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Presentation Meeting of General Examination Practice at EPO

May 21, 2010, Three EPO examiners (Mr.Gardiner, Mr.Stratford, and Dr.Neppel) came to give us a lecturer on General Examination Practice at EPO. Total 20 persons from JIPA International Patent Committee and Software Committee, including Mr. Okumura of JIPA Managing Director attended the meeting.

They covered on “The European Patent Office (EPO) and their curiosities”,”Computer-implemented invention and the EPO”, “Patentability in the field of Gaming, Modeling and Simulation at the EPO”, “Internet Publications as Prior Art – EPO Practice”, and “Scenarios for the Future of Intellectual Property” in around an hour and a half.

Regarding Computer Implemented Inventions, they introduced us EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal’s opinion dated on May 12, responding to a question on the Patentability of Computer Programs. This explanation generated an active opinion exchange. While time was limited, we had a very productive meeting.

[Update 2010-05-25 ]