The Single Patent Legal Information tab in the Objective contains all legal information related to this patent via the EPO`s Global Legal Events Data (INPADOC). It contains information about legal and proprietary data that can be used to assess the ownership of documents over time, as well as other information such as the expired status of a patent. Global information on legal events is essential for a wide range of our clients, from occasional users of patent information to professional and frequent users. You can use this data to determine the legal status of an application or property right, for example whether an application is active or whether a patent has expired. Over the past decades, the EPO has contributed to providing high-quality data on legal events from many patent authorities around the world through the EPO`s Global Legal Events Data (INPADOC). With an astonishing variety of data on legal events, the database has become an important resource for users of the EPO`s commercial patent data services. Today, it sets the standard in its field and is constantly being improved to meet the demands and expectations of users of patent information. All legal event codes present in the INPADOC database and used since 1997 have been classified by category level according to the INPADOC classification scheme. WIPO Standard ST.27 is the result of a joint initiative by WIPO and other patent offices to improve the exchange and usability of data on legal events.
Legal event data is categorized to add value and make it more accessible. The EPO is introducing this two-tier structure in two phases. The main task of Phase I, which is still ongoing, was to categorize 2,800 INPADOC codes for legal events used since 1997. This has been done, and now new codes are added every month. The EPO will classify the codes of legal events according to a detailed structure, i.e. Phase 2 at a later stage. Letter designation, which groups event codes into categories that are of particular importance to the prosecution of a patent and have a common theme. The course will be available in the frontfile from March 2020. For more information, see the Inpadoc classification scheme. The following tables summarize type codes not used since 2 January 2001; a summary of the species codes used in documents issued from 2. January 2001; and a summary of new codes added as a result of the America Invents Act of 2011 (AEOI).
It is recommended that USPTO documents be identified by the following three elements: (1) the two-digit country code (United States for the United States of America); (2) the number of the patent or publication; and (3) WIPO Code of Art ST.16. Example: “US 7,654,321 B1” for U.S. Patent No. 7,654,321, where there was no previously published patent application, and “US 2003/1234567 A1” for Publication No. 2003/1234567 of the United States Patent Application, published in 2003. Each year, the numbering of published patent applications starts again with the new four-digit year and the 0000001 number, so the publication number of a patent application must contain an associated year. You can view data on legal events concerning many EPO products and services. The event code dataset contains brief descriptions of the event codes used in the transactional dataset. Descriptions can be linked to transactions using the event_code variable.
This data file contains 1,873 unique event codes. *See table below for new uses of codes B1 and B2 as of January 2, 2001. Searching for legal codes may not be for beginners. Each patent jurisdiction (country) establishes its own legal codes. Therefore, the codes (and therefore the LGL_CODE search) are only useful if you are searching the patents of that particular jurisdiction. Use the list below to find codes you might be looking for. A legal event is any procedural step during the grant procedure as well as after the grant. Examples are “application submitted”, “official notice sent” and “maintenance fee paid”. Use the LGL_CODE field when searching for patents that contain a specific event in the Legal Events column.
On January 2, 2001, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) began printing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ST.16 code on each of its published patent documents. WIPO Standard ST.16 codes contain a letter and, in many cases, a number used to distinguish between the type of patent document (e.g. publication of a utility model application (publication of a patent application), patent, plant patent application, plant patent or design) and the degree of publication (e.g. first publication, second publication or corrected publication). Detailed information on ST.16 and the use of patent codes by patent offices around the world is available on the WIPO website under www.wipo.int/scit/en , under links to WIPO Standards and other documents. The INPADOC classification system consists of 21 categories ranging from A (application filed) to Y (correction and deletion of event information) to Z (pending classification). The source of the legal status in this container is the European Patent Office`s Inpadoc data, which covers a wide range of entries, procedural steps and post-grant events from more than 50 patent authorities. Premium Plus subscribers will also receive legal status data in English from our new Chinese data source (see China Data Enhancements for details).
Content and scope vary, and all legal status codes are country-specific. A list of legal status codes, content and coverage worldwide is available on the EPO website under www.epo.org/searching-for-patents/helpful-resources/data/tables/weekly.html. For some authorities, you can find a more detailed explanation of the codes under www.epo.org/searching-for-patents/helpful-resources/data/tables/legal-status-codes.html. Today, the INPADOC database contains more than 250 million records of legal events, and navigating this sea of data has become a challenge for users. CZ MM4A Patent extinguishment for non-payment of fees The information comes from patent office gazettes, registries, web services, etc. and is uploaded to a database that currently contains more than 250 million legal events. In response, the EPO has set up an INPADOC legal event classification system, the main objective of which is to facilitate the understanding of the nature of these events and to facilitate the retrieval of these data. The schema consists of a category level and a detail level. For example, events related to applications for supplementary protection certificates fall under the Category G (Protection beyond intellectual property right) system, which makes it easier for users to retrieve data on legal events related to this important type of intellectual property right. There is also an “INPADOC Classification System Category List”, which includes a description of each category, examples of events belonging to each category, and additional comments for clarity. CC:JP AND LGL_CODE:R153 –> Find JP patents with code R153 “GRANT OF PATENT TERM EXTENSION”.
In accordance with the America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA), the USPTO created new post-issuance publications, which resulted in new artistic codes. New publications on the post-issuance process include supplementary examination certificates, post-issue examination certificates, inter partes examination certificates and derivation certificates. Each certificate type has a new type code. For more information on the AEOI, see the USPTO Web site at: www.uspto.gov/aia_implementation/index.jsp Field Code LGL_CODE applies to global patent documents. It is used to query data in the Event Code column of the Legal Events tab. Data on legal events are provided to us by the EPO and updated weekly on the basis of the file made available to us. The category level is the top level of the system and is based on the category level of WIPO Standard ST.27. Events related to procedural steps not performed are usually assigned to the category that includes the corresponding positive event.
For example, for “non-entry into the national phase”, the corresponding positive event is “national phase entry”, which is dealt with in category A (filing). Therefore, `non-entry into the national phase` also falls within category A. Category N (termination) used in WIPO Standard ST.27 is not used in the INPADOC classification system because category N of the Standard is intended only for the final termination of an application or intellectual property right. However, since remedies against termination are generally available, it does not seem appropriate to use this category in the INPADOC classification. Data classified according to the schema is already visible in Espacenet and can be searched in the Global Patent Index. CL 0030 Received by the Legal Department (opposition or cancellation) Information on legal events is used, for example, for market analysis, freedom to operate research, decision-making for business investment and statistical studies.
