Friday, July 10, 2020 D 3/19 - The term "must" in statement 4.1 of Pre-Exam 2019 leads to ambiguity.

Today, decision D 3/19 was published online (here).

The decision is reproduced below in its entirety, with emphasis added.

Statement 4.1 of Question 4 of Pre-Exam 2019 read:

The statement was also discussed at our Pre-Exam blog: is it TRUE in view of R.6(1) as the Examiner's report indicates, or FALSE as R.58 provides for a remedy such that there is no sanction of the translation is filed in the 2m period from notification of the R.58 invitation?

Also see similar (albeit slightly different) statements in Pre-Exam 2014, 8.2 ("Regarding EP-Z: the prescribed translation shall be filed within two months of filing EP-Z") and Pre-Exam 2017, 4.3 ("According to the provisions of the EPC, Adrienn must file the translation of the description within two months of filing of EP-A"); those statements also did not contain a sanction (see reason 2.1-2.2 below). Those statements had also been topic of discussion at our Pre-Exam blogs.

Tuesday, March 12, 2019 Pre-Exam 2019: the results are out!

The Pre-Exam 2019 results are out! They can be found here.

In the list, results for the pre-examination of the European qualifying examination 2019 are listed according to the EQE Registration Number (EQEReg).

The list also indicates that dispatch of the result letters is foreseen for 18 March 2019.  Only results as
notified to the candidates in the results letter are binding.

Pass rate

If my tools and myself did not make any errors, I come to a very high pass rate:

920 candidates enrolled
107 scored 0-69, 813 scored 70-100, so: 11,6% fail and 88,4% pass of all that enrolled.

880 candidates actually sat the exam. of these:
67 scored 1-69, 813 scored 70-100, so: 7,6% fail and 92,4% pass of all sitters.

Scores varied from 30 to 100. 10 candidates scored 100 out of 100; 383 scored 90 or more.

149 candidates that failed in 2018 enrolled for this year's exam; of these, 139 sat the exam, and scored in a range of 40 - 94 marks. Of the ones that sat, 84,2% passed (78,5% from those that enrolled).

Congratulations to all who passed!

Examiner's Report

The Examiner's Report is also available (here).

Our answers (legal and claims analysis) would have attracted full marks.

(Only) Statements 19.1 and 19.2 were neutralized. For 19.1 and 19.2, the arguments given in the Examiner's Report is:

Claim A.1 results from the combination of claims 1 to 4 as originally filed, and the feature of paragraph [003] last sentence. Claim A.2 is based on the combination of claims 5 and as originally filed. Therefore, the statements 19.1 and 19.2 are True.

However, there is a potential difference in scope between the wording in the description(e.g. paragraph [003] last sentence) and the wording of claim A.1 (“pass through” vs.“extending through”) in the English version. Also there may be valid counter-arguments inview of an un-allowed intermediate generalization. For this reason it was exceptionallydecided to award marks for both answers, True and False, for the statements 19.1 and 19.2.  

Tuesday, February 26, 2019 Pre-Exam 2019: our answers to the claims analysis part - washing compositions and composite structures

The cases

The claims analysis part started with an invention relating to a washing composition in the form of a tablet, described in a 1-page description. The washing composition comprises one or more detergents (surface active agents), one or more builders (help to keep the water soft), one or more bleaches (to destroy coloured dirt components), and, optionally a colourant. Ranges of amounts of the various components were given. The components are contained in separate layers: a first layer (all detergents), a second layer (all bleaches), and preferably a third layer in between those (preferably comprising only a builder). The application had no drawings.

A first claim set of 1 independent claim and 8 dependent claims (some of them multiple-dependent) was to be considered for questions 11 to 14. Two very brief documents D1 and D2 were given and expected to be used as prior art documents. 

D1 described two embodiments of washing tablets including, as usual, a detergent, a builder and a bleach; in the first embodiment, all ingredients are mixed together and compressed to form a tablet; in a second embodiment, the mixture is divided into two separate parts, forming two layers of the tablet. D2 proposes a washing tablets comprising three layers: a first layer with a builder and a bleach, a second comprising a builder and a detergent, and a third comprising a builder and a colourant.

Questions 11-14 were directed to clarity, scope, novelty, and extension of subject-matter. 

For question 15, a different independent claim was presented, and several inventive step-related statements were tested.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019 Pre-Exam 2019: our answers to the legal part

This year's legal part addressed several topics that were to be expected (such as time limits, time limit differences PCT-EPC, filing date requirements, languages, …) as well as several less standard topics which well-prepared candidates would have been able to find in their EPC/ reference materials/ Guidelines (who can speak at oral proc, transfers, inventors, recording changes). Some usual topics, such as divisionals and EP-entry, were missing. Partial priority was not tested.

Overall, the legal part was -in our opinion- more difficult than in the previous years, and we expect fewer candidates to score 45 marks or more from the legal part; however, 40 marks for the legal part seems well within reach for well-prepared candidates.

Our answers to the legal part:

Monday, February 25, 2019 Pre-Exam 2019: first impressions?

