EQE Tools

G Summary Updated

2012-01-12T22:26:00.002+01:00

An update of the G Summary can be found here. Some minor additions and/or corrections were made and summaries of new decisions/ opinions were added. Download here....

Coffee Break Questions v2

2011-11-10T21:50:00.001+01:00

I received an E-mail from the Academy about the new Coffee Break Questions that are now available. Dear EQETools ,We are contacting you today as you've previously subscribed to our Coffee Break EQE questions. This is a series of 50 questions & answers that were delivered to your inbox, by the European Patent Academy of the EPO.We are pleased to announce that this year we have a 2nd

Tutor meeting 2011 : Paper D

2011-10-21T20:51:00.001+02:00

Below a summary of the notes made during the Tutor meeting of last week. The summary is based on my interpretation of what was discussed. This year’s paper D was considered by the EC (Examination Committee) as an average paper with the right level of difficulty. In general the EC made several comments: - Tutors should teach candidates the law and also teach them how to apply it. These are two

Want to protect your mobile phone ? A sock might work ...

2011-10-20T22:53:00.000+02:00

The excellent K's Law blog summarised a recent decision by the Board of Appeal. In itself the decision was not all that surprising, yet for those preparing for the EQE, in particular for the new pre-exam, the summary might be worth reading. The Board examines (inter alia) whether or not a sock may anticipate a claim directed to a protective casing for for example a mobile phone. The decision

Claiming priority more than 12 months after filing date of a first application ?

2011-09-21T21:34:00.000+02:00

Understanding how the right to priority works is one of the basic skills of a patent attorney (trainee). Let's face it, if you don't understand how that works you better not take papers C and D yet ... Anyway, I can imagine there may be confusion about actually obtaining the right of priority to an earlier application and the claiming of said right. For a valid priority right you need to file

Updating ......

2011-06-04T22:44:00.000+02:00

I will start updating this website/blog soon; especially the files for download. I may take the site off line for a while, but don't worry .....

EQE 2012 enrolment

2011-04-01T21:46:00.000+02:00

For those wanting to enrol for the EQE 2012, take a look here.

Procedural Law under the EPC-2000, 2nd Edition, 2011

2011-03-12T20:40:00.000+01:00

Andreas Veronese and Peter Watchhorn have updated their book "Procedural Law under the EPC-2000, 2nd Edition, 2011". The book can be purchased from their website, http://www.epc-compass.com. Andreas and Peter write the following: "We have updated the book to the legal changes which have entered into force over the last three years since the publication of the first edition in 2008. In

Good luck !!!

2011-02-23T20:20:00.000+01:00

To all of you doing the EQE next week I wish you a lot of success and good luck ! Use the coming weekend to organise your study materials that you plan on taking to the exam. For the rest, try to relax as much as possible (I know, easy for me to say :-)). If you used any of the materials available on this website, I hope it helped you in your preparation. Feel free to send me comments and/or

Updated PCT Newsletter summary

2010-12-30T16:05:00.000+01:00

An updated PCT newsletter summary is available in the download section of this website. The summary contains the practical advices of all newsletters and some further information that I thought could be useful. Of course you should judge for yourself if the summary is complete enough to take to the EQE. The practical advices usually are quite good studying material. Try to answer the question

Updated document Implementing Regulations

2010-12-30T14:39:00.001+01:00

The Implementing Regulations will change per January 1, 2011. New Rule 70(b) Amended Rule 141 NOTE: DO NOT USE THESE AMENDED RULES FOR THE EQE 2011 !!! You can find the updated editable document in the download area, or by clicking here.

Updated G Summary available !!!

2010-12-30T13:21:00.001+01:00

I know you have all been waiting for this and reminded me from time to time that it was still not there. I told most of you that I would post an updated version well before the EQE. Well, good news, the G Summary has been updated and is now available for download. Either go to the download pages, or click here for a direct download. I wish you all the best for 2011 !! PS: Note that the EQETools

Updated document Implementing Regulations

2010-12-03T14:45:00.000+01:00

In view of the amendment of Rule 36 effective from October 26, 2010 an updated version of the Rules is now available for download.

