Paper C
From EQE Wiki provided by the European Patent Academy
Exam Details
When: Third day
Duration: 6 hours (from 2013 this will be a 5 hour exam)
Purpose
The purpose of Paper C is to assess the ability of a candidate to draft a notice of opposition to a European patent.
The paper is presented in the form of a letter from a client to a professional representative accompanied by the European patent to be opposed and at least three prior art documents.
Candidates are to use only the information that is provided by the client in order to prepare a notice of opposition which, when typed, would be ready for filing. A pre-printed opposition form is provided and may form part of the answer.
The notice of opposition is required to comply with Articles 99 and 100 and Rule 76 EPC and to take account of the Guidelines for Examination in the EPO, Part D.
The notice of opposition should contain all the possible grounds, where possible against all of the claims, which the candidate considers to be useful in this particular case. The omission of good grounds will lose marks. Article 100(b) EPC, though, should not be used. Candidates are also required to set out briefly on a separate sheet why they have or have not taken up the client's suggestions. In addition, any questions the client may have asked should be answered.
All claims are to be treated separately, taking due not of their dependencies.
Prior art documents should only be referred to by their annex number.
Candidates are to assume that, for all, annexes which claim a priority, the disclosures in the annexes are identical to those in the corresponding priority documents unless there is evidence to suggest otherwise. Nevertheless, if any facts need to be confirmed, such as in the case of an alleged prior public use, candidates are expected to state that such confirmation will be filed later. Candidates are to assume there is no possibility of conferring with the client.
The European patent to be opposed is not necessarily in a form that would have led to the grant of a patent by the EPO.