Global IP Information

2026-04-03

Report on the 186th meeting of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (Munich, 18 and 19 March 2026)

EPO

2026-04-01

USPTO announces pre-order procedure regarding substantial new question determination in ex parte reexamination proceedings

USPTO

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is announcing a new process for permitting a patent owner to provide information useful for the USPTO to make a determination of whether an ex parte request for reexamination establishes a Substantial New Question (SNQ) of patentability. The new process allows for patent owners to provide information on why an argued teaching(s) in a proposed SNQ presented in a request for reexamination would not be considered important to a reasonable examiner.

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.

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