Patent Law & Practice at a Glance – October 2026

UKIPO update

Government response to consultation on Standard Essential Patents

The government response to a consultation on Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) has now been published. The consultation was run between July and October 2025 and sought views on measures to improve the efficiency and transparency in SEP licensing.

The response sets out a number of measures aimed at making SEP disputes easier to resolve. The envisioned changes include a measure for voluntary disclosure of standard-related patent information at the UKIPO, with the aim of creating a central source of SEP data where rightsholders can register information about SEPs through the new UKIPO service. The response rejects a new FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) rate-setting court track but plans to speed up and reduce the cost of SEP disputes through early judicial guidance, new licensing guidelines and a potential UKIPO-led non-binding FRAND opinion service. 

The remaining proposals largely maintain the current SEP framework rather than introducing significant new measures. The government has not identified a need for major legislative changes, a new essentiality checking service, expanded ADR services or changes to remedies in SEP disputes. 

The full response can be found here.

UK-China IP

The UKIPO publishes a newsletter targeted at UK stakeholders, including updates on recent developments 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 is doing relative to the customer service targets it has set itself can be found here.

EPO update

Mandatory electronic filing and notification of documents

Amendments to Rules 2, 114, and 125 EPC will come into force on 1 April 2027. The amendments will introduce mandatory electronic filing of documents and mandatory electronic notification in proceedings under the European Patent Convention (EPC), proceedings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and proceedings related to European patents with unitary effect.

Under Rule 2 EPC, electronic filing will become the standard way of filing documents with the EPO. Online Filing 2.0 is the service to be used for filing patent applications and other documents, while MyEPO can be used for filing certain subsequent submissions and documents. The EPO Contingency Upload Service remains available as a fallback option, in particular for emergency situations. In addition, the ePCT service of the International Bureau of WIPO can be used for filing international (PCT) applications and other documents relating to such applications to be filed in the international phase, except in proceedings before the EPO as Authority specified for supplementary international search.

Filing by postal services will remain possible, especially, but not exclusively, for the purpose of obtaining a filing date or meeting a time limit. However, any application or other document filed this way will have to be refiled electronically within two months of an invitation to do so, unless an exception applies.

Similarly, under Rule 114 EPC, third-party observations may be filed only electronically.

Finally, under Rule 125 EPC, notification will be effected electronically unless one of a limited number of exceptions applies where notification by postal services is resorted to. Notification by delivery by hand will no longer be available. This approach extends to documents not subject to formal notification: such documents will likewise be delivered electronically unless one of the limited exceptions applies.

Full details of the changes, including remedies available in the case of a failure to refile documents electronically, are available here, here, here, and here.

Updates to PACE programme for accelerated prosecution of European patent applications

The EPO has published some changes to the the PACE programme. As of 1 October, the EPO now allows for bulk PACE requests to be filed for multiple applications simultaneously using MyEPO. Bulk requests filed by other means will not be processed.

Introduction of a timeline panel in MyEPO

As of 1 October 2026, a timeline panel is now available as a standard feature in MyEPO. The timeline panel gives MyEPO users a visual overview of the procedural progress of their European patent applications, enabling them to better understand the procedural status of their patent applications and to manage their portfolios. More details are available here.

Updated definition of DOCX

Following feedback from users, the definition of “DOCX” for filing with the EPO has been updated to enable more widespread use of this new filing format. More details are available here and here.

PCT update

Further enhancement of PCT Applicant’s Guide: AI-assisted summaries

WIPO is leveraging artificial intelligence to provide AI-assisted summaries of the latest updates to the PCT Applicant’s Guide. Users can review a summary of the latest updates when they access the Guide annexes online. AI is also being used to expand the weekly PCT Guide Updates that are emailed to subscribers.

New version of ePCT available

WIPO has released a new version of ePCT, its online service for secure filing and management of international patent applications. Version 4.18 incorporates several refinements to improve the user experience for both applicants and patent offices. See here (page 3) for further details.

New version of WIPO Standard ST.3 published

A revised version of WIPO Standard ST.3 has been published. WIPO Standards provide a globally recognised common framework for managing and processing IP information and documentation. Within this framework, WIPO Standard ST.3 sets out two-letter codes for the representation of states, other entities and intergovernmental organisations. Read here (page 3) for further details.

SME support series: How to decide where to protect your invention

The following question is answered: Our startup has filed a PCT application and identified eight possible markets, but our budget will cover entering the PCT national or regional phase in only three or four. How should we decide where to seek patents? What factors should we consider? The answer is set out here (pages 7 to 11).

Practical advice: Filing a demand for international preliminary examination

The following question is answered: We filed an international application under the PCT and recently received the written opinion of the International Searching Authority (ISA). Unfortunately, some of the results of the international search were unfavourable. Might it be worth filing a demand for international preliminary examination under PCT Chapter II? If so, what would this procedure involve? The answer is set out here (pages 11 to 13).