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. 

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 online course is offered to patent examiners at national IP offices of EPO member states to train them in the use of the CPVO database introduced to the EPOQUE Net tool. The training takes place in a virtual classroom (VC) session during which participants have the possibility to communicate live with the trainers and ask questions.

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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.

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.