics, clarity in chemical inventions and novelty for pharmaceutical cases. Participants may register for one or more seminars within the series.

Registration

This self-paced course has been created to provide TUM students with  an overview of what patents are, what requirements an invention has to fulfill to be patentable and what a patent application should generally comply with. The course also deals with patent documentation and other intellectual property (IP) rights. Students can obtain a certificate after passing a quiz.

This online course has been designed for staff of Patlib centres. Here they can expand their knowledge on the European patent system, patent information and IP rights with the help of self-paced courses and interactive VCs organised on these topics.

This online course has been designed for staff of Patlib centres. Here they can expand their knowledge on the European patent system, patent information and IP rights with the help of self-paced courses and interactive VCs organized on these topics.

This online course has been designed for staff of Patlib centres. Here they can expand their knowledge on the European patent system, patent information and IP rights with the help of self-paced courses and interactive VCs organized on these topics.

PCT Updates is an online seminar delivered in the three official languages of the EPO, about the latest developments on the PCT procedure at the EPO as receiving Office, International Searching Authority, International Preliminary Examination Authority and designated Office.

An EPO team of PCT experts, a WIPO expert and European patent attorneys provide information relevant for PCT users including the report on the 2021 PCT Working Group meeting, representation at the EPO in the international phase, obvious mistakes (R. 91 PCT) and the early entry into the European phase – request for early processing (Art. 23(2) / 40(2) PCT) as well as the processing of sequence listings, priority rights and online services and training.

This self-paced course room gives candidates access to the actual pre-examination papers from 2016 to 2021.

The workshop addresses patenting issues related to the applications of quantum technologies. After a general introduction to quantum technologies, the workshop focuses on their applications to the fields of sensing and computing. 

Participants will be senior patent examiners working in the fields under discussion. The objective of the workshop is to foster an exchange of practices between the participants.

In this course, you will discover how to devise an effective search strategy, how to evaluate the prior art you find and how to know when to stop searching.find out about the role and importance of strategies in the search process.

This course is intended for those interested in judicial matters, such as the concept of "prior user", the principle applied to interpreting the scope of patent claims in an invention, the enforcement directive on IP rights and developments with regard to the unitary patent.

This self-paced course explains the role of the EPO as appointed international searching authority and international preliminary examining authority in the process of search and examination of patent applications.

Pan-European Seal: this on-line course is mandatory for candidates in international & legal affairs (DG5).

Use this on-line tool to learn how to use the IP Teaching Kit when preparing a lecture on IP.

This self-paced training course deals with the role of patents in innovation and research, the conditions an invention has to meet in order to become a patent and how to use patent documentation for a particular research project.

This high-impact tutored programme comprises three modules on search that build on each other to take participants from entry to intermediate level. At the end of the programme, participants should be able to process files autonomously under the supervision of an experienced colleague.

This course presents tools and databases available at the EPO that help you to prepare and file your patent application.