Wednesday, January 30, 2013 Our FREE printable versions of the PCT Applicants Guide - available now for EQE2013

Dear EQE2013 candidate,
Every year, the Examination Board gets the WIPO to make a printable version of the PCT Applicants Guide. It is usually made available at the beginning of February here (on the right-hand side of the page)
They do this so that candidates can have this information with them at the exam to be able to answer questions on the D paper about things like competent rO’s and allowed languages for filing.

However, this document is 1700 pages with a lot of information that will never be asked on the EQE, such as details on African, Asian and South American states. The Examination Board has stated that candidates are free to make a selection themselves and only take what they need – however, this is quite difficult, and time-consuming.
To save some room in your suitcase, I have captured and assembled 3 books (see below) with "only" 750 pages. I have retained general information on all PCT states such as PCT accession dates and 30m/31m time limit for national entry. The detailed information is focused on EPC states [and extension states], the 5 largest patent offices [CN, EP, JP, KR, US], all ISA’s and IPEA’s, the 13 most popular rO's, and the 13 most popular dO's & eO's.
It also includes many things from the WIPO web-site and EPO web sites which you should have with you that are not even included in the official 1700 pages, such as the Reservations and Incompatibilities, the agreement between the WIPO and the EPO, Paris Convention accession dates. Either print 1 page per A4 sheet, or with 2 pages on each A4 sheet [still readable].
Good luck at the end of February !!!
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http://www.deltapatents.com/data/uploads/downloads/PCT_Ref_EQE2013_Part_I_General.pdf

 – 92 pages

Comprising various overviews from the WIPO website such as Paris Convention states with accession dates, overview of all states that accept restoration of priority, Reservations & Incompatibilities and PCT fees of December 2011.

http://www.deltapatents.com/data/uploads/downloads/PCT_Ref_EQE2013_Part_II_International.pdf

- 486 pages

Comprising the PCT “Guidelines” (Introduction to the international phase)

and the annexes for the selected states most likely to be needed on the EQE

Also comprising the agreement between the WIPO and EPO, how to file at the IB, the EPO as SISA and the new EPO IPEA procedure for a 2^nd Written Opinion

http://www.deltapatents.com/data/uploads/downloads/PCT_Ref_EQE2013_Part_III_National.pdf

- 178 pages

Comprising the Introduction to the national phase, national phase summaries for the selected states, and the national chapters for the states most likely to be on the exam. 

Also comprising a complete overview of all national entry time limits, EPC contracting and extension states (with access dates) and the EP entry form 1200 with notes.

We have prepared an 18-page document with updates to the Pre-Exam Book (EQE2013 Edition) in view of: 

• Publications in the Official Journal of the EPO after the Pre-Exam Book was printed (13 August 2013) and other law updates announced by the EPO;
• Publications in the PCT Newsletter after the Pre-Exam Book was printed;
• Amendments to PCT Applicant's Guide (AG-IP) in view of the AIA after the Pre-Exam Book was printed;
• The new December-version of 6th edition of the "How to get a European patent - part 2 (Euro-PCT guide)"
• Three additional questions related to recent law changes, OJ publications and case law (J4/11; electronic notification; G 1/10); and
• Some corrections of typos.

The update document can be downloaded from http://www.deltapatents.com/data/uploads//downloads/pre-exam-book-update.pdf

Note: the bold-face text in this message is clickable.

Friday, November 02, 2012 Tutors' Report on the EQE 2012 Papers [and comments on 2013 paper formats]

For the first time ever, the EQE tutors have made minutes of their meeting with the EQE tutors in September. I have combined and edited the comments to make single report:
http://www.eqe-online.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9480

In addition to documenting the discussions with the Examination Committees, comments are provided on the Compendium answers and there are some comments about the changes to the paper in 2013.

Wednesday, May 09, 2012 The results are in...

Earlier today the EPO published the official results and the examiner's report of the first ever EQE pre-exam. The results have turned out to be completely different from what we are used to in the EQE. The guinea pigs of this first year's pre-exam show an astonishing passing rate of 98.7%. Only 5 out of 390 candidates did not manage to score at least 50 out of 100 marks. Four candidates did not make any error at all.

With an average score of 84.1, a median score of 87 and almost every candidate passing, the pre-exam seems to have failed its main objective. According to the exam committee, the goal of the pre-exam was to filter out the ill-prepared candidates and serial resitters that take up so much of their valuable correction time (and energy).
However, the current results can only be interpreted in two ways. Either the pre-exam was too easy and the ill-prepared candidates will sit the main exam in 2013 with the usual lack of preparation and a little bit more confidence, or there never have been many ill-prepared candidates and the low pass rates for the main exam are primarily caused by difficult exams.

