Why you should attend
Many patent applications and patents are lost before the EPO, either before Opposition Divisions or before Appeal. Incorrect original drafting and added subject matter are recurrent problems.
Amendments made during the grant procedure to incorporate new prior art amount to added subject matter, which is often fatal in opposition procedure before the EPO and in nullity proceedings before national courts.
Sufficiency of disclosure can also be a problem and if initial disclosure is insufficient, amending it can amount to adding subject matter.
The purpose of this seminar is to identify the problems of added subject matter and sufficiency of disclosure and show how they can be easily avoided by careful drafting.
Key topics covered:
- Article 123(2) - identify and deal effectively with added subject matter
- How to avoid problems with amendments
- Article 83 - the importance of sufficiency of disclosure
Speakers
Mr Daniel X Thomas,
Training Patent Specialist ,
EPODaniel X. Thomas is an electronics engineer by training. He started his career in the patent field as search examiner at the former Institut International des Brevets in The Hague in 1971. After incorporation of the IIB into the EPO in 1978, he was search examiner in the EPO’s DG1. He joined the EPO’s DG2 in 1979 as substantive examiner in the field of computers and memories. He became a Director in DG2 in 1989, and subsequently headed directorates in various fields of electronics, physics and mechanics.
Although he retired from active service at the EPO on 1 January 2013, Daniel continues to be active in the field of training patent specialists. He still regularly gives lectures at different universities over Europe, including CEIPI in Strasbourg, and also leads workshops/seminars relating to various aspects of the European granting procedure for the epi and the Academy of the EPO, including preparation of candidates for the European Qualification Examination, and also ‘grandfathers’ for new Contracting States.
Who Should Attend
- European patent attorneys
- Patent attorneys in private practice
- Corporate patent attorneys and lawyers
- People working or training in intellectual property
- US attorneys working in Europe
- Trainee patent attorneys
- EQE candidates
