Article 50

EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

Information from the EPO

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 3 May 2023 concerning new milestones for EPO online services

I. Introduction

1. On 1 July 2023 the EPO will launch new features of the web-based online service MyEPO Portfolio, extend electronic notification to the Mailbox to international agents and non-EPC applicants and introduce new means of authentication.

2. Under its Strategic Plan 2023 the EPO has worked towards a digital transformation to deliver new online tools to better address user needs. In line with that goal, the EPO launched MyEPO Portfolio in June 2022. MyEPO Portfolio is a secure, web-based online service for parties to proceedings before the EPO, designed to improve accessibility, enable the exchange of digital information and provide improved procedural guidance. MyEPO Portfolio allows inspection of documents in the electronic file, provides access to electronic notifications in EPO proceedings (Mailbox) and offers a contemporary, simplified approach to making procedural submissions. It offers an interface that is more user-friendly, intuitive and accessible to all kinds of users.

3. MyEPO Portfolio has since been improved and has additional features that will go live on 1 July 2023. These additional features have been – and are continuing to be – tested during phase 2 of the MyEPO Portfolio pilot project from November 2022 to June 2023. Phase 3 of the pilot project will run until November 2023.

4. The new features for general release include:

• alternatives to the smart card for user authentication;
• the extension of electronic notification to the last remaining major user groups, namely international agents and non-European parties acting before the EPO;
• the launch of a business-to-business application programming interface (API);
• the inclusion of opposition files in users' portfolios;
• further capabilities in the administration of access rights;
• the possibility to perform additional procedural actions;
• a shared area feature and
• the EPO Contingency Upload Service.

5. The major effort made in developing these additional features for MyEPO Portfolio is not limited to this service, since other online services offered by the EPO will benefit from them too. Specifically, new means of authentication will be allowed in other online filing services and the Mailbox will no longer be a pilot project, regardless of whether it is accessed via MyEPO Portfolio or via the existing Mailbox service.

II. New means of authentication

6. New means of authentication will be offered to users accessing MyEPO Portfolio, Online Filing 2.0 and Central Fee Payment. It is envisaged that new means of authentication will be also available for users of EPO Online Filing (OLF) during the course of 2023. Users will be able to choose from among several two-step verification methods, which will be announced on the EPO website.1 For the time being, these methods will be Okta Verify, Google Authenticator, phone text message (SMS) and email. Additional methods will be added in the future, upon further announcement on the EPO website. These alternatives to the EPO smart card offer highest security with state-of-the-art, two-step verification and greater flexibility. Users will no longer need to request a smart card, install the necessary hardware and associated software required for its use on company systems and deal with smart-card software upgrades and compatibility. The EPO intends to stop issuing smart cards as from 1 January 2024. It also intends to decommission EPO smart cards as from 1 January 2025. Until then, EPO smart cards can still be used to access EPO online services.

III. Electronic notification

7. Before entry into force of the new regime for notification and time limit calculation on 1 November 2023,2 major improvements of the EPO Mailbox will have been achieved. Mailbox will now be extended to the two last remaining major user groups, namely international agents and international applicants who do not have their residence or principal place of business in an EPC contracting state but are entitled to act as representatives before the EPO in PCT international phase proceedings. This means that all communications from the EPO acting as (S)ISA or IPEA in the international phase are notified via the Mailbox. These communications can be accessed via MyEPO Portfolio or the existing Mailbox service. This will also give applicants and agents located outside EPC contracting states the benefit of fast and secure electronic notification. This service is expected to save up to 2 600 000 sheets of paper per year that are currently notified by postal mail.

8. In order to receive such communications in the Mailbox, users have to request a "PCT Link" in MyEPO Portfolio and indicate and verify an email address. This will route to the Mailbox all communications from the EPO related to international (PCT) applications for which that email address was either indicated in Form PCT/RO/101 or has since been provided to the International Bureau of WIPO.

