Patent Law & Practice at a Glance – September 2025

UKIPO update

One IPO update

The UKIPO has published guidance on measures that UK practitioners should be taking in preparation for the launch of its new “One IPO” filing system, which is intended to replace various electronic filing systems that are currently in use. In particular, they have reminded UK practitioners to renew their soft certificates by 30 November 2025. The UKIPO currently anticipates that the new service will be launched in early 2026 and intend to announce the launch date six to eight weeks in advance.

Government launches designs consultation

The UK government has initiated a consultation on the subject of reforms to the UK’s designs system. The consultation appears to be motivated mainly by a desire to simplify the UK’s system of design rights, with views from users of the designs system as well as legal professionals working with designs being sought. Click here to find out more .

UK-China IP

The UKIPO publishes a newsletter targeted at UK stakeholders and 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 statistics for July 2025 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

Drawings in colour and greyscale

As reported in the last update, the EPO will permit the electronic filing and processing of drawings in colour and greyscale from 1 October 2025. More details available here.

Resumption of proceedings following decision G 1/23

On 13 July 2023, the President of the European Patent Office (EPO) decided to stay ex officio all proceedings before the EPO examining and opposition divisions in which the decision depended entirely on the Enlarged Board of Appeal’s decision on referral G 1/23. This stay has now been lifted. More details available here.

PCT update

The 32nd session of the Meeting of International Authorities under the PCT will be held from 29 to 31 October 2025 in virtual format. The working documents for this meeting will be published on WIPO website.

Roving PCT and ePCT seminars in the United States

WIPO, in cooperation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), is organizing four one-day seminars about the PCT and ePCT. Each event will include updates on the latest PCT developments and provide participants with best practice tips from WIPO and USPTO experts. The events are aimed at patent agents and attorneys, foreign filing specialists and paralegals with experience in PCT. The seminars are free of charge and will be provided in hybrid format with practical, interactive sessions available to those attending in person. Seminars will take place on Friday, 24 October 2025 at the USPTO Southwest Regional Outreach Office, Dallas, Texas, and on Tuesday, 28 October 2025 at the USPTO Midwest Elijah J. McCoy Regional Outreach Office, Detroit, Michigan. All locations feature the same program and workshops. For more information, including program details, please see New PCT seminar across four US cities.

Advanced PCT seminar at WIPO headquarters

An advanced PCT seminar will be held at WIPO headquarters in Geneva on 13 and 14 October 2025. The program will be conducted by experienced staff of the Patents and Technology Sector, as well as speakers from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The seminar is aimed at patent administrators, paralegals and other users who are already familiar with the PCT system. Please see here (page 11) for further details.

Practical Advice: Indicating that the agent is entitled to represent the applicant before the International Bureau as a receiving Office

The following question is answered:

As a US agent, can I file a PCT application with the International Bureau as a receiving Office (RO/IB) using ePCT, for a client who is a national and resident of Canada (with no co-applicant)?  

The answer set out here (pages 11 and 12) is as follows:

PCT Rule 83.1bis(a) defines who is entitled to practice as an agent before the International Bureau (IB) as a receiving Office in respect of a PCT application. Specifically, it grants this right to any person who is entitled to practice before the national Office of, or acting for, a Contracting State of which the applicant (or at least one applicant if there are two or more) is a resident or a national. The question of who is entitled to practice before a specific national or regional Office is determined by each Office under PCT Rule 90.1. Since your client is a Canadian national and resident, you would need to be entitled to practice before the Canadian Patent Office to act as their agent.

When using ePCT to file a PCT application before RO/IB, ePCT validates whether the agent has the right to practice before the relevant Office and prompts the user to confirm this by checking a box which reads ‘The Agent is entitled to practice before the following Receiving Office’.

It is primarily the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the agent is entitled to act before the receiving Office so when examining the application for formal defects, RO/IB would not usually check national registers for the registration of a specific agent, or the register of the European Patent Office, for example, as to whether an association of patent agents is registered as such before that Office. However, in exceptional cases where RO/IB has a doubt as to the agent’s right to practice before the national or regional office concerned, it will verify the information, possibly with the help of the national/regional Office before which the agent claims to be registered/entitled to practice.

Where RO/IB identifies that an agent does not have the right to represent an applicant under PCT Rule 83.1bis(a) —whether through its own review or following objections from a national office or a third party—it will correct ex officio the status of agent to “address for correspondence”.

Agents should keep in mind that even if the receiving Office does not identify the indication of agent as being incorrect, the indication might ultimately be questioned by designated Offices during the national phase. It is therefore important to ensure that the indication is correct at the time of filing.

If you do not have the right to represent the applicant as agent, you should either consider indicating yourself as an “address for correspondence” or suggest that your client appoint an agent who is entitled to act before the Canadian Patent Office. The “address for correspondence” designation will allow you to continue managing communications while ensuring PCT compliance.

Other useful links

The PCT seminar, webinar and event calendar can be found here (pages 13 and 14).

The PCT fee tables (as of 1 August 2025) can be found here (pages 15 to 22).

A list of PCT Contracting States and Two-Letter Country Codes (as of 1 August 2025) can be found here (page 23).