The EPO’s annual "Search Matters" conference for patent search professionals will be held in Munich on 30 and 31 March 2017. The event provides unique insights into the working methods of an EPO examiner, giving participants the chance to learn more about the EPO's patent search strategies and techniques. In addition, participants can join workshops on industry-specific searches run by experienced patent examiners.

The workshops will cover general topics such as CPC, when to stop a search, notorious knowledge, forward searching, patent thickets, lack of unity, search of functional features, inside the mind of an examiner, access to Asian literature and internet searching, but will also deal with patent search in ICT, biotech, pharmacology, cosmetics, mechanics, consumer technologies, chemistry, materials science, etc.

On 29 March, before the regular event starts, a limited number of participants will get the opportunity to talk to EPO examiners one on one during "at-the-desk" sessions, where they will be able to find out more about approaches to searching in specific technical areas.

More information and registration

www.epo.org/learning-events/events/conferences/search-matters.html