Report of the Online Communications Committee
As we enter the election season we reflect on the range of people and activities OCC members and associates are involved in.
I joined the Board and other interested chairs in physical meetings in Brussels with the European commission’s DG Grow and with Business Europe. At the time of writing, OCC member Ben Grau is in Japan with epi President Peter Thomsen as part of a joint BE-epi delegation to the IP5 Heads and IP5 Industry meetings. On 16 June 2026 I will join other EPO leaders and user representatives in the Main SACEPO meeting, and a bilateral epi-EPO heads meeting in July. Digitalisation and AI are high on everyone’s agenda.
EPO’s latest IT Roadmap is always available online (“SP2028 ONLINE USER ENGAGEMENT PIPELINE“). MyEPO pilot group sessions involving hundreds of interested users and several OCC colleagues attended as usual. Several OCC members participate, as well as many attorneys, paralegals and managers from firms and industry. Volunteers are always invited to join the focus group to preview and influence the development of new functions. Pilot phase & volunteer information is here.
The venerable eOLF software was finally retired for national filings on 1 April 2026. While the transition from eOLF to OLF 2.0 and MyEPO has been substantially trouble-free for filings at EPO, the reliability and usability of some national office systems has been called into question. Hopefully these are teething problems.
OCC officers and epi representatives and user representatives more broadly, participated in SACEPO Working Party on the Electronic Patent Process (SACEPO WP-EPP or ‘eSACEPO’) , 24 March 2026. In advance of the meeting, we organised an informal pre-meeting with other European user delegates, sharing views and expectation for the meeting.
With regard to the use of AI in the patent system generally, I joined with the chair of PCC in presenting a proposal for an expanded AI Working Group to coordinate and share efforts across all epi bodies as they tackle AI issues. This was approved by Council at C102 and the working group will be constituted properly after election of new committees at C103.
DOCX FILING LAUNCHED FOR GENERAL USE – to use or not to use?
According to the Notice of the European Patent Office dated March 25, 2026 (OJ EPO 2026, A22, available here), the European Patent Office has, effective April 1, 2026, authorized DOCX file format for filing patent applications and other documents. The EPO’s detailed DOCX specification can be found here. See also Feature guide: filing submissions in DOCX format.
OCC and EPPC have published a news item on the epi website advising users to take a precautionary approach to adopting DOCX, with practical advice on the hazards and on roll-out.
We are pleased that EPO has confirmed that there are no plans to implement differential fees for DOCX vs conventional PDF filing. EPO has also implemented our request that a back-up PDF can be filed along with DOCX, having legal effect if there should be a need for correction. OCC has suggested that other ‘open’ document formats should be accepted, as the familiar DOCX is actually a proprietary Microsoft format. OCC’s DOCX-expert Ronny Vavrin points out that not all versions of MS Word are capable of saving in the ‘official’ “Strict OOXML” format, even if the user knows that that is what they want to do. Users should simply respect the published DOCX specification, consult their own IT experts, and proceed with caution.
Many other enhancements in the MyEPO user interface and functionality are expected to be released during unification of the user administration functions of MyEPO eOLF 2.0 user management functions are in the pipeline. Volunteers are currently meeting with EPO’s user experience consultants to refine the new MyEPO design.
The new Third Party Observations platform is now on general release. There are some issues to be resolved, such as allowing a wider range of formatting for attachments. These were raised at eSACEPO.
Association management functions are critical to the usability use of MyEPO services by our members in their firms and departments of diverse sizes. EPO offers regular webinars in three languages on the best practice in user management. A more robust barrier between members within a firm can be expected, with the release of ‘Ethical walls’ functions in Q3 2026.
Towards a Paperless Patent Granting Process – 3rd Basket rule changes
EPO’s goal is for the PGP to become substantially paperless in both directions, by 1 April 2027. Members who do not currently use online filing, or who do not use the online Mailbox to receive should prepare and learn in good time. A news item was issued in May OCC will watch out for any issues, but EPO sources are plentiful. Together with EPPC and the Presidium, a programme of information will be delivered. A news item was published in May.
Proposed Rule 134 (extension of time limits in exceptional circumstances, particularly when IT related problems arise on the last day)
OCC’s previous concerns that IT issues were not mentioned in the proposed Rule 134(6) have been heard and we believe the EPO President to excuse delays caused by general interruptions in systems other than the EPO’s own systems. We welcome this improvement, but the proposed rules still require a user to prove that the delay was caused by an interruption that was “general” and affecting their “locality”. The EPO is clear that IT issues affecting only one user cannot be excused in this rule, but we could question:
- What is the practical point of forcing a party to investigate whether other users were affected?
- How would you investigate this, even the next day, let alone in the moment of crisis?
- What is ‘locality’ in the context of an internet system failure?
For the user who cannot show these things, the only solutions would be Art 122 and Art 121. But Art 122 is an onerous process and neither 121 nor 122 applies to all parties and all deadlines. This reinforces the obligation on members to ensure they have a “Plan B” to use when their usual means of filing is broken, especially if they know they will be filing close to the deadline. And of course phoning a friendly colleague might be the best option in an emergency.
The EPO proposal to discard any Third Party Observations that are filed on paper seems to have softened slightly, but remains in principle.
Thanks to the excellent officers, members and associate members who can shared the onerous work of this committee in the session 2023-2026. As well as thanks to Deputy Chair David Brophy, special mention goes to associate members Ulrich Harbach (acting Secretary) and Felicita Banzhaf whose artistic skills are a bonus in the new role of Communications Officer. We will continue work until the new committee is elected in November. I am pleased to see our most active members standing again for election: Ulrich and Felicita who have been mentioned already, Ben Grau, Marek Bury, Tassilo Meindl, Ronny Vavrin and Yannick Biron. Some other members are standing down, and I am pleased to see some new faces with excellent credentials have been nominated for election.
epi members are invited always to raise concerns about online communications issues using the email address occ@patentepi.org, or by contacting any member of the committee. On the other hand, your first line of technical support is of course the EPO.
