INFORMATION FROM THE EPO
New address database and standardised layout for communications from the EPO
The launch of the new software supporting the administrative handling of European patent applications and the management of the address database for applicants/proprietors, representatives, opponents and licensees marks a further milestone in the modernisation of the EPO's automation systems. While the changes resulting from the new software will have a major impact on internal users, external users of the European patent system will notice only that all computer-generated communications now have the same layout. Introduced in April 2002 for a number of communications, the more modern look is now the standard for all procedure-related communications.
As far as client addresses are concerned, the conversion to the new database has been used as an opportunity to remove unnecessary duplicate entries. A stricter policy of consistent use of names and addresses will be applied in future in order to avoid multiple database entries for the same address with minor variations. With respect to European professional representatives and legal practitioners, in future only the names as they appear on the list maintained by the EPO (Art. 134 EPC) will be used.