MUNICH - Enhanced IT cooperation with member states, end users and international partners is a key priority for the European Patent Office (EPO) under its Strategic Plan 2028. A series of cooperation activities has already commenced this year, with further actions planned in the coming months, a press release stated by EPO.
On January 22 – 23, 2025, over 80 delegates from national patent offices (NPOs), the Institute of Professional Representatives before the European Patent Office (epi), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) met with EPO experts to review progress to date, identify challenges and share plans.
This week, working groups of technical and managerial experts from NPOs, epi, EUIPO and WIPO convened online to continue to advance their projects. On-site visits by EPO experts to some NPOs are scheduled for March, ensuring continued collaboration and hands-on support.
Major IT developments in the pipeline for 2025
Several key projects will be at the heart of IT cooperation efforts this year:
Transition to Ansera-based Search (AbS)
NPOs will continue to move away from the legacy EPOQUE Net system and transition to AbS, a powerful cloud-based prior art search tool. 16 NPOs have already decommissioned EPOQUE Net and over 1 900 national examiners are currently using AbS.
Modernized online filing
This year, support will be discontinued for legacy electronic online filing (eOLF), which is to be replaced by the secure, web-based Front Office filing platform. The software is already in use or in the process of being adopted by 18 member states. To date, over 45,000 online filings have been received across seven states. The majority of NPOs have confirmed their plans to replace eOLF, either with Front Office or their own solutions.
Expanding AI-powered tools
The Italian Patent and Trademark Office is the first to begin piloting the Legal Interactive Platform, the EPO’s AI-driven tool that enables the rapid retrieval of information from legal documents relating to the European patent system. Work continues on providing secure access to the AI-powered Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) text categorizer, an online symbol predictor which makes the CPC system more accessible.
Digital Toolkit (DTK) pilots
As the key focus of IT cooperation under Strategic Plan 2028, the DTK offers a flexible, modular system that enables NPOs to implement a digital end-to-end patent workflow. The software can be tailored to suit the specific needs of each NPO, facilitating the digitalization of services such as filing, portfolio management, classification, workflow management, document consultation and publication.
Close cooperation at all levels will be essential as the EPO works with several NPOs to build and deploy different configurations of the DTK throughout 2025. Ongoing input from end users, working group members and pilot countries will help ensure that the European Patent Network provides national offices and users of the European patent system with the high-quality services they require.