Effective Defence of EPO Patent Applications

Effective Defence of EPO Patent Applications focuses on strategies and legal approaches for defending EPO patent applications, addressing key aspects like clarity, claim structure, and the interplay of relevant legal provisions.

Topics

• Categories and types of claims
• Definition of clarity – Art 84
• Conciseness and support by description
• Practical definition of clarity – clear means
• Clarity vs. novelty
• Form and content of claims
• Comprising vs. consisting
• Structural vs. functional features
• Relative terms
• The interplay between Art 83, 84 and 56
• Definition by result to be achieved
• Inventions defined by parameters
• Clarity of claims in opposition procedure
• Sources of difficulties with Article 84 – illustrating case law
• Adaptation of the description
• Application of G 3/14 to amended claims
• State of the art
• Legal definition
• Problem-solution approach – identifying the nearest/closest prior art
• Obvious
• Formulating the objective technical problem

Who should Attend

• Patent attorneys in private practice
• Qualified European patent attorneys
• People working or training in intellectual property
• Corporate patent attorneys and lawyers
• Trainee patent attorneys
• US attorneys working in Europe
• EQE Candidates