EPO - Discussion forums

As you are now shutting down anonymous access to OPS V3.2 entirely, can you offer some clarification about how ordinary users can obtain credentials? The current registration system is designed for developers, and is quite confusing to the legal secretary or patent attorney who will actually be using these products. Or are we, the developers, to be issuing these credentials? That would seem to defeat the whole purpose of registration.

Hi,

OPS is a web service meant for machine to machine intervention, for normal use we offer products with proper user interface. Not sure why anyone who is not trying to do automated queries would like to look at the output result in XML, if proper user interface exist? OPS is a raw data web service, completely stripped of all business rules and features that proper product/database meant for patent searching would have. We offer it to anyone developing database or a search tool, the only time someone is suppose to use it manually is when they test the service during or before development phase.

Espacenet is a service to be used instead and in case of OPS Register there is proper European Patent Register available on our website completely free of charge. If someone need even more professional tools they can use GPI or other PISE related products. Otherwise there is a whole range of various commercial products worldwide which in one way or the other offer same data as we have in our database.

OPS v 3.2 has closed anonymous access but still allows users testing by using API Console and we still offer free of charge access to OPS data for users that register as free of charge users so I really don't see any reason for anyone to feel deprived.

Regards,

OPS support

For example: an end user downloads an OPS enabled app from the developer. Does the end user get their credentials from the developer or from https://developers.epo.org/user/register?

Hi,

Yes, in that case, the best is that they register and give their credentials to developer or have a chance to directly insert those into the product.

Regards,
OPS support