Guest lectures

Guest lectures for universities and institutions of higher vocational education are for Dutch knowledge institutions only.

Experts from NL Patent Office have been providing educational courses in industrial property rights and patents for universities and institutions of higher vocational education for many years. The elements of these educational programmes are:

• The elementary concepts of industrial property law and patent law (requirements applying to granting a patent, priority date, scope of protection, application procedures, etc.).
• Implications of the (inter)national patent system for (scientific) research.
• Practical assignments that relate to students' research, as part of which students also learn how to search patent databases.

Universities
NL Patent Office organises lectures upon request for fourth- and fifth-year students at university. This educational course in patents generally consists of two to three guest lectures, forming part of a pre-scheduled lecture. The patent education course can form part of a series of lectures on innovation management or technology management, for example, or a series of lectures about protecting knowledge and technology generated by scientific research.

Education in patents becomes relevant for students who are taking courses in science, technology, medicine and economics at the point when they carry out their own research.

Institutions of higher vocational education
It has been proven that education in patents is effective if it is incorporated into courses at institutions of higher vocational education at the point in time when students must undertake projects. It has also emerged that industrial property rights and patents play a significant role in enterprise.

For students in the technical, economic and agricultural sectors and those taking some courses in healthcare and art, knowledge of these rights is important. Depending on the type of course and by request, the tutor may only place the emphasis on obtaining rights or using patent databases as a source of information.

Obligation of confidentiality
All employees of NL Patent Office have a duty to observe confidentiality. That means that you may speak freely with them about your idea or invention.