09.45

Welcome coffee

10.00

interrupted by a break of about 15 min

Basics (morning; session I)

Where to start ?

- Keep the end in mind !

- Overview of the patentability requirements in Europe (and the US)

- The essential parts of a (European) patent application

When in the research process should you file a patent application?

- Criteria involved (priority; competitive pressure; enabling disclosure;    

  financial factors)

- Pros and cons of early filing (e.g. enablement at the date of priority;

  what is needed ?)

- "Good lab book practice": the documentation of research results

Consequences of disclosures

- Before filing (grace periods)

- During the priority year

- Examples: Internal seminars, conferences, intranet, internet,        

  submissions of manuscripts/meeting abstracts

12.30

Lunch offered by Bardehle & Colleagues

13.00

Advanced (afternoon, sessions II and III)

Where to file (filing strategies)

- first filing (US, UK inventors ?)

- subsequent applications: international, EPO and national phases

Clarifying inventorship and ownership: what is needed?

Challenging and defending EPO applications and patents

- Pros and Cons of filing Third Party Observations, and how to react to   these.

- Guidelines for preparing and filing an opposition

- Advice for proprietors for defending their patents

- General strategy: Opposition/ Nullity proceedings

± 15.00

Break

15.15

Basics of Enforcement/Infringement of European Patents

- The "scope of protection": Product, process and use patents

- What is and what is not prohibited by a patent (direct and indirect use,    experimental use exemption, exhaustion)

- Guidelines for proprietors and possible "users" of foreign patents

- Examples: Reach of process / screening / bioinformatics patents. Is   optimal claim language

Guidelines for a patent due diligence (e.g. "freedom-to-operate" analysis)

17.00

Closure and drink