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.

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

In some cases, national authorities may license companies or individuals other than the patent owner to use the rights of the patent without the consent of the patent owner. “Compulsory licensing in Europe” provides a country-by-country overview of compulsory licensing regimes across the 38 EPC contracting states including possible grounds for grant, procedural framework and jurisprudence.

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.

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.

This blended e-learning course addresses the preparation for the EQE pre-examination. The on-line training material contains in-depth articles, case studies, quizzes to test your knowledge and previous examinations. Experienced epi tutors support you in a discussion forum as well as in live virtual classroom sessions.
The fee of EUR 350,- covers the participation in the course.
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How much do you know about time limits? Why not test your knowledge of the various topics in our question groups?

The European Patent Office addressed the challenges and opportunities of patenting Artificial Intelligence at a one-day conference on 30 May 2018, which connected people from business, academia, the judiciary, policy making and patent offices. This course room offers access to the recordings of the lectures and panel discussions.

The EPO's Examination Matters conference has become the meeting place for patent attorneys prosecuting applications before the EPO. This course offers access to three interactive webinars on medical technology, covering topics selected from some of the most popular at the 2017 and 2018 conferences.
The fee of EUR 80 covers all three one-hour virtual classroom sessions.

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

This series of three one-hour virtual classrooms will introduce the main concepts of the substantive law specifically applicable in the field of healthcare. We will also be looking at the approach adopted by EPO examiners in dealing with patent applications in this area. The focus will be on showing practical example, so that you can optimise patent prosecution before the EPO.
The fee of EUR 80 covers all three one-hour virtual classroom sessions. 

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This series of five one-hour virtual classroom sessions will introduce the main concepts of IP evaluation and protection. Innovation is the commercialisation of an invention. Decisions on which technologies should be developed and which IP assets created must be carefully evaluated. IP needs to be protected, but protection costs money, so it must be assessed within the overall context of innovation potential and enforceability. In a global market, the life-cycle management of patents on a worldwide basis is key to making best use of the patent system to gain and maintain competitive advantage.

The fee of EUR 100 covers all five one-hour virtual classroom sessions.

This series of four one-hour virtual classroom sessions will introduce the main concepts of IP value extraction and commercialisation. The sessions explore ways in which value can be extracted from IP via different models, ranging through securing markets to actively harvesting royalties. It covers the basic IP value-extraction mechanisms and how they can be implemented through licensing and enforcement.

The fee of EUR 100 covers all four one-hour virtual classroom sessions.

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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 provides easy access to the main concepts involved as well as to items of specific interest in patent litigation.

This self-paced course explains the criteria for patentability, relating to both the invention and the patent application, according to the EPC.

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

This self-paced course room gives candidates access to the actual pre-examination papers from 2015 to 2017.

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

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.

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 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.

This course comprises the lectures given at a workshop designed for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellows (MSCA). It focused on topics such as the European patent system, developing IP strategies, patent search and research success stories.