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May 2021 - Legal event data: Addition of EP Register data

Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 10:06 am
by EPO / Patent Data Services
In addition to appeal data, we have recently added 38 new EP legal events to the database relating to
− Decision to grant (GRAA, etc – 21 events)
− Third party observations (TPAA, etc – 4 events)
− Publications (PUAA, etc – 12 events)
− Status information of applications and granted patents (STAA – 1 event)

Background information

Until now, EP legal event data was mainly taken from the European Bibliographic data file (also called EBD file). We looked at additional sources of EP legal event data. EP Register data has been analysed and found suitable as a second source of data. Our intention is to completely replace the EBD data source with EP Register data at some point.

So far, only front file Register data is being processed. This data is triggered as soon as something changes in an EP application, which may be a status change or any other change in the data. Accordingly, the data feed of INPADOC will include recent status updates as well as, in some cases, status updates from the past.

Outlook

To fill the gaps, we will load back file data in addition to the front file data. We plan to have all the back file data loaded by the end of this year.

Following additions are planned for the coming months:
− Data related to post-grant reviews, petitions for review
− Fee payments other than payments related to appeals and decisions to grant

Questions? Comments?
Please write to patentdata(a)epo.org