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Note

Note that these rules will go These rules went into effect on May 22, 2017.

 


For A-stage EP documents, legal status is calculated as for any other authority, with the possible values being "Pending", "Abandoned", "Withdrawn", or "Granted".

For granted EP documents, an overall status of "Active", "Expired - Lifetime", "Expired - Fee Related", "Withdrawn", "Withdrawn - After Issue", "Revoked", "Ceased"Ceased, " or the more generic "Not-in-force" is created, using the Inpadoc INPADOC legal status events. The status is calculated in one of three ways, illustrated below. In each case, the Designated States status is reported in only two generic categories, : "In-force" or "Not-in-force":.

Case 1

When a patent has reached its full term, the status "Expired – lifetimeLifetime" will appear at the EP level.   Designated  Designated States will all be listed with a status of "Not-in-force".

...

The "Not-in-force" status in this case might result from a fee-related expiration, a lifetime expiration, or another event that terminated coverage in that Designated State. 


Case 2

When there is a legal status event affecting the EP filing across all authorities (e.g., patent is "Withdrawn", "Revoked", or "Refused"), that status will be displayed at the EP level. Designated  Designated States will all be listed with a status of "Not-in-force".

...

During the lifetime of granted EPsEP patents, an individual status is calculated for each Designated State, with a default status of "Active" when no event affecting the current status is present. Based on the individual country-by-country status, an overall status is calculated, which is present with an attribute of “EP“EP”. ” The status at the EP level will be "Active" if any of the designated states has Designated States have been calculated as active. The Designated States are individually reported as "In-force" or "Not-in-force"."

       

Case 3.1

If all of the Designated States have the same status (e.g., "Expired - fee relatedFee Related", "Active",  etcetc.), the status at the EP level will be that status common to all Designated States.  

...

Code Block
xml
xml
<ifi-patent-status anticipated-expiration="20231017">
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="EP">Expired - Fee Related</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="DE">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="FR">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="GB">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
</ifi-patent-status>

 


or, similarly, if all Designated States are Active,active:

Code Block
xml
xml
<ifi-patent-status anticipated-expiration="20231017">
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="EP">Active</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="DE">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="FR">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="GB">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
</ifi-patent-status>

 

...


Case 3.2
When a mix of only non-active statuses ("Expired - fee relatedFee Related", "Ceased", "Revoked") occurs among the Designated States, we use a generic "Not-in-force" status at the EP level as well as for the Designated States.
...
 Code Block
xml
xml
<ifi-patent-status anticipated-expiration="20220110">
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="EP">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="DE">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="GB">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
</ifi-patent-status>
Note: If any one designated state Designated State has a status of "In-force"Active, " the EP-level status will also be "Active"." 

Case 3.3 3 (Special impact of the default status being active"Active")
The following example (EP-17771903006596-B1) illustrates the use of the default "Active" status in a record whose designated states Designated States include a single country with no change in status reported.  The The EP in this example has expired in all jurisdictions except HKDE, but since there is no notice from Hong Kong Germany through the Inpadoc INPADOC legal status service, we are showing show the patent as active in HK"In-force" in DE, and therefore active "Active" at the EP level.
For example:
 Code Block
xml
xml
<ifi-patent-status anticipated-expiration="2026100920340508">
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="EP">Active</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="ATAL">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="BEAT">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="BGBE">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="CHBG">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="CYCH">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="CZCY">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="DECZ">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="DE">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="DK">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="EE">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>  
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="ES">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>  
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="FI">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="FR">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="GB">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="GR">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="HKHR">In>Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="HU">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="IE">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="IS">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="IT">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="LI">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="LT">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="LU">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="LV">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="MC">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="NLMK">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="PLMT">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="PTNL">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="RONO">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="SEPL">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="SIPT">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="SKRO">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="TRRS">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-term-extension/>
patent-status-description country="SE">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="SI">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="SK">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="SM">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  <ifi-patent-status-description country="TR">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
</ifi-patent-status>

Case 4
When Unitary Patent Protection (UPP) is registered for an EP granted patent, a C0 record is created listing the participating UP countries, the overall Unitary Patent (UP) status, and the status of the participating countries. The status used for active UP-participating countries is "In-force UP". For example, EP-3412222-C0:
 Code Block
languagexml
<ifi-integrated-content publication-type="G" subject-area="Mechanical">
  <ifi-patent-status>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="EP">Active</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="AT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="BE">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="BG">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="DE">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="DK">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="EE">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="FI">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="FR">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="IT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="LT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="LU">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="LV">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="MT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="NL">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="PT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="SE">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="SI">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
  </ifi-patent-status>

Similarly, the granted EP-B* record shows countries participating in the UP as "In-Force UP", while the remaining countries follow the classical or national validation procedures (i.e., "Active", "In-force", or "Not-in-force"). B* records where the UPP has been requested will also contain "yes" in the ep-up-requested flag. This flag acknowledges that there has been a request, but does not necessarily indicate registration. For example, the XML for EP-3412222-B1 appears as:
 Code Block
languagexml
<ifi-integrated-content publication-type="G" subject-area="Mechanical">
  <ifi-patent-status anticipated-expiration="20340314" ep-up-requested="yes">
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="EP">Active</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="AL">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="AT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="BE">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="BG">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="CH">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="CY">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="CZ">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="DE">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="DK">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="EE">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="ES">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="FI">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="FR">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="GB">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="GR">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="HR">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="HU">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="IE">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="IS">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="IT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="LI">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="LT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="LU">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="LV">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="MC">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="MK">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="MT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="NL">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="NO">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="PL">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="PT">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="RO">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="RS">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="SE">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="SI">In-force UP</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="SK">Not-in-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="SM">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
    <ifi-patent-status-description country="TR">In-force</ifi-patent-status-description>
  </ifi-patent-status>

Note: Detailed information about coverage in Inpadoc INPADOC legal status data and coverage can be found at https://www.epo.org/en/searching-for-patents/helpful-resources/data/tablescoverage/weekly.html