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Disclaimer

Kind of documents

Updates of the European publication server

Syntax for the retrieval of European patent documents

Format of the European patent documents

EPO PDF profile

DTDs (Documents type definitions)

XSL style sheets for displaying the XML files

Weekly files

Web Service Access

WIPO standards

The publication of patent documents by way of this site is subject to a disclaimer in respect of the accuracy of replication

XML data for documents published prior to 1 January 2006 has been converted using a procedure that may result in accidental changes. It therefore cannot be guaranteed that XML data as rendered in HTML or made available in the ZIP file accurately replicates the respective original documents.

For documents published prior to 1 January 2006, only the PDF versions (in the ZIP file) are accurate replications or - in accordance with Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 12 July 2007 concerning the form of publication of European patent applications, European search reports and European patent specifications (Special edition No. 3, OJ EPO 2007, D3) - electronic publications of the respective original documents, as the case may be.

The HTML view is in all cases for users' convenience only. It cannot be guaranteed that this view accurately reflects the underlying XML data.

Kind of European patent documents

All the European patent documents published by the European Patent Office are published on the European publication server.

European patent applications: A1, A2
Search reports: A3
Corrections of patent applications: A8, A9 (according to WIPO standard ST 50)

Patent specifications: B1
Amended patent specifications: B2
Patent specifications after limitation procedure: B3 (for more information, please click on the following link: EPC 2000)
Corrections of patent specifications: B8, B9 (according to WIPO standard ST 50)

For more information on the various type of patent documents and corrections thereof, please click on the following link: "Corrections to European Patent Documents".

Updates of the European publication server

The European Publication Server is updated on a weekly basis. The publication of European patent documents takes place every Wednesday at 14:00.

Syntax for the retrieval of European patent documents

The search allows several different criteria that follow a specific syntax as described below:

Publication number: the syntax should be country code + publication number.
The space between the country code and the publication number is optional (eg: 'EP0927553' or 'EP 0927553'). A leading zero is also allowed (eg: '0927553' or '927553')

Application number: the syntax should be country code + application number. The space between the country code and the application number is optional (eg: 'EP98123150' or 'EP 98123150')
The year may be entered as four or two digits (eg: 'EP1998123150' or 'EP 98123150')
A leading zero and the country code are optional (eg: '98123150')

IPC / CPC:  The search is conducted on the IPC/CPC symbols as published, e.g. G06N3/08. It is possible to use truncated symbols, e.g. G06N or G06N3.

Publication date: using the list box, select whether you wish to search using a particular publication date (during) or a range (between). Then select the year and week using the list boxes.

Kind of document: select the kind codes you wish to search by ticking the corresponding checkbox.

Direct access to the PDF document: When a PDF document is available, it is possible to access it directly using your browser via the following URL:

https://data.epo.org/publication-server/pdf-document?cc=EP&pn=nnnnnn&ki…

For example, for the document EP1502502A1, type.

https://data.epo.org/publication-server/pdf-document?cc=EP&pn=1502502&ki=A1

Please note that all the parameters are mandatory (cc, ki, pn)

Format of the European patent documents

The European patent documents were made available to the public in different formats in the course of the years.

The available formats are the following:

  XML - ST361 PDF/A PDF image via Espacenet Register
2006 onwards X X X X
2000-2005 X X X X
1999 X X X X
1978-1998 X X X X

Links to the Espacenet service giving access to the patent document stored as a PDF image in the EPO BNS database are provided for all publication periods

Please note that, according to article 153(3) EPC the European patent applications (EP-A documents) filed via the PCT route and already published by WIPO in one of the official language of the EPO are not republished by the EPO. Nevertheless, a link to the original PCT full text document is available from the hit-list.

1 XML for documents published prior to 01/01/2006 is not of publication quality. It has been captured from the original document using a procedure that may result in differences being introduced.

EPO PDF profile

Description of the PDF/A used by the EPO for the publication of EP documents.

https://data.epo.org/publication-server/doc/EPO-PDF-profile-v19.pdf

DTDs (Documents type definitions)

DTD for the XML file corresponding to the patent documents

http://docs.epoline.org/ebd/doc/ep-patent-document-v1-0.dtd
http://docs.epoline.org/ebd/doc/ep-patent-document-v1-1.dtd
http://docs.epoline.org/ebd/doc/ep-patent-document-v1-3.dtd
http://docs.epoline.org/ebd/doc/ep-patent-document-v1-4.dtd
http://docs.epoline.org/ebd/doc/ep-patent-document-v1-5.dtd
http://docs.epoline.org/ebd/doc/ep-patent-document-v1-5-1.dtd
http://docs.epoline.org/ebd/doc/ep-patent-document-v1-6.dtd

DTD for the XML file corresponding to the coverage:

https://data.epo.org/publication-server/ep-patent-document-list-v0-1-0.dtd

XSL style sheets for displaying the XML files

Following the addition of XML format patent documents to the online service, the corresponding XSLT style sheet can be obtained at the following URL:

https://data.epo.org/publication-server/doc/ep-patent.xsl

The corresponding "cascading style sheet" can be found at:

https://data.epo.org/publication-server/doc/ep-patent.css

Weekly files

In the section "Data coverage", a list of all the European Patent Documents published in a given week is made available for download in the form of an XML file.

Web service access

Direct access to the underlying data has been introduced. A technical description of the service is available at:

https://data.epo.org/publication-server/doc/EPS REST services.pdf

WIPO standards

For more information about WIPO standards, please consult:

http://www.wipo.int/standards/en/part_03_standards.html

For more information about the European publication Server, please do not hesitate to contact: support@epo.org