Patent Law & Practice at a Glance

We regularly review changes to patent law and practice at the UKIPO, EPO and in other jurisdictions so that we can keep abreast of the latest developments. Please feel free to contact your usual GJE contact if you have questions on any of these changes or how they might affect specific cases.

UK UPDATE

UKIPO launches new IP and Business Growth survey

The UKIPO is asking businesses to share their views on the role intellectual property plays in supporting the growth of their business. It is inviting them to take part in a short survey before 2 February 2023. Further details on the survey, including how to take part, can be found here.

Patent processing time from filing to grant

A recent freedom of information request has revealed the fastest granted UK patents which were filed in the last 5 years. These include a patent granted only 205 days after filing using accelerated combined search and examination, and another patent also taking 205 days to grant when being accelerated under the Green Channel. Full details and other notable examples can be found here.

IP enforcement in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam

The UKIPO have published guides on enforcing IP in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam to help you protect, manage and enforce your IP internationally. The full guide for Indonesia can be read here, the guide for the Philippines here, and the guide for Vietnam here.

The full set of International IP Service guides, including ASEAN, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the EU and EEA, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the UAE, and Vietnam can be found here.

Ten years of the UKIPO in Southeast Asia

To mark 10 years of the UKIPO’s attaché network in Southeast Asia, they have published a blog outlining the work of the attaché network and how the team has been supporting UK businesses trading in the region. The full blog can be read here.

UK-China IP

The UKIPO publishes a newsletter targeted at UK stakeholders and including updates on recent development in Chinese IP. The latest edition of this newsletter can be found here.

The British Embassy Beijing and the UKIPO have also published newsletters specifically relating to IP and Advanced Manufacturing Industry in China, Administrative Enforcement of IP in China, and a Roadmap of Solving IP Disputes in China.

Filing statistics

The statistics for September 2023 are now available here. Statistics for previous months can be found here.

Customer service standards

The latest update on how the IPO are doing relative to the targets they have set themselves can be found here.

EPO UPDATE

Closed Days

The EPO has published their list of closed dates for 2024.

MyEPO Portfolio

New MyEPO Portfolio features were launched on 1 November 2023, including access for unrepresented applicants to their portfolios, further capabilities in the administration of access rights, the possibility to perform additional procedural actions, notification of representation changes, and a Representative area. The details are set out here and here.

Resumption of proceedings following the decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal on consolidated cases G 1/22 and G 2/22

The President of the EPO has decided to lift the stay on proceedings in which the decision depended entirely on the Enlarged Board of Appeal’s decision on referrals G 1/22 and G 2/22 with effect from 11 October 2023.

PCT UPDATE

PCT Applicant’s Guide

A fully electronic version of the PCT Applicant’s Guide (‘eGuide’) was launched on 15 December 2022. As of 1 December 2023, this eGuide will become the only updated version of the Guide. The PDF documents comprising the traditional version of the Guide will be archived. Accordingly, from 1 December 2023, PCT users are advised to consult the eGuide exclusively. The IB will continue to add improvements to the functionality and content of the eGuide in coming months to create an ever-better user experience and welcome suggestions in that respect. See here (page 1) for further details.

Languages Accepted for Language-Dependent Free Text in Sequence Listings in accordance with PCT Rule 12.1(d)

The following receiving Office has notified the IB of their language requirements relating to the language-dependent free text contained in the sequence listing part of the description of an international application: UA State Organisation ‘Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations’ (UANIPOIO). See here (page 2).

WIPO 2023 PCT User Survey

In order to regularly assess customer satisfaction with all aspects of the PCT, WIPO will shortly be conducting its biennial survey of the user community. WIPO encourages you to take the time to provide your feedback by participating in the survey. See here (page 2).

Practical Advice: Monitoring changes to the PCT Applicant’s Guide in the eGuide

The following question is answered: I am a paralegal in a large patent law firm responsible for monitoring trends in filing requirements and PCT fees for the international and national phase. Up until now, I annotated printouts or electronic PDF documents from the PCT Applicant’s Guide, in order to have full historical files of Offices of particular interest to our law firm. I hear that the PDF documents may soon no longer be available and that I should now use exclusively the ‘eGuide’. If this is the case, how can I continue monitoring important information related to the PCT Applicant’s Guide? Are there any new functionalities in the eGuide to help me in my continuing responsibilities relating to Guide content? See here (pages 7 to 8).

Other Useful Links

The PCT Seminar, Webinar and Event Calendar can be found here (page 9 and 10).

The PCT Fee tables (as of 1 November 2023) can be found here (pages 16 to 24).

A list of PCT Contracting States and Two-Letter Country Codes (as of 1 November 2023) can be found here (page 26).