9. The availability of communications in ePCT is unaffected by the use of the Mailbox.

10. With the extension of the Mailbox to the two last remaining major user groups, Mailbox no longer has pilot status. This applies to the Mailbox independent of whether it is accessed via MyEPO Portfolio or via the existing Mailbox service.

11. As a further improvement requested by users, communications delivered to the Mailbox can now be downloaded via an API, which allows the automated exchange of data between IP management systems and the EPO's systems. This will allow users to handle incoming notifications more efficiently. Additional APIs to enable exchange of other data between IP management systems and the EPO's systems will be made available in the future.

IV. MyEPO Portfolio

Administration

12. The Admin area in MyEPO Portfolio incorporates all features of the Administration facility tool, which the EPO plans to decommission in June 2024. Any user within the same company, including paralegals, may be made the administrator. Administrators can grant other users administration rights, access to the Mailbox as well as to the user's portfolio and the right to pay fees and view the fee payment plan. The user guide for MyEPO Portfolio provides details on this.

Inspection of files relating to European patent applications and European patents included in the user's portfolio

13. As a novel functionality for European professional representatives and legal practitioners, their portfolios will also list their opposition files.

Electronic filing

14. Users can perform procedural acts within the prescribed period in reply to a communication from the EPO ("pending procedural actions"); file procedural requests which are not subject to a period and are not in reply to a communication from the EPO ("procedural actions"); and submit documents accompanying these procedural actions. As of 1 July 2023 additional procedural actions will be available.3

15. Professional representatives or legal practitioners may delegate the preparation and sending of any procedural action to employees of the same company, as set out in the user guide. The submissions prepared by those employees must be duly signed by the appointed representative prior to their submission.

16. As far as responding to an extended European search report is concerned, users will be offered a procedural option applicable to their situation, reflecting whether or not the request for examination was filed before the search report was transmitted to the applicant, and whether or not the search opinion is positive or negative. The reply to an invitation under Rules 62a or 63 EPC will allow users to indicate the subject-matter to be searched. It will also be possible to make an auxiliary request for oral proceedings.

17. Direct payment via deposit account will be available in MyEPO Portfolio. Fees can also be paid via one of the existing online tools (Central Fee Payment, Online Filing or Online Filing 2.0). Where a procedural action requires the payment of a fee, users will be informed accordingly in MyEPO Portfolio. To facilitate payment, a list of the fees due and a link to Central Fee Payment will be displayed for the user. For more information regarding Central Fee Payment, see the notice from the European Patent Office dated 19 July 2022 concerning Central Fee Payment.

18. The launch of further procedural actions in MyEPO Portfolio will be announced in a dedicated section of the EPO website or in the Official Journal of the EPO. Further procedural actions that may be added subsequently to MyEPO Portfolio include requesting the correction or update of an application's bibliographic data, requesting the correction or update of changes to the particulars of representatives or requesting the withdrawal of an application.

Shared area

19. A shared area feature will allow users and the EPO to upload and edit documents together in real time, allowing direct interaction between users and the EPO. This feature is designed to achieve more efficient and higher-quality results in consultations.4 The documents uploaded to Shared area as well as any documents jointly edited there will not be considered as filed with the EPO or notified by the EPO. Any submissions will have to be filed using other means. More information related to the practical and legal framework which will govern this new feature will be published in due course.

V. EPO Contingency Upload Service

20. The new EPO Contingency Upload Service will be available as a contingency measure in the unlikely event of unavailability of the EPO online filing services or in urgent cases. This service will allow users to upload PDF documents without having to create or sign in to an EPO account. It will provide for the secure electronic transmission of documents, though without any of the additional benefits and validations offered by other EPO online filing services. It is intended to replace web-form filing and fax filing in the future.

VI. Other EPO services

21. In the MyEPO area, links will be provided to other EPO online services, including Online Filing 2.0 and Central Fee Payment. These other EPO online services will be unaffected by the launch of the new additional features in MyEPO Portfolio. Users may in particular continue to use My Files and the Administration facility tool, and access Mailbox in the existing way, until these services are decommissioned. This is currently envisaged for June 2024. Users will be given sufficient advance notice to prepare for these changes.