Article 90

EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE

Information from the EPO

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 9 October 2023 concerning new features of MyEPO Portfolio

I. Introduction

1. On 1 November 2023, the EPO will launch new MyEPO Portfolio features.

2. The EPO launched MyEPO Portfolio in June 2022. MyEPO Portfolio is a secure, web-based online service for parties to proceedings before the EPO. It provides improved access to several online services, enables the exchange of digital information and offers a contemporary, simplified approach to making procedural submissions.

3. MyEPO Portfolio is being continually improved. In July 2023, new features were made available, including a shared area allowing live interaction between examining divisions and users, alternatives to smart cards for user authentication, and the possibility to submit new types of procedural actions such as the reply to the European search report. New features will be implemented on 1 November 2023. These additional features have been tested during phase 3 of the MyEPO Portfolio pilot project from July to October 2023.

4. The new features for general release include:

• 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
• the Representative area

II. MyEPO Portfolio

Administration

5. 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, can be made the administrator. Administrators can grant other users administration rights, access to the Mailbox and fee payment rights. Administrators will now also be able to grant access to users' portfolios. The MyEPO Portfolio user guide provides further details.

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

6. Applicants who have not appointed a professional representative can access their portfolios of applications. They can also perform procedural actions and access the Shared area.

Electronic filing

7. 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. From 1 November 2023, additional procedural actions will be available.1

8. Requests for correction or update of an application's bibliographic data, including requests for rectification of the designation of an inventor under Rule 21 EPC, will be available in MyEPO Portfolio.

9. Withdrawing an application will also be possible.

10. 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.

Representation changes

11. With the release of this new functionality, all features of My Files are finally incorporated in MyEPO Portfolio. The EPO plans to decommission My Files in June 2024. Professional representatives can notify the EPO of their withdrawal from representation or the transfer of representation to another professional representative, legal practitioner or association of professional representatives in respect of one or more European patent applications or European patents for which they are appointed.

12. Changes will be registered immediately after users confirm the change or withdrawal of representation, and the files in question will no longer be displayed in MyEPO Portfolio in the list of files of the professional representative (or the association of professional representatives they are members of). If the details of the newly appointed professional representative, legal practitioner or association of professional representatives are entered manually, the registration will be delayed until the request is processed by the EPO.

Representative area

13. The Representative area enables representatives registered on the list of professional representatives to request changes to their entry on the list and to manage their telecommunication details, including the publication of these details in the searchable database on the EPO website. They are also able to request deletion from the list of professional representatives. The Representative area feature guide provides further details.

14. The Representative area will successively be extended to include additional features. These will include the ability to file requests for entry and re-entry on the list of professional representatives and to manage association memberships and general authorisations.

15. Changes made to the telecommunication details have immediate effect. Requests for changes to the entry and for deletion from the list are first forwarded to the EPO. Changes made via the Representative area will not automatically affect Mailbox settings. Any change likely to affect Mailbox settings must be handled separately by users.

16. The management of list entries via the Representative area is in line with the legal framework for the protection of personal data at the EPO. The corresponding data protection statement can be accessed from the Representative area.

III. Other EPO services

17. 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 are unaffected by the launch of the new MyEPO Portfolio features. Users can continue to use My Files and the Administration facility tool, and access Mailbox as they do already, until these services are decommissioned (envisaged for June 2024). Users will be given sufficient advance notice to prepare for these changes.