Patents service updates and improvements

What we’re working on

We’ve published a roadmap we’re working on over the next 12 months. These are the highest priority improvements that we’re working on now. We expect these to be done in summer / autumn 2026.

• patent application improvements 
  - when you submit a patent application you will get an immediate receipt of what you submitted. This ‘submission receipt’ will give you all the information you’d have in your official filing receipt and more, including any documents
  - improvements to ‘check your answers’ page to include fee details and to prompt further checks

• respond to an examination improvements
  - additional documents upload option, allowing response letter in PDF format and option to add your reference to the response 

• improvements to account sign up
  - introduce a better process for linking your account to your patents when you sign up

• Contingency filing service – ahead of retiring the legacy patents services, we are developing a contingency filing service. This will allow customers to submit patent applications to the IPO if the new patents service is unavailable

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What we’ve already done

Release notes: 101 SeptemberOctober 2026

Service-wideApply improvementsfor a patent

We havehave made the following improvements to the Apply for a patent service: 

• we’ve made significant improvements to the following‘check improvementsyour answers’ page to make it easier to check your application details before you submit them. This applies to GB, national phase (NP1) and divisional patent applications. They include:
  
  - we’ve improved the wholelayout service: 

  • sinceof the servicepage. launched,Important wedetails havelike beenyour workingreference tonumber reducewill now appear at the amounttop of disruptionthe forpage. customersWe’ve whenalso wegrouped makesimilar serviceinformation updates.like Thisparty releasedetails wastogether
    
    - ourthe firstnumber ‘zeroof downtimepages deployment’,in whichyour meansdescription wedocument didwill notnow havebe todisplayed takeso you can be sure you’re paying the serviceright intoexcess maintenancepages forfees
    
    - thisthe release.derivation Whileof weright willreason continueis listed against each inventor to give you certainty that the right reason has been provided
    
    - you can see the fields that haven’t been completed as well as those that have
    
    some- servicea maintenancewarning windowsis indisplayed if the future,representative thesedetails willhaven’t startbeen added to becomeavoid increasinglyapplications rarebeing assubmitted wewithout automatea morerepresentative
    
    - we’ve added details of ourany technicalfees processes.to Wethe bottom of the page

  • you will alsoget a warning message if you attempt to add the same applicant details twice on the same patent application

  • when applying for a national phase (NP1) patent you will now be able to introducereview newaddress features,details fixesif andyou improvementscreated morea quicklynew andaddress reliably.when adding a representative

  Apply

  you will no longer see an error in the content of the ‘assign representation’ screen when applying for a patent

Manage intellectual property

We have made the following improvements to the Applyto the Manage for aintellectual patent service: property service: 

• you will nowwill bestart ablereceiving overdue renewal reminders and ceasing letters via email, if you were signed up to addreceive representativeemail detailsnotifications more easilyfrom whenus applyingpreviously. for a nationalThis phasewill patentapply (NP1). Onto the ’Assignpatents representation’that screenhave been applied for or changed in the new service. If you willhaven’t nowpreviously beprovided presentedus with threean options if youremail accountaddress is linkedfor to anreceiving organisation:
  
  -patent thecorrespondence, organisationyou your account iswill linked to
  -continue the applicant
  -to a differentget attorneythese or individualletters by post

This means thatwhen you will onlytransferring needownership to search for an attorneyof ora representativepatent if theyou representativewill is not you / your organisationsee - thisvarious update hasupdates alreadyto beenthe appliedcontent and format of pages to GBmake them consistent with other parts of the service

you will now see links to provide feedback on the following transaction types:

- add, change or remove a licensee

- surrender a patent

- applicationsrestore a patent

- cancel a licence of right

Bug fixes

Apply for a patent

We’ve fixed the following bugs in the Apply for a patents service:

• if a new address is created for a representative when removingfiling applicantsa thatnational arephase also(NP1) inventorsapplication, fromthe address details will now display on the ‘check your answers screen’. Previously, the address was not being displayed

• when applying for a patent applicationand adding a company as an owner, the link to search Companies House now opens in a new tab. Previously, it opened in the same tab

• you will nowno longer see moreerrors consistentor behaviour.missing Previously,information whenon removingcertified multipleoffice applicants,copies. someThe wereimprovements beinginclude:
  
  - re-addedderivation afterof beingright removedinformation will now be included
  
  - the country of filing code will be ‘GB’ for UK application
  
  - suppressed inventors are not displayed
  
  - non-UK addresses display the full country name
  
  - duplicate postcodes are not displayed
  
  - the parties are listed in the correct order
  
  - the date format will display correctly (date – month – year) for divisional applications

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Manage intellectual property

Release

• when notes:you 26first Augustcreate 2026

Serviceyour improvements

Applyaccount fora banner appears asking you to link your account to a patent

Welegal have madeentity the following improvements(e.g. to the Applyyour for aorganisation). patent service: This banner will no longer include inaccurate wording saying that you can link your account in profile and settings

• when you are applyinggoing forthrough athe patentprocess andof addinglinking applicant,your inventoraccount orto representativea details,legal theentity full(e.g. addressyour organisation) you will nowsee bea displayedbanner inwith searcha results.button saying ‘enter a linking code’. This button will givenow youlink greaterto confidencethe that‘enter youlinking arecode’ selectingscreen. Previously the correctlink addresswas detailsnot working

Search

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What forwe’ve intellectualalready propertydone

Release /notes: Check10 theSeptember patents2026

Service-wide journal

improvements

We have made the following improvements to the Searchthe for intellectualwhole propertyservice: 

• since /the Checkservice launched, we have been working to reduce the patentsamount journalof services:
  • disruption for customers when viewingwe casemake detailsservice forupdates. aThis nationalrelease phasewas patentour applications,first you‘zero willdowntime nowdeployment’, findwhich ameans directwe linkdid not have to take the relevantservice patentinto maintenance for this release. While we will continue to have some service maintenance windows in WIPO’sthe Patentscopefuture, database
    
  • youthese will nowstart to become increasingly rare as we automate more of our technical processes. We will also be able to seeintroduce applicantnew features, fixes and ownerimprovements detailsmore quickly and searchreliably.

  Apply for thema inpatent

  We bothhave made thethe following improvements to the Apply for a patent service: 

  • you will now be able to add representative details more easily when applying for a national phase patent journal(NP1). On andthe ’Assign SPCrepresentation’ Journal
    
  • screen you canwill now searchbe presented with three options if your account is linked to an organisation:
    
    - the patentsorganisation registeryour account is andlinked to
    - journalthe applicant
    - bya different justattorney enteringor individual

  This means that ‘GB’you will only need to search for an attorney or ‘EP’.representative Previouslyif the arepresentative fullis not you / your organisation application- this orupdate has publicationalready numberbeen hadapplied to beGB entered
  

• youpatent willapplications

  Bug seefixes

  Apply improvementsfor toa patent

  We’ve fixed the presentationfollowing ofbugs in the Apply for a patents service:

  • when removing applicants that are taggedalso asinventors ‘SPCs’from inyour searchpatent results.application Ityou will makenow informationsee easiermore toconsistent readbehaviour. ofPreviously, userswhen removing multiple applicants, some were being re-added after being removed

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  Archive

  When this page is updated old content will be removed so it remains current. You can find details of past release notes by viewing the archive timeline of this page, which can be searched by calendar date. You can also view ‘Show all updates’ at the bottom of this page to see when the page was updated.