New standard for sequence listings now visible to users
EPO publishes first EP applications with sequence listings according to WIPO Standard ST.26
European Publication Server
According to a decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 9 December 2021, applications filed on or after 1 July 2022 must comply with WIPO Standard ST.26, which requires a sequence listing in XML format.
As a result, sequence listings according to ST.26 no longer feature in the PDF document of the A publication on the European Publication Server, but are included in the ZIP file of the corresponding document.
Fig. 1: Accessing the sequence listing of a publication via the ZIP file in the European Publication Server.
Fig. 2: XML file featuring the sequence listing according to WIPO ST.26
A remark on the title page of a published EP application indicates the presence of a ST.26 sequence listing.
Fig. 3: Example of a remark on the EP-A publication indicating a sequence listing
European Patent Register
In the European Patent Register, you can download ST.26 sequence listings in the "All documents" section under the document type "Sequence listing in ST.26 (.XML)". As for XML files, the number of pages is not applicable, as indicated by a hyphen in the "Number of pages" column.
Fig. 4: Example of sequence listing in ST.26 in the European Patent Register (click on the image to enlarge)
You can download the XML document in the same way as any other document available in the Register. In addition to documents downloaded as PDF file(s), the ST.26 sequence listing will be downloaded as a ZIP file, from which the XML document can be extracted.
Fig. 5: ZIP file and extracted XML file downloaded from the "All documents" section of the European Patent Register
EP full-text search
You can also access sequence listings using EP full-text search as follows:
- Open the platform and select the EP full-text search in the list of available tools
- In the query field enter, for example, PSL = YES (the search criterion PSL stands for "Presence of Sequence Listing")
- Run a search by clicking the magnifying glass or pressing ENTER
- Navigate to the results page
- In the document window, click "More" to see any additional data available
- Select the sequence listing to be displayed or downloaded
Fig. 6: Retrieving sequence listings from EP full-text search
Keywords: WIPO Standard ST.26, sequence listing, European Publication Server, European Patent Register, EP full-text search
Further information