Bulk data sets

Overview

Decisions of the EPO boards of appeal

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This product is extracted twice a year from the EPO databases and contains the full text of decisions of the EPO boards of appeal, in XML format.

Each update includes the complete set of decisions from 1978 onwards (published as of 1979). Currently the product contains more than 40 000 decisions.

Download a sample file

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You can use decisions of the boards of appeal to:

  • find out the outcome of proceedings before the boards of appeal
  • retrieve data in XML format
  • integrate records from the database into your own search interface, database or search engine
Getting started
  1. Check the sample data.
  2. Order the product from csc@epo.org.
  3. Use your user credentials (which will be sent to you via email) to get data from the download area.
Conditions
Coverage 1979 onwards
Format XML
Volume Approx. 200 MB (zipped)
Delivery Backfile data is available for download twice a year.
Frontfile data in the same format is not available.
Price The data is free, but we charge an annual service fee for bulk data. Please visit our shop for prices.

The EPO's bulk data sets are also referred to as "raw data products" or "EPO databases".

The terms and conditions for licensing of EPO databases apply.

Further information

The Boards of Appeal are composed of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, 28 technical boards of appeal, the Legal Board of Appeal and the Disciplinary Board of Appeal.

Decision types: G: Enlarged Board of Appeal; T: Technical board of appeal; J: Legal Board of Appeal; W: PCT protest cases; R: Petitions for review under Art. 112a; D: Disciplinary Board of Appeal.

For statistics on the appeals procedure, see the Annual Report of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO published in the Official Journal of the EPO. The public is informed about the decisions of the boards via the European Patent Register and the Official Journal of the EPO. A systematic overview is published regularly as the "Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office".

A database of decisions is also available online.

Related products

You might also be interested in these products and services, which are similar or include the same data:

European Case Law identifier (ECLI) sitemap

Search in the Boards of Appeal decisions database

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