Getting a New/Replacement Smartcard To Work

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John M
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:49 pm

Getting a New/Replacement Smartcard To Work

Post by John M » Tue Oct 04, 2011 3:12 pm

My smartcard was about to expire and so I obtained a new one (October 2011). Getting the new card to work has been a nightmare :| , due largely to the lack of information on how to do this on the EPO and UKIPO websites and also the lack of instructions with the new smartcard. So here are some tips that might save you many hours and grey hairs:

1. The new smartcards seem to need new drivers and libraries to work. You need to uninstall the old software (e.g. Gemsafe), reboot, then install both parts of Gemalto 6.0 or higher. The Gemalto 6.1 software you need is :

- Gemplus GemPCTWIN reader driver for Microsoft Windows
- Gemalto Classic Client/Gemsafe Libraries 6.1

<Please contact support@epo.org when you require the drivers>

2. After the new Gemalto software is installed, start Gemalto classic client Toolbox. Input the pin and click "Register all". I believe this is what made it possible to then file at the EPO. However it was still impossible to file at the UKIPO.

3. To file at the UKIPO, you need to complete the "auto enrolment tool" which is hard to find but just about visible on the following web page http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/patent/p-os ... poline.htm . You will need your UKIPO deposit account number to complete the form. After doing this, I was able to file demo patents at the UKIPO.

If you don't have the latest Gemalto software, you can sign the patent application documents but when you try to file them the software will probably just hang and stay at 0%.

If you fail to do step 2 or 3, an error message might not appear at all, or it might eventually appear and read as follows: "The following error occurred during the filing of your submission: "Forbidden", please contact EPO user Support or your national office support desk.

My recommendation is not to get a new smart card when you have urgent filings, Instead leave it until a quieter period when you can afford to be without working software for a few days.

I have written to the EPO and UKIPO suggesting they dedicate a page to the topic of how to get a new/replacement smartcard working.


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