Course 2025-2026
The training is held in English. The course will be limited to a small group of participants (maximum 30). This small number of participants facilitates interactivity, discussion, and exchange of practices.
The course lasts 120 hours, corresponding to the official EPLC requirements.
To help you plan your participation in the course, see the key dates for the upcoming course below:
Key dates & Modules
Face-to-face training
Module 1 – Part 1: introductory course
Date:
24-25 September 2025
Place:
Trier
Event number:
225D44
Module 1 – Part 1
Content:
Roles of the CJEU in the context of the UPC/national courts
Training and social activities:
- Training on the role of the CJEU
- Dinner and a night in Trier
- Transport to CJEU in Luxembourg, briefing and hearing, guided tour of the CJEU
- Visit to the Court of Appeal of the UPC and meeting with a judge
Modules 4 and 6
Date:
9-13 February 2026
Place:
Trier
Event number:
226D005
Module 4
Content:
- Enhanced cooperation
- Translation regime
- Unitary character
- Coexistence with national systems
- Rights conferred and limitations
- Licences
- Exhaustion
- Role of EPO
Training activities:
Interactive sessions / Mock trials (as part of the written examination)
Module 6
Content:
- Legal status of the UPC
- Sources of law applicable to the UPC
- Structure of the Court and the divisions
- Jurisdiction and competences
- Transitional period
- The link between the UPC and the unitary patent
Training activities:
Interactive sessions / Mock trials (as part of the written examination)
Modules 7, 8, and oral examination
Date:
18-22 May 2026
Place:
Trier
Event number:
226D006
Module 7
Content:
- General rules before the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal, including official codes of conduct: formal requirements, parties, and representation as well as intervention, calculation of time periods, fees and legal aids, stay of proceedings
- The language regime
- Procedure before the Court of First instance
- Procedure before the Court of Appeal
- Enforcement of decisions
- Court costs
Training activities:
Interactive sessions / Mock trials (as part of the written examination)
Module 8
Content:
- Preparing for written procedure: infringement actions, revocation actions, actions for declaration of non-infringement, actions for compensation for licences
- Advice on settlement
- Preparing for Interim procedure
- Preparing for oral procedure
- Producing evidence: witnesses and experts, means of evidence
- Asking provisional measures (injunctions, preservation of evidence) and filing a protective letter
- Raising language issues
- Application for leave to appeal and procedure before the Court of Appeal
- Damages actions
Training activities:
Interactive sessions / Mock trials (as part of the written examination)
Examination
Portfolio:
Evaluation of assignments, draft decisions, peer review, and other submissions during the course period
Written examination:
Multiple choice questions, drafting of procedural acts or submissions in preparation for mock trials, drafting of decisions based on case material (using TestVision)
Oral examination:
The individual oral examinations will take place on the final day of the course to test the participant’s knowledge and skills
Online examination:
Quiz and prepared assignments (e.g. mock trial briefs and written assignments)
Monthly online tutorials and training
Module 1 – Part 2 ; Modules 2, 3, 5 and written examination
Date:
Oct 2025 – 31 May 2026 (17:00-19:00 CET/CEST)
Place:
Online
Event number:
226EB001
Module 1 – Part 2
Content:
- Evolution and constitutional foundations of the EU
- Scope of the EU’s competences
- Legal acts of the EU, the hierarchy among them and their legal value
- Other sources of EU law (general principles, jurisprudence) and their role in the legal system
- Roles of the various institutions in the EU decision-making process and the decision-making itself
- Application of EU law
- Fundamental rights in the EU legal order and in the ECHR
- Relevant substantive law of the EU (internal market and the four freedoms)
Training activities:
E-presentations and tutorials
Module 2
Content:
- International jurisdiction: Brussels I and Brussels Ibis
- Cross-border enforcement of judgments
- Alternative Dispute Resolution with a special focus on Online Dispute Resolution
- Applicable law to contracts and torts: Rome I and Rome II
- Private law, especially contract law and tort law, including aspects of European, continental and common law
- Private International law on transfer of IP rights and accessory rights (priority rights)
Training activities:
E-presentations and tutorials
Module 3
Content:
- Biotechnological inventions and plant variety rights: law and case law from the CJEU
- Supplementary protection certificates: law and case law from the CJEU
- Competition law and patent law (focus on high technologies and pharmaceutical sectors): patent settlements and patent abuse under Article 102TFEU, compulsory licences, FRANDS, agreements contrary to Article 101 TFEU, unfair competition
- Relationship between patent law and other IP rights: copyright, design, utility models, trade secrets
- European harmonisation of patent law and other IP Rights as a result of TRIPS under the jurisdiction of the CJEU
Training activities:
E-presentations and tutorials
Module 5
Content:
- Cross border patent infringement
- Patent infringement and patent nullity proceedings in several contracting Member States
- Litigation patent strategies in Europe
Training activities:
E-presentations and tutorials
Examination
Portfolio:
Evaluation of assignments, draft decisions, peer review, and other submissions during the course period
Written examination:
Multiple choice questions, drafting of procedural acts or submissions in preparation for mock trials, drafting of decisions based on case material (using TestVision)
Oral examination:
The individual oral examinations will take place on the final day of the course to test the participant’s knowledge and skills
Online examination:
Quiz and prepared assignments (e.g. mock trial briefs and written assignments)
Course Fee
This does not include travel or accommodation.
Beverages, meals during the course, and bus transfer to Luxembourg are provided.
€3900
Apply now
Click below to apply for the next European Patent Litigation Certificate course.