Coffee break questions from the EPO

2010-10-11T21:00:00.000+02:00

Surfing the EPO website I found a link that allows automatic e-mails be sent containing what the EPO calls "Coffee Break Questions". So far I have received two of such questions, see below for an example. The EPO PschorrHöfe building in the Bayerstrasse (not the main building, but the one across the street) has a very nice "sky bar" for EPO employees (or lost attorneys :-)) to enjoy a good

Looking for fellow EQE candidates ?

2010-10-03T21:59:00.000+02:00

If you're looking for fellow EQE candidates and discuss about the exams, the EQE-online forum may be your choice. An alternative for you to consider may be the EQETools LinkedIN group that is in existing for some time now, offering you not only the chance to post your concerns, questions and thoughts but also to expand your professional network. Being a European Patent Attorney allows you to do

More free EQE resources

2010-10-01T16:21:00.001+02:00

Some time ago the website www.cyberepc.com was launched. The idea behind this website is to provide an online source of information related to the EPC. Articles, Rules Guidelines and further information is all (hyper)linked so it is easy to navigate and find the provisions that you need. All that said the website was not primarily developed for EQE candidates. CyberEPC has today expanded it's

G1/09 : Refused but still pending ...

2010-09-29T21:41:00.000+02:00

The excellent IP weblog IPKat reported the publication on the EPO register of G1/09. The summary on this weblog tells the story so I will limit this post to the decision itself: In the case where no appeal is filed, a European patent application which has been refused by a decision of the Examining Division is thereafter pending within the meaning of Rule 25 EPC 1973 (Rule 36(1) EPC) until the

The end of Swiss type claims

2010-09-28T13:26:00.000+02:00

In G2/08 the use of Swiss type claims was said to be no longer allowed 3 months after publication of the decision in the Official Journal. The EPO has published a note on their website with more information, click here. The three month period as determined in G2/08 expires January 28, 2011. This means that Swiss type claims are no longer allowed in European aplications filed after that date,

Adjustable D1 timing sheet

2010-09-14T21:05:00.001+02:00

Apparently the timing sheets for D1 are appreciated and some people even want to have more control over the tables. Recently I received this timing sheet which offers a bit more options than the one that is already available for some time. Needless to say that passing D1 will never depend on a correct timing sheet, yet I believe it really helps in managing your time during the exams and/or your

Tool for paper B (Ch) available

2010-08-16T14:40:00.000+02:00

Better too late than never; I've uploaded a tool for paper B (Ch). The draft has been on my computer for quite some time, but I did not take the time to update/ improve it. The idea behind the tool is more or less the same as behind the paper A tool. That is, to have a one sheet summary of a possible workflow on tackling EQE paper B. An earlier version of this summary got me through the EQE of

Updates

2010-06-23T17:23:00.000+02:00

The PCT Newsletter summary and the Editable version of the EPC Implementing Regulations have been updated. Click here for PCT Newsletter 5 Click here for PCT Newsletter6 The summary and the EPC Rules can be downloaded here.

US patent law for the EQE: A closer look at Section 102(b)

2010-06-01T23:46:00.001+02:00

This post deals with some aspects of US Law and is based on how I understand it works. Section 102(b) says that a person shall be entitled to a patent unless "the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of the application for patent in the United States" This

ABC/D comprehensive by Patskills

2010-05-30T20:30:00.003+02:00

Brian Cronin from Patskills has recently published the ABC/D comprehensive, which is available from unibook.com, click here. Short description (copied from the Unibook website): This book is a comprehensive analysis of the European Qualifying Exam for European Patent Attorney candidates preparing for the exam. The book’s title alludes to the fact that paper D lays a legal foundation for the

Updated version of the Cross-Referenced PCT available

2010-05-25T16:10:00.001+02:00

Please note that the 2010 edition of the book “The Cross-Referenced Patent Cooperation Treaty” has been issued. The new edition of the book has been updated taking account of the amendments of the “Regulations under the PCT” on 1 July 2010. In the 2010-edition all references to the PCT Applicant’s Guide – International phase and the PCT Applicant’s Guide – National Phase have been renumbered in

Bits and pieces

2010-05-03T10:05:00.000+02:00

T1423/07 : Double Patenting The Blogs EPLaw and K's Law report recent Board of Appeal decision T1423/07 concerning the subject of double patenting. In reason 2.3.2 the Board basically says it will not follow the reasoning applied in T 0307/03. You may want to annotate your Guidelines, C-IV 7.4 (April 2010 version) New Guidelines This should be "old news", yet for those who are not yet aware :