Sunday, March 07, 2021 Paper B e-EQE 2021: The jury is still out

This year’s paper B was very difficult. The client's wishes and proposed amendments could scarcely be reconciled with the disclosure of the application as filed. Even among DP's experienced attorneys and tutors, this year’s paper led to dramatically different solutions.

Although it was promised that "Paper B will have the same syllabus and character as before", Paper B looked different in design from previous years. This year’s candidates were confronted, for the first time, with third-party observations, a computer-implemented invention (or not?), and client's claims with unusual (and incomplete) tracking of changes. In particular, the accumulation of these issues appears to have placed a very high burden on the candidates.

So far, we have been able to draw up several "solutions", each of which has its strengths and shortcomings - both in the light of meeting the wishes of the client, as well as good defensibility against the requirements of Art. 123(2), and with a clear narrative for the problem-solution approach.

For that reason, we will present below, for the first time, several proposals for amended claims, and our considerations thereof. 

Thursday, March 04, 2021 Paper B e-EQE 2021: first impressions?

To all who sat the B-paper today:

What are your first impressions to this year's B-paper?
Any general or specific comments?
Surprising elements in the client's letter and the prior art?

What was the effect of doing it online? Of typing your answer rather than writing it by hand? Could you benefit from being able to copy from the exam paper into your answer? And from copying parts of your answer elsewhere into your answer?

How did you experience taking the exam from your home or office location rather than in an examination center?

(How) was it different due to the due of the LockDown Browser?

What was the effect of the situation that you had to take the exam largely from the screen (as only part of the paper could be printed) rather than from paper?

Did you experience any technical difficulties during the exam? How & how fast were they solved?

Did you have enough time?
How many marks do you expect to have scored?
What is your expectation of the pass rate and the average score?

How did this year's paper compare to the 2017, 2018 and 2019 papers?
Similar difficulty level?
Could you understand the examiner's objections? And the client's wishes based on his letter and his proposed amendments? Was the Art.123(2) argumentation difficult, if any? Clarity? Novelty? Closest prior art selection, distinguishing feature, effect, objective technical problem, and the rest of the inventive step argumentation?

Was the subject-matter well understandable, for chemists as well as e/m candidates?
Multiple independent claims? Functional features?

UPDATED! The paper and our answers

• EQE 2021 Paper B (EN)
• EQE 2021 Paper B (DE)
• EQE 2021 Paper B (FR)

[Update 7 March 2021:] The core of our answers is provided here.

We look forward to your comments!

Comments are welcome in any official EPO language, not just English. So, comments in German and French are also very welcome!

Please do not post your comments anonymously - it is allowed, but it makes responding more difficult and rather clumsy ("Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms Anonymous of 04-03-2021 20:21"), whereas using your real name or a nickname is more personal, more interesting and makes a more attractive conversation. You do not need to log in or make an account - it is OK to just put your (nick) name at the end of your post.

Please post your comments as to first impressions and general remarks to this blog.
Please post responses to our answer (as soon as available) to the separate blog post with our answer.
Thanks!

Thursday, January 28, 2021 B paper in e-EQE 2021

The EQE of 2021 will be conducted online (Annoucement). 

Important information was given in “Information on the schedule for the EQE 2021 examination papers” (link) of 2 December 2020 provides. 

The "Information" provides:

General

The EQE 2021 exam schedule is now available. Candidates are advised that this document may be subject to minor changes as testing continues.

The EQE 2021 will take place online using LockDown Browser. On examination days, candidates are advised to log on to the online examination system's internet platform at least 20 minutes before the start of the relevant paper. Information on how to register and log on to the online examination system will be communicated in due course.

 

Paper B – Thursday 4 March 2021

Paper B will have the same syllabus and character as before.  

Paper B lasts 3.5 hours.
[Note from the editor: this corresponds to the 3 hours from Rule 24(1) IPREE plus the additional 30 minutes from the Decision of the Supervisory Board of 17 November 2016]

Candidates will be allowed to print the prior-art documents and the drawing(s), but none of the following: the description and claims of the application, the EPO communication, the client's letter and the amended claims. The documents allowed for printing will be made available approximately ten minutes before the start of the examination.

Part         Content       Time             CET time
Paper B   Full paper   3.5 hours     9.30-13.00 hrs

Candidates may take unscheduled breaks. Further instructions relating to taking unscheduled breaks will be communicated at a later stage. It should be noted, however, that the exam clock will continue to run during unscheduled breaks, i.e. the examination will not be stopped.

FAQ on e-EQE, incl. Paper B aspects

The FAQ provides additional information for the e-EQE in general, as well as for paper B specifically: