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). Virtual classroom sessions allow for direct interaction with expert tutors from the European Patent Office.

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.

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.

This course includes presentations by EPO lawyers and examiners on recent changes in EPO substantive and procedural matters. Topics addressed are: assessing evidence and plausibility in sufficiency; essential features and their impact on compliance with EPC requirements; latest developments in the Guidelines referred to computer implemented inventions (CII); and procedural aspects at the final stages of the grant procedure towards the best possible protection.

This series of four one-hour virtual classrooms cover some of the topics offered in the second half of 2018 in the series of seminars EPO2day, which had been designed for patent attorneys and IP professionals with experience in filing and prosecuting European patent applications. They deal with four different aspects of procedural and substantive law before the EPO.

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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From October to December 2019, D-type questions were sent on a daily basis to subscribers. You can still find the questions in this online course with the answers and a forum which was tutored until the end of December 2019.

"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 EPO's Examination Matters conference has become the meeting place for patent attorneys prosecuting applications before the EPO. This course offers access to four interactive webinars, covering topics selected from the most popular at the 2019 conference.

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

This course looks at the importance of patents as a source of information for research and new projects and as a means of protecting inventions with a particular view on graphene technologies.

The focus is set on how to best protect and exploit the research results by raising awareness on Intellectual Property (IP) and what the benefits are to know more about IP. The course includes reading material, recorded videos, examples as well as successful IP case studies on how university inventions turned into business. After completion of a quiz, participants will receive a certificate by the EPO.

Participants will have the possibility to interact with EPO experts during live virtual classroom sessions and in an online forum.

This course has been specifically designed for researchers and innovators in new technologies.

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This course room offers access to two videos giving an overview of the main changes to the Guidelines and their impact on formalities and examiner procedures.

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.

The ip4inno project consists of 21 modules specifically 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. Each lecture deals with the interaction with the EPO at different stages of the PCT procedure: as Receiving Office, as International Search Authority, International Preliminary Examination Authority and as a Designated Office. The speakers are experienced PCT lawyers from the directorate in charge of European and international legal affairs.

This distance learning course is intended for beginners in the profession but also for patent practitioners/patent engineers in industry that would like to refresh their EPC knowledge and skills. Participants will find out about the main steps of pre-drafting and drafting a European patent application, together with the formal and substantive aspects of prosecution.

Virtual classroom sessions allow for direct interaction with epi experts.

Level of expertise: Basic level

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 course room offers access to material covering a range of topics related to computer-implemented inventions, from patentability requirements to new technologies and specific uses of CII in fields like biotech and healthcare.

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 course has been designed for patent attorneys and IP professionals with experience in filing PCT applications with the EPO. It offers access to two webinars which provide 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.

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

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).

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.