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.

Patents play an important role in smart agriculture technology. This advanced lecture series provides participants with insights into the innovations shaping the smart agriculture of the future, 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.

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

This course offers CPC field-specific training for examiners in these technical fields:  

A61K33, B25B, C01G, C08F14, F28, G01P, H01P, G01C

This course offers CPC field-specific training for CNIPA examiners in these technical fields:  

G06V and G06F18, H04N1, A61B17, A61B5, H03M7, A61B18, H04N9 and H04N5, H04N7

In this course, you will gain an understanding of the main categories of intellectual property (IP) rights, their primary features and how to apply these rights. The emphasis is on patents and on the “what”, “when” and “how” of protecting inventions. Further topics include how to search for patents and how to develop an IP strategy.

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.

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.

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 will be posted weekly, for a 12-week period running from 25 September to 15 December. There will be a dedicated forum for each question where you can post your answers. A European Patent Attorney comments on the questions (and your answers) every Friday. 

Registration

"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.

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 workshop addresses the formal aspects of the procedures before the EPO, with a focus on the main steps of the procedure under the EPC, an introduction into the Unitary Patent system, and specific points of procedure under the EPC and under the PCT

The objective of the workshop is an exchange of practices between the participants. Participation is open to staff of national patent offices involved or interested in the formal aspects of the procedures before the EPO and the interface between the EPO and the national offices. 

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

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.

Innovation is the commercialisation of an invention. IP needs to be protected, but protection costs money, so it must be assessed within the overall context of innovation potential and enforceability. This course on IP management presents methodologies for making decisions on which technologies should be developed and which IP assets be created.

IP managers in high-growth technology businesses, typically in small and medium enterprises, need to be able to communicate with their company’s business, R&D and legal people. The IP strategy modules will introduce participants to essential management principles and how to apply them to the strategic management of IP assets. The focus is on value-based strategies for IP creation, and IP value extraction as an integral part of innovation strategy.

This series of six virtual classroom sessions (VCs) is designed for business advisors, technology transfer professionals and anyone else interested in understanding how IP issues impact SMEs and new businesses.

These lectures are an opportunity to find out more about the services provided by the EPO, the latest developments in the PCT system and many practical aspects of the PCT procedure. The speakers are experienced PCT lawyers from the directorate in charge of European and international legal affairs.

Following in the footsteps of Search Matters and Examination Matters, Opposition Matters is fast becoming a key event for patent searchers and attorneys alike, offering participants direct access to EPO examiners and lawyers and European patent attorneys with years of opposition experience.

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

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 advanced aspects of computer-implemented inventions 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 claim formulations, mathematics and AI, and game rules. Participants may register for one or more seminars within the series.

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.

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 workshop addresses substantive examination issues and challenges in the field of patent applications claiming presentation of information (POI) and graphical user interface (GUI). The objective of the workshop is an exchange of practices between the participants. Participation is open to patent examiners only.

This self-paced e-learning course is intended for examiners of national industrial property offices participating in the SEARCH pilot. It is designed to help those just starting to use the tool.

Search Matters has become the go-to event for patent search professionals interested in finding out more about the best search strategies and tools. This year's theme was "Searching for sustainability"  and the event focused on several practical aspects of the patent search process, such as efficiency in search, Asian patent documentation, prior art from the internet and many other search related topics.

Moreover, sustainability and digital transformation in the patent world were discussed.

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 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 seminar is designed as an aid to potential candidates preparing for the EPAC examination in 2023. It comprises 5 modules and extends over 5 months. For each module, participants to this seminar will study training materials before attending live question and answer sessions with EPO tutors. Each module ends with an online self-evaluation.

In order to understand, locate and evaluate patent information you need to know something about patent documents. In this self-paced online course you will learn about patents and patent documentation.

When having to decide if to grant a patent or refuse an application, the EPO examines whether an application meets the requirements of the European Patent Convention (EPC).

What exactly does this involve? And which are the steps of the procedure?

This course will give you an overview of the grant procedure at the EPO with insights into related formalities, structure and role of the Boards of Appeal and options to accelerate the procedure.

Watch here the live recording hosted on 05 April by Stefan Luginbuehl concerning the latest updates on the Unitary Patent and download the presentation shown.

This online course will enable trainers at PATLIB centres to plan and implement courses on Espacenet and other EPO search tools quickly and in a resource-efficient way.

This high-impact tutored programme comprises three modules on amendments 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 seminar is for patent examiners of national patent offices. 

This itinerary is the third part of the 'IP and research' series and features a number of case studies, which illustrate the strategical and practical relevance of patents and IP for research-driven businesses.

Our professional world has shifted rapidly to digital environments. This is why the academies of the EPO and EUIPO have jointly organised a training on how to conduct online discussions effectively. This course offers access to the recordings of the online training.