National judges

The EPO offers a limited number of internships at its Boards of Appeal for judges of the contracting states to the European Patent Convention (EPC).

The internships are organised jointly by the Boards of Appeal and the European Patent Academy, whose objectives include the promotion of equal access to training opportunities in the field of European and international patent law and practice across all current and future EPC contracting states.

Programme
The internships last two weeks. Prior to the internship, judicial interns must complete a hybrid course on patentability and revocation proceedings, reference JU02-2024, duration of 20 hours. This is followed by two weeks shadowing a technical board of appeal. This involves reading all the case files, attending the oral proceedings and discussing the cases and the final decisions with the board. Due to the secrecy-of-deliberations rule, interns do not participate in reaching the final decision in a case.

The internship programme 2024 is structured as follows:

- preparatory course on patentability and revocation proceedings:

• 25-26 April (Thursday-Friday) in Munich, on-site
• 3 May (Friday), 15.00-17.00 (Munich time), online
• 7 May (Tuesday), 15.00-17.00 (Munich time), online
• 13 June (Thursday), 15.00-17.00 (Munich time), online

- stay at the Boards of Appeal: 17-28 June (two weeks) in Munich

Requirements
The internships are open to qualified and practising national judges who are nationals of and resident in an EPC contracting state. Priority will be given to applicants working in courts which are competent to deal with patent cases.
The main language of the internship programme is English, so a good command of the English language is essential.

Location: Munich
Dates: June 2024

Financial support: The EPO makes a contribution towards living costs and travel to Munich. It does not cover any other expenses. Interns must provide evidence of health insurance.

How to apply
Please fill out this form and email it to judicialtraining@epo.org along with your motivation letter and a full CV.
 

Deadline for applications:The registration deadline for 2024 is 31 January 2024. Please sign up to our e-alert service to be notified when registration for this programme opens again.

If you have any questions about this programme, write to judicialtraining@epo.org.