EPAC case studies
EPAC · Put your knowledge to work in context.
This independent study page provides practice for EPAC. Its editorial learning areas include EPAC: European patent administration and procedural accountability. The questions develop subject knowledge and application through worked reasoning, distinctions between competing answers, and practical scenarios. Study the relevant guide before attempting a mixed set, then explain the evidence or calculation that supports each answer. Topics on this exam: EPAC: European patent administration and procedural accountability. The EPAC case studies are 4 cases and about 703 words.
1The filed document and the intended amendment
A fictional patent application contains a description and drawings as filed. During examination, the applicant proposes narrowing a claim by combining two features that appear separately in different examples. A team member says every narrowing amendment is automatically allowed because its scope is smaller. The case does not establish whether the complete combination is directly and unambiguously disclosed in the original application.
179 words, under 1 min2A divisional renewal-fee deadline
A fictional European divisional application is filed on the fifteenth day of May. Renewal fees for earlier years have already become due for its parent application. For this exercise, the applicable current rule gives a four-month period from divisional filing to pay those already-due divisional fees without an additional fee. It also allows late payment with the required additional fee within six months from the divisional filing date.
176 words, under 1 min3A PCT filing and an assumed worldwide right
A fictional business files an international application under the PCT and receives a filing acknowledgment. Its marketing team drafts a statement saying the filing has already produced one granted patent enforceable in every country. The application has not completed the later relevant phases, and the case supplies no national or regional grant decision. A patent administrator is asked to review the draft statement and identify the next information needed for an accurate procedural record.
169 words, under 1 min4An instruction to file and evidence of completion
A fictional patent administration team receives an instruction to submit a response before an applicable deadline. A draft is prepared and approved internally, but the shared file contains no submission receipt. The docket is nevertheless marked completed because an employee remembers clicking a button. A later message mentions an unresolved upload error.
179 words, under 1 min