Latest release of MyEPO deployed for all users
The European Patent Office (EPO) is pleased to announce a series of new functionalities for its MyEPO services suite. In line with our Strategic Plan 2028, this year’s final major release includes enhancements to existing processes and expanded self-management options, in line with our goal of making the digital patent granting process (PGP) more user-friendly and efficient. Following our best practice, these improvements were developed and trialled in close collaboration with our pilot user groups, which comprise 145 companies, prior to being released to all users. To date, we have had five such releases with many features tested and released to users.
The increasing success of our strategy is demonstrated by the growing number of users benefiting from our online services. Today, some 22 000 IP professionals from patent attorney firms, industry and research institutes regularly use MyEPO services for their professional needs and over 8 600 receive communications electronically using the EPO Mailbox. In mid-October, our online Mailbox services surpassed the milestone of 10 million electronically sent mail items.
The new functionalities deployed in today’s release complement existing features as follows:
Extended and simplified workflows
The workflow for preparing actions and requests has been enhanced with an additional step, allowing for advanced preparation and the option to save drafts.
The various formats of receipts for submitted actions have been harmonised and now provide more comprehensive information.
The need to receive the refund code and PIN number by post to be able to claim a refund was removed already earlier this year rendering the claim refund procedure fully paperless.
Towards a more tailored and intuitive design
In discussion with our user groups, the EPO is reviewing the design of key MyEPO screens. The first phase deployed with this release includes the overview listing of all procedures (including for Unitary Patents and opposition) as well as the detail screen for applications. A complete overhaul of the starting page of MyEPO and subsequent pages will follow in 2025.
Empowering users
Access rights can now be allocated at a more granular level and users can select the deposit accounts they wish to be linked with when requesting to join a company in MyEPO. Moreover, users can manage changes to the composition of an association on their own.
Looking ahead
- The use of smart cards for accessing EPO online services will no longer be possible as of 1 January 2025 when two-factor authentication (2FA) will become the sole mechanism to access MyEPO services. Don’t forget to switch to 2FA now if you did not do it yet!
- The Webform Filing tool as well as the Online Filing software (eOLF) version 5.14 will be discontinued as of 1 January 2025. Online Filing software (eOLF) version 5.15 which allows login with 2FA will remain available. Switch to our Online Filing 2.0 web application instead!
For updates on future changes and enhancements, please check our Online User Engagement Pipeline and stay tuned for our announcements.
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