Global IP Information

2026-04-01

USPTO announces agentic AI-assisted evaluator for patent eligibility determinations

USPTO

As part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) continued efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into agency operations—first with the Artificial Intelligence Search Automated Pilot Program, or “ASAP!,” for patent prior art references followed by the Trademark Classification Agentic Codification Tool, or “Class ACT,” for trademark searching—the USPTO today announced the first-of-its-kind agentic AI tool to assist in patent eligibility determinations under 35 U.S.C. §101.

2026-03-31

The Public Records Division (PRD) processes and fills orders for both certified and uncertified copies of United States Patent and Trademark Office documents, records assignments and other documents related to title. This is an update of actual processing times for orders filled during the month of February 2026.

USPTO

2026-03-30

Successful conclusion of second convergence of practice cycle

EPO

Following the Administrative Council's March meeting, new common practices on broad claims and double patenting have been adopted. This concludes the second cycle of the European Patent Office's (EPO) convergence of practice programme.

2026-03-26

New APIs and more in the Open Data Portal

USPTO

2026-03-25

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 25 March 2026 concerning the filing of documents in DOCX format

EPO

As part of the continuing digitalisation of its services and following the successful conclusion of the pilot project on DOCX filing, the European Patent Office (EPO) will permit documents to be filed in DOCX format in both proceedings under the European Patent Convention (EPC) and proceedings related to European patents with unitary effect with effect from 1 April 2026. This development lays the foundation for end‑to‑end electronic processing and extends to application documents, translations, amendments, marked-up copies for identification of amendments, letters and other submissions, including from third parties.

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