EAPO held autumn training session for examiners from EAPC national IP offices from September 16 to 24, 2019. The topic of the training was “The Eurasian Patent System: Examination in the Field of Chemistry, Medicine and Biotechnology”.

The lectures and practical training were conducted by representatives of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO), as well as EAPO examiners.

In the first part of the training, a Workshop on PCT National Phase Examination and Utilizing Work Products from other National Phases was organized, during which Mr Lutz Mailänder, Head of the International Cooperation on Examination and Training Section, PCT International Cooperation Division, WIPO, focused on advantages of work-sharing the results of patent searches and examination made by other jurisdictions, made an overview of WIPO information and search tools (WIPO CASE, Patentscope etc.) as well as tools of other progressive IP offices (Espacenet data base, Global Dossier, Common Citation Document, national registers etc.) for better quality of search and examination procedure. The participants of the Workshop discussed numerous case studies in the field of chemistry and medicine.

The training was followed by EPO lecturer Ms Aliki Nichogiannopoulou – Director of Operations, European and International Co-operation. Her lectures were devoted to the current EPO approaches in assessing the criteria of patentability, sufficiency of disclosure, clarity and allowability of amendments in chemistry and pharmaceuticals, including moral aspects in patenting biotechnological inventions.

Lectures and practical cases presented by EAPO examiners and heads of divisions at the final part of the training allowed the audience to learn the peculiarities of examination in the field of chemistry and medicine, as well as protection of inventions in accordance with the Eurasian patent law. The specifics of patenting selective inventions, medical use, pharmaceutical compositions, as well as methods of treatment and diagnostics were discussed on actual cases.

At the end of the training EAPO certificates were traditionally granted to the trainees.