C-Book

This book (in its second edition, updated for EPC 2000) is a practical guide for candidates on how to tackle the opposition paper C of the European Qualifying Examination (EQE), one of the more difficult papers judging by the overall results. It also provides qualified European patent attorneys with useful information on how to write, or defend against, an opposition, in particular the general practice at the EPO regarding the analysis of documents and possible approaches for drafting novelty and inventive step objections.

The book tackles the problems of time-management, claim and document analysis, choosing the correct attacks and the argumentation required in the notice of opposition in the context of two alternative methodologies for solving paper C; one using the well-known table with claim features and prior art documents, and a "new" method with a written analysis of each claim on sheets of paper.

Further chapters describe the important topics of priority, interpretation, state of the art, inventive step, added subject-matter and ranges. For each topic, the authors first give references to relevant legal sources, then they explain the topic from the point of view of opposition/paper C, and finally they give examples from past papers. Throughout the book, the authors point out the interconnections between these topics, the methodologies and the argumentation required in the notice of opposition, especially for inventive step attacks. The book also includes a collection of the legal points that have come up in past papers, sorted by theme. The appendices contain a worked example of paper C 1999 as well as useful templates for candidates, including a notice of opposition in English, French and German.