Patents service updates and improvements
Information on the improvements we’re making to the patents service, including upcoming improvements and the latest updates.
What we’re working on
We’ve published a roadmap we’re working on over the next 12 months. These are the highest priority improvements that we’re working on now. We expect these to be done in summer / autumn 2026.
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patent application improvements
- changes to make it easier to select the correct representative for the account
- when you submit a patent application you will get an immediate receipt of what you submitted. This ‘submission receipt’ will give you all the information you’d have in your official filing receipt and more, including any documents
- improvements to ‘check your answers’ page to include fee details and to prompt further checks -
respond to an examination improvements
- additional documents upload option, allowing response letter in PDF format and option to add your reference to the response -
improvements to account sign up
- introduce a better process for linking your account to your patents when you sign up
What we’ve already done
Release notes: 26 August 2026
Service improvements
Apply for a patent
We have made the following improvements to the Apply for a patent service:
- when you are applying for a patent and adding applicant, inventor or representative details, the full address will now be displayed in search results. This will give you greater confidence that you are selecting the correct address details
Search for intellectual property / Check the patents journal
We have made the following improvements to the Search for intellectual property / Check the patents journal services:
- when viewing case details for a national phase patent applications, you will now find a direct link to the relevant patent in WIPO’s Patentscope database
- you will now be able to see applicant and owner details and search for them in both the patent journal and SPC Journal
- you can now search the patents register and journal by just entering ‘GB’ or ‘EP’. Previously a full application or publication number had to be entered
- you will see improvements to the presentation of patents that are tagged as ‘SPCs’ in search results. It will make information easier to read of users ___________________________
Release notes: 22 July 2026
Service improvements
Apply for a patent
We have made the following improvements to the Apply for a patent service:
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you will now be able to add representative details more easily when applying for a GB patent. On the ’Assign representation’ screen you will now be presented with three options if your account is linked to an organisation:
- the organisation your account is linked to
- the applicant
- a different attorney or individual
This means that you will only need to search for an attorney or representative if the representative is not you / your organisation. This update has not yet been applied to national phase applications -
when you file a national phase application email notifications are now automated wherever it is possible to automate them
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when you remove an applicant from your patent application it will now also remove them as the inventor. Previously if you removed an applicant, they would be retained as the inventor
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when updating an application you will now see a change on the final confirmation page or ‘green screen’. That screen will now contain a link saying ‘View this request in your application history’. This will take you to the relevant patent details in your account
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you will find a link to updated guidance on the ‘Upload the claims’ page
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you will see updated content if you receive any error messages when filing a national phase application, so it is consistent with other parts of the service
Manage intellectual property
We have made the following improvements to the Manage intellectual property service:
- when creating an account for the first time, you will have a better experience. We have introduced improvements to how patent owners and representatives link their account to their patents. It removes steps from the process and makes it easier to verify who you are, with less manual intervention from IPO staff. This is the first in a series of updates on this theme.
Service-wide improvements
We have made the following improvements to the whole service:
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you will see changes to improve the accessibility of invoice PDF files, including appropriate alt-text and document titles
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we’re making ongoing enhancements to platform performance and security
Archive
When this page is updated old content will be removed so it remains current. You can find details of past release notes by viewing the archive timeline of this page, which can be searched by calendar date. You can also view ‘Show all updates’ at the bottom of this page to see when the page was updated.
Updates to this page
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Release notes: 26 August 2026 added.
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Section related to Archive has been added.
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First published.