Launch of the user area pilot phase
Tuesday, 2 November sees the launch of the pilot phase for our new user area for parties to proceedings before the EPO.
This exciting new service, which has been developed in collaboration with our user focus groups, will be open to participants from patent attorney firms and industry for an initial period of six months. Participants will be able to access their EPO Mailbox, view their application portfolio and documents, perform tasks and file procedural requests in response to communications from the EPO.
Following successful completion of the pilot phase, the user area will be made generally available.
The user area is being delivered as part of the new online user engagement programme under Goal 2 of the Strategic Plan 2023. Between now and 2023 we will continue to add valuable new features inspired by the feedback from our user focus groups, SACEPO and the epi online communications committee.
Users will benefit from:
- more flexible, user-friendly access
- simplified procedures
- improved procedural guidance with real-time quality checks
The user area will enable us to improve the digital exchange of information, to provide a more modern approach to procedural submissions and to allow more direct interaction with EPO examiners.