To all who sat the Pre-Exam today:

What are your first impressions to this year's Pre-Exam? 

Any general or specific comments?

Were the legal topics well balanced?

Were the various aspects of claims analysis well balanced?

Was the balance between EPC and PCT right for you?
Were recent changes and stable legal provisions tested in the right balance for you?
Were you able to finish the exam in the 4 hours available (without rushing more than expected)?

Which of the legal questions did you consider particularly difficult, and which relatively 'easy'?

How much time did you allocate for the legal questions, how much for the claims analysis part? Did you deviate from our original plan (for example, took more time for the legal questions than planned)?

Which part did you do first, the legal part or the claims analysis?

How many marks do you expect to have scored in the legal part, in the claims analysis, and for the whole paper?

What is your expectation of the pass rate and the average score?

How did this year's paper compare to the earlier pre-exams of 2015-2018 (assuming your practiced those) w.r.t. the pre-exam as a whole, w.r.t. the legal part and w.r.t. the claims analysis part? 

The paper and our answers

Copies of the paper are available in all three languages on the EQE website, Compendium, Pre-Exam

The core of our answers will be given in two separate blog posts: one for the legal questions and another post for the claims analysis part.

We look forward to your comments!
Comments are welcome in any official EPO language, not just English. So, comments in German and French are also very welcome!

Wednesday, March 07, 2018 Deadline for compulsory registration prior to enrolment to Pre-examination 2019: 2 April 2018

The Exam Secretariat posted a new notice, dated 6 March 2018, about the compulsory registration under Rule 28 IPREE prio to enrolment for the pre-exam.

If you want to enrol for the Pre-Exam 2019, you must have registered by 2 April 2018 at the latest.

(Also see the earlier notice in OJ EPO 2017, A78 (29.09.2017), indicating that the request for registration must have bene made at the latest by 1 January of the year in which candidates intend to enrol for the pre-examination, i.e. by 1 january 2018 for Pre-Exam 2019).

The new notice reads:

[begin notice]

6 March 2018

Notice from the Examination Secretariat for the European Qualifying Examination (EQE) 

Deadline for compulsory registration prior to enrolment to Pre-examination 2019

Candidates must register once they have commenced their professional training (Article 11(2) REE). Enrolment to the pre-examination 2019 will only be open for candidates who have registered before the start of the enrolment period (enrolment from 3 April 2018 until 4 June 2018), thus by 2 April 2018 at the latest. Therefore, only duly registered candidates will be granted access to the enrolment portal for the pre-examination. 

In addition, all supporting documents must be provided within 10 days after filing the request for registration. These documents must be complete and fully sufficient to substantiate the request.

Enrolment for the pre-examination 2019 will not be possible for candidates whose request for registration are still incomplete or where further consultation is required. 

It is solely the responsibility of candidates to ensure the early and timely submission of such requests and all necessary documents. For this reason candidates are strongly advised to register immediately upon commencement of training activities.

[end notice]

Further information can be found on the EQE website and in our earlier blog post.

Tuesday, December 05, 2017 Want to sit Pre-Exam 2019? You need to register before 1 January 2018!!!

The Pre-Exam 2019 is more than 1 year away, but if you want to sit it, you will need to enrol in the April-May 2018 timeframe (no details have been published yet when enrolment opens and closes), and...
you need to register under Rule 28 IPREE with the Exam Secretariat at the latest by 1 January 2018!!!

Candidates who have not registered by this deadline will not be able to enrol for the pre-examination.

Registration is only possible online as described in OJ EPO 2017, A24. More detailed information can be found on the EQE website (www.epo.org/eqe).

Further information can be found in:

• Notice from the Examination Secretariat for the European qualifying examination - Compulsory registration prior to first-time enrolment to the EQE - OJ EPO 2017, A78 (29.09.2017)
• Notice from the Examination Secretariat for the European qualifying examination - Registration pursuant to Rule 28 of the Implementing provisions to the Regulation on the European qualifying examination, OJ EPO 2017, A24 (31.03.2017)
• Decision of the Supervisory Board of 13 February 2017, link on EQE website

Update:

According to a new Notice from the Exam Secretariat dated 6 March 2018:

• Deadline for compulsory registration prior to enrolment to Pre-examination 2019
  
• Candidates must register once they have commenced their professional training (Article 11(2) REE). Enrolment to the pre-examination 2019 will only be open for candidates who have registered before the start of the enrolment period (enrolment from 3 April 2018 until 4 June 2018), thus by 2 April 2018 at the latest. Therefore, only duly registered candidates will be granted access to the enrolment portal for the pre-examination.
• In addition, all supporting documents must be provided within 10 days after filing the request for registration. These documents must be complete and fully sufficient to substantiate the request.
• Enrolment for the pre-examination 2019 will not be possible for candidates whose request for registration are still incomplete or where further consultation is required.
• It is solely the responsibility of candidates to ensure the early and timely submission of such requests and all necessary documents. For this reason candidates are strongly advised to register immediately upon commencement of training activities.