e-learning centre of the European Patent Academy

This distance learning course is offered to patent examiners at national IP offices. Participants will learn to apply the criteria for clarity as well as the methodology for determining the unity of invention in line with the EPO practice (Guidelines and Case Law). Virtual classroom sessions allow for direct interaction with EPO expert tutors.

The Boards of Appeal and key decisions conference is a unique opportunity for patent practitioners to gain an insight into the Board of Appeal case law and practice. The 10^th edition of this conference, online in 2020 provides updates on:

• - Boards of Appeal selected case law highlights
• - Novelty - ranges and multiple selections
• - AI and computer implemented inventions
• - Enlarged Board of Appeal opinion: G3/19

This course comprises 35 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 in 2018 in The Hague and in 2019 in Munich. The events were aimed at staff who use the CPC in classification at national offices in both member states and non-member states.

This distance learning course is offered to patent examiners of national IP offices, in particular those in charge of drafting communications on the merits of a patent application with respect to patentability requirements. Participants will broaden their skills in preparing the written search opinion accompanying a search report according to EPO Guidelines. Training will consist of on-line modules and tests. Recorded sessions of virtual classrooms which took place during the course OD09-2017 further enhance the understanding of the topics.

If you are interested in the course, get in touch with the Academy contact person at your office or with academy@epo.org.

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.

This expert exchange between managers of patent/IP academies at the national offices of member states, who develop training programmes for audiences external to their offices, and their peers at the EPO, proposes to address key aspects of e-learning. The objective is to identify a possible set of best practices toward more complementarity and synergy between the existing training offers within the EPN.

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

• A61K8
• H04L9

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

This online seminar is intended to present the background and the impact of two decisions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal – G 3/19 and G 1/19.

On completion of the course, participants will have an advanced understanding of the two topics.

The Search Seminar Series is offered to examiners of national patent offices and is made up of three training seminars focused on specific aspects of search. Each of the three seminars consist of two virtual classrooms: a first session providing an introduction to the topic, and a second more interactive practical session. Participants will thus have an opportunity to exchange with each other and enrich their knowledge of the three topics.

Registration