Thursday, March 15, 2012 Dates EQE 2013 announced by EPO

The EPO accounced the European qualifying examination 2013. Much to our surprise, the exam is not scheduled in the first week of March, but in the last week of February!

The pre-examination will be held on 25 February 2013.

Complete applications to register and enrol for the pre-examination (Form 51015 or Form 51016 plus enclosures) must be received by the Examination Secretariat no later than 11 June 2012.

The main examination will be held from 26 to 28 February 2013.
Complete applications to register and enrol for the main exanimation (Form 51015) must be received by the Examination Secretariat no later than 5 September 2012.

Candidates awaiting results from the EQE 2012 (pre-examination or main examination) may not  file their application until after their results are known.

The relevant date for checking the period of professional acvtivity is 1 March 2013.
Thus, if you are a trainee patent attorney who would have completed your 2-year (pre-exam) or 3-year (main exam) period only on March 1, 2013, and not yet on the actual date of the exam, this does not prevent you from enrolling.

For details, refer to http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/information-epo/archive/20120312.html

Friday, March 09, 2012 Pre-Exam 2012 - our thoughts and preliminary answers

At DeltaPatents we like to do the exams ourselves before the official answers come out.
But there are always discussions on what the correct answers are - we do not know for sure, and sometimes we all miss a hint in the question.

We now have the first example of  the topics that the Pre-Exam actually tests.
The level seems to be similar to the second pre-exam mock of Sept. 2012.

The 10 legal questions were straightforward, and we believe the answers are:
1: T; T; T; F
2: T; F; T; T
3: T; F; T; F
4: F; T; T; F
5: F; F; F; T
6: F; F; F; T
7: F; F; T; F
8: T; F; F; F
9: F; T; F; F
10: T; F; F; F

For the claim analysis, some questions led to a lot of discussion. The answer depends on how you read the claims, the application and the prior art. If you think about things too long, then everything can become unsure, particularly as some of our tutors have practical drafting experience in this area.
11: T;  F;  F;  T
12: T;  T;  T;  T
13: T?; T;  T;  T
14: T;  T;  F;  T
15: T;  ??; T;  F
16: T?; T;  F;  F  
17: T;  F;  T;  F
18: T?; F;  T?; F
19: F;  T;  T;  F
20: F;  T;  F?; T

13.1: depends on interpretation of “on”. If = “directly on”, statement is False. If it includes embodiments where something is in between (as butter can be in between the cheese and the bread in a cheese sandwich), the statement is True. Majority went for T

15.2: first part of statement is true. But may D2 be used to support the “not indispensable”-argument?. After consulting the Guidelines, we are unsure.

16.1: depends on if “a complete layer” may be considered the same as “continuous … portion completely covering” (D1, [008], 1st line). D1, [008], 2nd sentence, does equate “discontinuous portion” to “incomplete layer”. But is this enough.  If the same, no extension and statement is False; if different, it is True. We tend to T.

18.1: It may hint to the solution, or the problem should not refer to the closure as a whole, but rather to the sealing part. But statement reflects most directly the technical effect given in Question 18. We tend to T.

18.3: Based on Question 18 alone, tampering detection does not seem to be the objective technical problem. But based on D1, [012], last line, enabling tampering detection is the objective technical problem, which is solved by the characterizing feature because of the effect given in question 18. We tend to T.

20.3: As claim X is a specific embodiment of claim IX, and 19.3 is a valid argument for claim IX, 20.3 shall be a valid argument for claim X. The at least two adhesive dots form a discontinuous adhesive portion (D1, [0078], last sentence). But the argument may not be sufficiently specific for claim X: statement would then be F. We tend to F

Wednesday, October 05, 2011 Now available: Questions and Answer Book for Pre-Exam

The new Question and Answer book is now available
http://webshop.deltapatents.com/pre_exam

Comprising 250 questions covering the core subjects that candidates may need to deal with at the Pre-Exam. About 100 of these are provided in a True/False format, so that candidates can practice answering such questions, and test their progress in an efficient manner.

The provisional contents for the book are:
• 1: Introduction - how to prepare for the Pre-Exam and how to use this book
• 2: Pre-Exam Study Guide - references to essential reading for each module - key topics, relevant articles and rules, Guidelines & Applicants Guide references
• 3: Legal Questions and Answers - to test the absorption and comprehension of studied EPC and PCT topics
• 4: Claim Analysis Questions and Answers - to test substantive legal topics such as novelty, inventive step, extension of subject matter and clarity
• 5: Claim Analysis Cases – to test application of the legal concepts to small cases, based on previous EQE exams
• 6: Two mock Pre-Exams – the papers of March and September 2011 from the EQE Examination Board, together with our proprietary model solutions explaining why the answers should be True or False 

Orders may be placed directly via the webshop.
 Any enquiries may be addressed to: training@deltapatents.com