Adding EP Register data to the EPO worldwide legal event database (INPADOC)

The main source of EP procedural data for the INPADOC database has until now been EP bibliographic data (EBD), which contains the information referred to in Rule 143 EPC.

However, EBD does not include all procedural data related to EP applications and grant proceedings and so, for example, data on appeals and third-party observations has not been available in INPADOC.

To meet the growing demand for EP procedural data in INPADOC, the EPO has begun integrating more and more of this data into the database. To facilitate this, INPADOC will now draw on the same source of EP procedural data as the European Patent Register and the related bulk data set.

For consistency with the data available via the European Patent Register, the new INPADOC data will include both the original event description used there and a genuine INPADOC event description. It will also include the original event code used in the data source to help with, for example, linking the data to the European Patent Register bulk data set.

The EPO also wants to make it easier to distinguish between different events in INPADOC by improving the event descriptions. For example, three different event codes are used in INPADOC to record the grounds of appeal depending on whether the appeal follows examination, opposition or limitation, but they all have the same description "Date of receipt of statement of grounds of appeal recorded". To help make the INPADOC data more meaningful, the EPO is therefore working on expanding the event descriptions by adding extra information about the procedural stage at which the event occurred.

EP procedural data already made available in INPADOC in 2020 and early 2021:

• EP appeals
• decisions to grant
•  third-party observations
• events related to EP publications
• information on the status of EP applications and EP patents

The next phase will add:

• data related to post-grant reviews and petitions for review
• fee payments other than payments related to appeals and decisions to grant

The aim is to include all publicly available EP procedural data in INPADOC by the end of 2021. The EPO is confident that this will be especially useful for advanced patent information users and patent professionals.

Sample of EP appeal data already added to INPADOC in the first phase: