We are pleased to announce that our colleague André Santos has successfully passed the European Qualifying Examination (EQE) that accredits him as a European Patent Attorney (EPA). Considered as one of the most demanding professional examinations, it assesses the knowledge and skills of candidates to represent in proceedings before the European Patent Office (EPO).
Since the system was established in 1979 and until 2019, just over 12000 people from the 38 member states of the European Patent Convention have been qualified to act before the EPO. German (4575), British (2359) and French IP specialists (1169) top the ranking of European Patent Attorneys. In Spain, according to the EPO, the number of EPAs is 227. From now on, our colleague André Santos will join the list of 39 professionals of Portuguese origin with this degree.
André holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid with a European mention. He joined ABG IP in 2016 and has since become a key player for the Departments of Chemistry & Materials and Pharmacy. His main tasks include patent drafting, prosecution, FTOs and opinion work in the pharmaceutical, organic, inorganic and nanotechnology fields.
ABG Intellectual Property is proud that André Santos has successfully overcome this new and demanding professional challenge. Supporting the development of individual potential is one of our commitments to each and every member of our team and, therefore, it is a great satisfaction to report this progress in his career. We want to thank his daily effort and involvement with the company.
Adding André to the list, the number of European Patent Attorneys that are part of our team amounts to 16, which places us among the Spanish IP firm with the largest number of EQE qualified specialists.
