Wednesday, February 26, 2025 Instructions to Candidates - a must-read!

 Today it’s less than two weeks until the start of the EQE2025! Now is a good moment to (re-)read the Instructions to Candidates and the Code of Conduct for Candidates. You can find both at the EQE-space of the EPO-website (https://www.epo.org/en/learning/eqe-epac/european-qualifying-examination-eqe).

In particular the Instructions to Candidates contain detailed information that you need to know when sitting the EQE. For example, did you know that it explicitly specifies the keyboard shortcuts that you can use? These are only (!) Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+Shift+V, Ctrl+F (and corresponding Mac shortcuts). Also, it mentions that you are not allowed to wear headphones and that you cannot listen to or play any music or sounds – and also don’t read a part of the exam paper aloud!

All these nitty-gritty details (and a lot more of those) can make or break your EQE – so being familiar with the Instructions to Candidates and the Code of Conduct for Candidates is as relevant as knowing your legal stuff, being able to draft a proper claim, amend claims without violating Art. 123(2) EPC and writing a convincing inventive step attack. Make sure to check them out!

Friday, February 14, 2025 Last chance for technical test!

On Tuesday 18 February EQE-candidates will have a final chance to test if the system they plan to use for the EQE is compatible with the Wiseflow system that is used for the EQE. 

This is in particular important if you plan to use a company computer and/or company network. These are often protected against actions that the Wiseflow system requires for operation, such as remote access to camera and microphone. The Lockdown Browser is the part of the Wiseflow environment in which you actually do your exam. The Lockdown Browser takes over part of the controls of your computer, for example preventing you from running other programs or opening other windows during the exam. Not every company computer and/or company network will allow that.

And to make this even more important, the Instructions to Candidates now explicitly mention the folllowing:
"Candidates are strongly recommended to use a private (not company) computer and to sign in to the WISEflow system outside a corporate environment to ensure unhindered network access and to avoid affecting the applications/configurations on the computer as much as possible. Should the use of a corporate system lead to disruptions during the examination, there cannot be any complaint or claim of being disadvantaged."

Doing this technical test is not a guarantee that everything will work smoothly during the exam, but it does help you to identify serious issues beforehand, and still gives you time to solve those.

You can find the Instructions to Candidates here: EQE_2025_Instructions_EN

Friday, January 10, 2025 Mock M1 (New EQE) published by Examination Board

The Examination Board of the EQE has published a Mock M1 of the New EQE system for testing and preparation purposes. The Mock is provided as a pdf-document rather than in Wiseflow. A model solution will be made available shortly, according to their notice.

The Mock M1 is available on the EQE website, or via this link

The first real M1 exam paper will be part of the EQE of 2026.

You are invited to provide your comments, on the type of questions, on the topics addressed, on the difficulty level, … Please post your comments with your name, so that others can easily refer to your posts.

Friday, January 10, 2025 New Instructions to candidates concerning the conduct of the EQE

The EQE Secretariat has published updated Instructions to candidates concerning the conduct of the European qualifying examination (December 2024; with effect of 1 January 2025) on the EQE website. The instructions also apply to candidates sitting the Foundation Paper of EQE 2025

See here.

Friday, November 08, 2024 PCT Applicant’s Guide for EQE 2025

In order to assist candidates in the preparation of training materials for the EQE for prospective European patent attorneys or for EPAC for patent administrators, the International Bureau of WIPO, with the agreement of the Examination Board for the EQE and the EPAC Board, has -as in the previous few years- made available a special edition of the PCT Applicant's Guide containing individual annexes and the introductions to the International Phase and the National Phase as a new web-application, as of 31 October 2024.

Last year, this so-called EQE edition of the eGuide was available for candidates during the exam, as were the EPO legal texts (see EQE FAQ on legal texts).

This EQE edition of the eGuide is available here.

Sunday, October 27, 2024 Meeting with Exam Committees - Questions asked by DeltaPatents

On 22 and 23 October 2024, the 2024-edition of the annual meeting between the Exam Committees and EQE-tutors took place. Of course, several of the DeltaPatents tutors were present to hear what the Committees had to say about the 2024 papers and the New EQE.

Questions could be submitted in advance, until 1 October 2024, via a dedicated form available on the webpage of the event Annual meeting of EQE tutors and members of the EQE committees. Both Roel and I submitted questions to the Exam Committees. Some were answered, others were not or just partly. We think it’s worthwhile to share our questions with others, in particular with other tutors. Therefore, you can find our questions below. Your comments are welcome!

Below you find:

• Questions Foundation paper / F Mock July 2024
• Questions A 2024
• Questions C 2024
• Questions D 2024

Saturday, July 27, 2024 Dates EQE 2026 have been published

The dates of the EQE 2026 papers -a mix of “old” and “new” EQE papers, have been published on the EQE website as "Dates for the EQE 2026":

The scheduling of D and M2 on the same date suggests that Art. 27(2)(c) New REE ("(c) For the 2026 examination only, candidates may choose to sit part 1 of paper D under the Regulation of 2009 instead of paper M2.") is implemented by offering the same paper as the D1 paper (Rule 26(1)-(2) Old IPREE) and the M2 paper (Rule 24 New IPREE).