Patent Law & Practice at a Glance – January 2026

UKIPO update

CIPA publishes guidance for inventors on AI patent drafting

The professional body that represents patent attorney in the UK, the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), has published a pamphlet, aimed at inventors, explaining the risks of using AI tools to self-draft patent applications. In particular, they highlight the dangers of inputting confidential information to AI tools and the consequences this can have for the validity of any subsequent patent application.

PCT fee changes

The UKIPO updated its PCT fees on 1 January 2026. The updated fee schedule can be accessed here.

UK-China IP

The UKIPO publishes a newsletter targeted at UK stakeholders, including updates on recent development in Chinese IP. The latest edition of this newsletter can be found here.

Monthly filing statistics: patents, trade marks and designs

The latest month’s statistics are now available here. Statistics for previous months can be found here.

Customer service standards

The latest update on how the UKIPO are doing relative to the targets they have set themselves can be found here.

EPO update

Restriction of PACE programme to examination only

As a reminder, from 1 February, it will only be possible to request PACE for examination. The EPO’s justification for the change is that the timeliness of issuing the extended/partial European search report has improved to the point where PACE is no longer required.

More details are available here.

Updates to the handling of enquiries as to the processing of files

As a reminder, adjustments are being made to the practice of handling enquiries. One notable change is that where an enquiry is made in respect of an application being processed under the PACE programme, or for which a previous enquiry has been made and where an examining communication has not been issued within the set period, the EPO will automatically issue the next action within one month of receipt of the enquiry.

Full details are available here.

Updates to the filing and processing of third-party observations

Following a review of EPO online services and taking into account feedback received from users, including MyEPO pilot participants, as of 15 December 2025 the EPO has provided a simplified online form for the filing of third-party observations.

Details are available here.

Matters concerning the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme

The name of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has changed, effective 1 October 2025, to the Ministry of Intellectual Property (MOIP). All PPH-related references in EPO documents to KIPO should now be understood as referring to MOIP.

The bilateral PPH pilot programme between the EPO and the SAIP, which was launched on 1 July 2022, expired on 31 December 2025 (OJ EPO 2025, A39). As certain administrative steps required at national level are still pending, a transition from the pilot phase to permanent implementation of this framework is not possible as of 1 January 2026. Consequently, requests for participation in the PPH programme between the EPO and the SAIP cannot currently be accepted. Applicants requiring faster examination can ask to have their applications processed under the programme for accelerated prosecution of European patent applications (PACE).

Full details are available here.

Changes to EPO fees

New EPO fees will enter into force on 1 April 2026, as detailed here.

As part of the Decision of the Administrative Council introducing this decision, the final sentence of Rule 93(2) EPC has been deleted. Rule 93(2) EPC specifies that the Examining Division shall terminate any pending limitation proceedings in respect of a European patent where an opposition is filed against the patent. The deleted sentence referred to an earlier version of Rule 95(3) EPC, and its removal reflects the earlier amendments previously made to Rule 95(3) EPC.

PCT update

Amendments to the PCT Regulations

The amendments to the PCT Regulations that entered into force on 1 January 2026 are as follows:

• Amendments to PCT Rules 33 and 64: broadening the definition of relevant prior art for international search and preliminary examination to include non-written disclosures.
• Amendments to PCT Rules 34, 36, and 63: setting out a revised definition of the minimum documentation that an International Searching Authority is required to consult during international search, along with changes to the minimum requirements that an International Searching and Preliminary Examining Authority must satisfy for appointment and must continue to satisfy throughout its appointment.

A PowerPoint presentation showing the amendments is available here.

The PCT International Search and Preliminary Examination (ISPE) Guidelines have also been modified to implement the amendments to the PCT Regulations that entered into force on 1 January 2026.

Modified administrative instructions under the PCT

With effect from 1 January 2026, the Administrative Instructions under the PCT have been modified, including the addition of Sections 116 and 521, as well as a new Annex H. These changes relate to the new definition of PCT minimum documentation and Annex H deals, specifically addressing the technical and accessibility requirements and the procedure for including patent and utility model documents and non-patent literature in the minimum documentation, as defined in the amended PCT Rule 34.1.

Please see here (pages 1 and 2) for further details.  

ePCT update

As previously noted, a new version of the ePCT system was deployed on 8 December 2025. This latest version brings new features, including generating IB Forms and Actions in 10 publication languages, and eNotifications – an online notification delivery system.

Please see here (pages 2 and 3) for further details of the new features for both applicants and Offices.

Non-working days at the International Bureau 2026

The following dates have been designated as official holidays at WIPO headquarters in Geneva: 3 and 6 April 2026, 14 and 25 May 2026, 31 July 2026, and 25 and 31 December 2026.

The days indicated above only concern the International Bureau (IB), including when acting as a receiving Office, and do not apply to national Offices or other intergovernmental organisations.

Additional information concerning closed dates at the IB can be found here.

Filing and processing in electronic form of international applications

The European Patent Office (EPO), in its capacity as receiving Office, International Searching Authority, Supplementary Search Authority, and International Preliminary Examining Authority, will only allow sequence listings filed on data carriers/physical media when they exceed the maximum upload size in EPO Online Filing 2.0, and the EPO Contingency Upload Service. It will no longer be possible to file an entire application on a data carrier.

The EPO accepts the following physical media for large sequence listings: CD-R conforming to the ISO 9660 standard, DVD-R discs, DVD+ discs, and USB flash drives.

PCT highlights on recent and future developments

Updates on amendments to the PCT regulations which entered into force on 1 January 2026 and PCT meetings have been added to the PCT highlights webpage. This page provides advanced PCT users with a quick and high-level overview of the most recent changes over the last year, including key resources and future developments, and is updated monthly.

Practical advice: extension of time limits where the last day falls on a non-working day

The following question is answered: As the end-of-year holiday period is approaching and our firm must send documents and pay fees to different patent Offices, we were wondering to what extent we could take advantage of the “next business day rule”.

The answer is set out here.

Other useful links

• The PCT fee tables (as of 1 December 2025) can be found here (pages 14 to 24).
• A list of PCT Contracting States and Two-Letter Country Codes (as of 1 December 2025) can be found here (page 25).