Guidelines for Examination - the attorneys' view (European Patent Bar)

Meeting virtually for an after-work chat in the European Patent Bar, three patent attorneys discuss their work on the SACEPO Working Party on Guidelines. The latest version of the EPC and PCT-EPO Guidelines for examination have been published and come into force on 1 March. The experts discuss some of the key changes to the Guidelines, and the most significant topics which provoked debate within the Working Party, like adaptation to the description, claim-like clauses, colour drawings and changes proposed by the examiner. They even discuss what issues they expect to address in future (e.g. oral proceedings by videoconference). The EPO’s current user consultation on the Guidelines (until 15 April) invites more feedback from all patent professionals!

The views of the speakers are their own and not necessarily those of the EPO, epi, FICPI or BusinessEurope, nor of EP&C, PV or BASF.

Moderator: Jordi Kox, associate partner at EP&C in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Guests: Anette Hegner, senior European patent attorney at PV in Hellerup near Copenhagen, Denmark and Heiko Sendrowski, senior counsel at BASF in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany

Take part in the online consultation