Mastering Patents - A Key Skill for Industry Professionals

This course is designed to provide industry professionals with an in-depth understanding of patents. Participants will study the essential aspects of intellectual property, learn how to analyse and interpret patents in their field, put database search techniques into practice and discover how to integrate these skills into their company's strategy.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the essential aspects of intellectual property
• Read and understand a patent
• Perform advanced and strategic patent searches
• Analyse patent search results in order to make decisions
• Implement an intellectual property strategy tailored to their business

Day 1: Introduction, reading and basic search On the first day, you will be introduced to the various intellectual property rights, such as trademarks, designs, copyright and patents. You will discover why patents are essential for innovative companies, what can and cannot be protected by patents, and different strategies for exploiting and defending rights.
You will learn to read and understand patent documents. You will also develop essential skills to navigate efficiently through the more than 150 million patent documents contained in databases.

Morning:

• Introduction to intellectual property
  • Overview of rights (trade marks, designs, copyright and patents)
  • Objects and characteristics of these rights
• Introduction to patents
  • Benefits for companies
  • Protection steps
  • Complementarity with other rights
• Patentable inventions
  • Inventions, non-inventions and exclusions
  • Patentability criteria
  • The specific case of computer programs
• Valuing and defending your rights
  • Valuation strategy (licences, cessions)
  • Proof of anteriority and ownership
  • Cancellation, opposition and litigation procedures

Afternoon:

• Reading and understanding a patent
  • The different parts of a patent
  • The claims
  • Filing systems, patent families
  • Use of bibliographic data
• Basic search method
  • Keywords
  • Classifications
• Practical exercises and demonstrations
  • Exercice 1 on Espacenet
  • Exercice 2 on Patentscope

Day 2: Advanced search, analysis and strategy You will deepen your search skills with advanced methods. You will discover how to formulate research objectives, and how to achieve them using examples from your own field.
You will learn how to conduct competitive and technological watch, exploit the results and use statistical tools to identify trends. You will then be able to implement measures within your organisation to efficiently exploit IP rights, and patents in particular.

Morning:

• Patent search concepts
  • Formulating the search objectives
  • The phases
  • The fields
  • Table of concepts
  • Knowing the tool used
• State of the art
  • Developing a search strategy
  • Practical examples on Espacenet and Patentscope
  • Analysing your results
• Freedom to operate
  • The difference between patentable and operable
  • Legal statuses and territories
  • Analysis points

Afternoon:

• Monitoring
  • Set up a competitive or technological watch
  • Examples on Espacenet and Patentscope
  • Analysing the results
• Carry out a statistical analysis
  • Tools and methods
  • Interests and conclusions
• Implementing IP in enterprises
  • Setting up a workflow
  • Identification of rights and holders
  • Protection strategy

At the end of the training, participants will receive a certificate of participation issued by the House of Training and the “Institut de la Propriété Intellectuelle Luxembourg”.