News

On Tuesday 5th May, four epi members (David Brophy, Bart van Wezenbeek, John Gray and Chris Mercer) took part in a recorded mock opposition division oral proceedings by videoconference.
The recorded mock OP module is now online!

On 31 March, we reported that your president had received a letter from the EPO President regarding the use of video-conferencing for oral proceedings. The EPO has informed users about this measure at a videoconference meeting of the SACEPO Working Party Rules, which the epi delegates have joined. Your president then sent a response to the EPO President, still on 31 March.

The President has now decided that videoconference would be the default for examination. The EPO will launch a pilot for videoconference in opposition. Please share your experience with us, here (examination) or here (opposition).

From the Presidium, a message to the members with information about:

• Cancellation of the Council meeting in Glasgow
• epi Secretariat continuity plans activated
• epi letter to the EPO regarding the EQE cancellation
• Short report of the “mock e-Council” meeting of the AC
• Letter from the EPO President regarding oral proceedings by videoconference
• Message from the International Bureau regarding postal mail and e-mail

This morning the German Federal Constitutional Court (“Bundesverfassungsgericht”) issued a long-awaited judgment on a complaint filed against the German legislation implementing the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement.

Last week, the Supervisory Board, which is a joint body of the EPO and epi, informed all candidates of EQE 2020 about its decision to cancel the EQE scheduled for 16.-19. March 2020 in view of the current COVID19 epidemic.