Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Indexed EPO Guidelines (1 Nov 2017) now available to order

Recently, the EPO announced that it would no longer make the Guidelines for Examination available on paper. Although the electronic version is useful for searching, some people still  prefer to use a paper version, particularly when studying.

My version is available to order as an A5-sized book. It is suitable as a desktop reference for everyday use, or to take to the EQE.

It includes my own 33-page Detailed Contents:
  • abbreviated titles for all sections - in almost all cases, a single line, so that you can scan through the contents faster
  • the contents for all sections are combined into one section at the front - this makes it easier to scan to find sections you are looking for, without having to first guess which part it might be in 
  • both the conventional section numbers and page numbers are given next to each title, speeding up finding the right page
  • sections indicated that have undergone a major amendment in the last 3 years, so you can identify possible EQE questions
It is lighter (690g) and smaller (21 x 14 x 2.8cm with 880 pages) than the official paper copy that used to be available. Note that the paper used is thin - 50 gr/m2 - to keep the size and weight low.
In comparison, the Visser book weighs 1220 g and is slightly bigger (24 x 16 3.6 cm with 950 pages).

It also includes the official:
  • full text of the 1 Nov 2017 EPO Guidelines
  • Computer-Implemented Inventions (CII) Index
  • Alphabetical Keyword Index
  • List of Sections Amended in this version
This version will be legally valid up to 31 Oct 2018, making it suitable for EQE 2019. 

The link is on my patent firm's website, or you can go to the website directly (use the language option in the top left corner if you can't read Dutch).

2 comments:

  1. Does it make sense to use this at EQE 2018?

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  2. It is easier if you are already using an up-to-date legal book which refers to this version. The cut-off date of 31 Oct 2017 means that they will accept answers based on the 2016 version of the Guidelines. However, answers based on this version will also be accepted - as they are expecting the 2016 version, you should indicate once that your GL references are to the 2017 version.

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