The Advanced Patent Paralegal Course (APPC) is the long-awaited advanced course aimed at senior Paralegal members. This course is only available from CIPA.
It is a comprehensive course delivered with a mixture of live Zoom and online recorded sessions.
During the first two runs of the course it is mandatory to be a CIPA Paralegal member to be able to apply for the course. After the first two years, registration will be open to non-members as well.
We recommend that you have at least a few years of experience working within patent administration and formalities. The course runs from April through to December with the assessments taking place following Units 1, 2 and 3. There is no assessment following Unit 4.
Important notes:
The cost of the course depends on which element of the course you are undertaking:
Course and Exam – £1,200.00 including VAT
Exam Only – accessible by those who have failed ONE unit the year before – £300 (no VAT applied).
If a candidate has failed one unit out of the three units with an assessment, they can retake that one unit the following year without re-attending the whole course. If a candidate fails the assessment at the second attempt, they will be required to retake the whole course and subsequent assessments.
If a candidate has failed more than one assessment, they must retake the whole course and all the assessments.
Payments can be made by credit or debit card at the time of application or by invoice. Invoices will need to be settled by no later than 31 March 2025. Failing to pay the invoices on time will mean losing your place on the course. If you require changes to your invoice, contact us at [email protected].
If you are applying from outside the UK, please contact us at [email protected] to discuss VAT exemption.
Online Registration Opens: 10:00am Monday 27 January 2025
Online Registration Closes: 5:00pm Friday 28 February 2025 (or when capacity is reached)
Course and assessment cost: £1200 including VAT
Please note: payments can be made by credit or debit card at the time of applying or by invoice. Invoices will need to be settled by no later than Friday 28 March 2025. Failing to pay the invoices in time will mean losing the place on the course. In addition, we are no longer limiting spaces on the course per firm, meaning firms are now able to enrol as many candidates as they wish.
If you are applying from outside the UK, please reach out to us at [email protected] to discuss VAT exemption.
Following the feedback from the Introductory Patent Paralegal Course, the course will be delivered in a hybrid online format to try to support students as much as possible. Most of the sessions will be pre-recorded as webinars to watch in students’ own time.
The activity review sessions will be held as live Zoom webinars where students can ask questions using the Q&A box. These sessions will be recorded and uploaded to the student and mentor hubs the same day.
Below are key dates for this year’s course:
Registration Opens: 10:00 Monday 27 January 2025
Registration Closes 17:00 Friday 28 February 2025
Payment Deadline: 17:00 Friday 28 March 2025
Unit 1: Monday 14 April 2025
Unit 1 Activity Review Webinar: Friday 25 April 2025
Unit 1 Assessment: Friday 1 May – Monday 2 June 2025
Unit 2: Monday 9 June 2025
Unit 2 Activity Review Webinar: Friday 20 June 2025
Unit 2 Assessment: Friday 27 June – Monday 28 July 2025
Unit 3: Monday 15 September 2025
Unit 3 Activity Review Webinar: Friday 26 September 2025
Unit 3 Assessment: Friday 3 October – Monday 3 November 2025
Unit 4: Monday 10 November 2025
Unit 4 Activity Review Webinar: Friday 21 November 2025
Unit 4 Activity declaration: Monday 1 December 2025
Official Results: 8 January 2026
Awards Ceremony: February 2026 (based on interest)
It is currently essential that candidates become CIPA IP Paralegal Members before taking the course. Any other prior qualification is not required to enter the course.
Mentors
You have an opportunity to appoint a mentor to act as a first point of call for questions regarding the course content. If you wish to have a mentor, they must be registered with CIPA and present on our system to continue with the course application.
The mentor can be a patent attorney, a senior paralegal or any other person able to provide active support and guidance.
The assessment is administered by The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA). In registering for the course and assessment, candidates are agreeing to be bound by the CIPA policies.
Candidates must complete all mandatory units and achieve a pass mark in all assessments for the mandatory units in order to be awarded the qualification. If a candidate fails any assessment, they will be able to retake the assessment the following year. They will not have to retake the whole course, unless they fail two or more of the assessments.
If the candidate fails two or more of the mandatory assessments, they will be required to retake the course in its entirety.
Candidates and mentors should refer to the APPC syllabus effective from April 2025 for full information about the syllabus content and the assessment.
The syllabus is assessed via three open book assessments at the end of each unit. The law that will be assessed is the law that is current at the date of the last taught session of the course.
The questions will test the syllabus subject content and learning outcomes.
If a candidate has failed one unit out of the three required to pass the course, they can retake that one unit the following year without re-attending the whole course. If a candidate fails the assessment at the second attempt, they will be required to retake the whole course and subsequent assessments.
If a candidate has failed more than one assessment, they must retake the whole course and all the assessments.
The cost of resitting one Unit is £300 (no VAT applied).
This is not applicable on the first year of the course.
The syllabus for the Advanced Patent Paralegal Course will be made available here in the next few days.
Please refer to the APPC – Policies and Procedures
Policy for the review, quality assurance and updating of learning materials
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the teaching materials for this course reflect the syllabus, meet the demands of the syllabus, are up to date, engaging, and free from error.
CIPA is responsible for ensuring both the quality of the materials and that the reviews take place.
Feedback from students and tutors
Feedback will be sought from mentors and student. This data will be analysed and materials adapted or amended as required before the next course is delivered.
Systematic review
Periodically, and no less than annually, all the learning materials will be reviewed to ensure that the materials are accurate with regard to changes in the law and content. Data on the performance of candidates on individual examination questions will also be considered to confirm that the course materials are fit for purpose
Reporting
Information on feedback sought and/or given, the systematic review, and the details of any action taken, will be logged and stored. It will be available for scrutiny, to the external examiner and reported on as required.
Policy for the quality assurance, monitoring and review of teaching quality
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the teaching quality on the course is consistently graded good or excellent by students.
CIPA is responsible for ensuring both the standard of teaching quality and that the reviews take place.
Tutor selection
All tutors will be assessed against criteria including teaching experience and subject knowledge. The highest scoring candidates will be selected.
Tutor training
All tutors will be required to undertake training on the course content and course delivery before delivering the course for the first time. Thereafter they will be required to attend all or
part of this or other training where either the course content has changed significantly, or where there have been performance issues.
Quality of teaching
Reporting and Analysis
Information on the outputs of the quality of teaching process will be available for scrutiny by CIPA.