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). 

Level of expertise: Intermediate level

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).

Level of expertise: Intermediate level

In this course you find recordings of two webinars on (1) the business use of patent information and (2) PATSTAT online.

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.

Opening of course: 08.05.2017
Closure of course: 31.12.2017
Level of expertise: Intermediate

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.

Practice is the key to your preparations for Paper D of the EQE, so the Academy is offering you the chance to hone your legal skills by tackling a daily question on the paper. The questions, formerly provided by DeltaPatents, will be posted weekly, for a 12-week period running from October to December. There will be a dedicated entry for each question where you can post your answer. An experienced EQE tutor comments on the questions (and your answers) every Friday.

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"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.

"Search Matters" is an annual event that showcases the EPO's patent search strategies and techniques, focusing on efficient search strategies, search practice in specific technical fields, as well as recent developments.

This self-paced course provides candidates with help and guidance on how to tackle EQE papers A, B, C and D. 

This self-paced course offers a basic introduction to the most important legal and procedural aspects of patents and the European patent system.

Pan-European Seal: this on-line course is mandatory for all candidates.

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.

Every patent application is assigned a category in one of the major patent classification schemes to ensure it can be found in subsequent searches by patent offices and other interested parties. Learn more about how this is done.

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 second course of the CPC series gives you a short overview of the CPC and how it differs from the IPC. It also looks at some practical aspects and useful strategies. 

This course provides you with an overview and practical exercises about the problem-solution approach, which was developed to assess the inventiveness requirement of a European patent application.

This self-paced training course is all about understanding and interpreting the information contained in search reports and written opinions. The emphasis is on practical examples and exercises.

Pan-European Seal: this on-line course is mandatory for candidates in science and technology fields (DG1) and in international & legal affairs (DG5).

This self-paced course offers a practical guide towards systematic patent search, from the process of analysing the patent application to carrying out a sufficiently complete and efficient search and deciding when to stop the search.

Pan-European Seal: this on-line course is mandatory for candidates in science and technology fields (DG1).

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).

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

This self-paced course offers an overview of the CPC classification system, from the basics to the CPC definition documents.

Pan-European Seal: this on-line course is mandatory for candidates in science and technology fields (DG1).