From Paper to Progress: A paralegal's first impressions of the UKIPO’s new patent service

Big change is rarely greeted with open arms.  In most industries, the first reaction to a new system is to grumble, resist and pine for the ‘old days’.  But in IP, we simply don’t have that luxury.  We work in a profession where attention to detail and tight deadlines leave no room for clunky processes and systems.  Thankfully, after years of such clunky and unreliable systems, the UKIPO have officially stepped up and gifted us with a sparkly new online service!

 

Over the past few months, I have been lucky enough to take part in the pilot for the UKIPO’s new patent service, and while it does take a little getting used to, we shouldn’t mistake this for it being a bad system.  In fact, it is a big step forward, and one that deserves credit for bringing the UKIPO in line with other modern digital services.  It’s still ever improving, but already the system feels like a huge step forward compared to the tools we’ve been using (and struggling with!) for years.

 

I am yet to test everything that the service offers us, but some of my favourite and not-so-favourite features are touched on in this article to hopefully give you some insight on what to expect.

 

A fresh look and smarter tools

 

The first thing I noticed is the design.  It is much sleeker and far more user-friendly than anything the UKIPO have given us before.  It mirrors the style of other government services, which provides some familiarity and comfort.  Though it takes a moment or two to adjust, once you do, the system is far easier to navigate than the legacy systems and paper forms we’ve all begrudgingly tolerated over the years. 

 

Another tick in the pros column for me is that when filing new applications, there is now a drop-down list for applicant names, which will also pull through names and addresses from UK Companies House.  This is a small but brilliant detail to me – it takes away some room for error and sets the platform apart from other filing systems I have used.  No more trying and failing to find ADP numbers either; ADP numbers have been scrapped!  There are also much more user friendly “checks” throughout the filing process. For example, whether the formatting of the filed documents meets the requirements of the act, such as font size and margins.  I can imagine this will lead to less formalities issues, although time will tell. 

 

Even more valuable is the ability to view your patent applications within the system itself. Within a patent application, there is a nice view of the bibliographic details, history, and upcoming actions.  Whilst this is certainly an upgrade in itself, the UKIPO have gone one further and added the ability to manage a lot of aspects of prosecution through the application’s entry on the new patent service, such as applying for a divisional, updating bibliographic details, requesting examination or search, filing assignments and requesting an extension (amongst many more).  This is a huge win in my book and will almost certainly reduce the amount of guesswork and number of phone calls to the UKIPO to figure out what is going on, never mind taking away the need to fill in an endless number of paper forms!

 

Taking a step away from the practicalities of the service itself, one of the most encouraging aspects of this journey for me is how open the UKIPO has been to feedback.  They have actively invited users to share their experiences and priorities and have already demonstrated that they are prepared to adapt the system based on this. This collaborative approach is essential.  Paralegals, attorneys and even direct applicants are the people who live and breathe these systems every day, and building something truly useful requires our voices to be heard.  The willingness of the UKIPO to listen and refine gives me confidence that the final product will be that much stronger. 

 

The growing pains

 

No overhaul like this comes without pain points.  One of the things I dislike is that an official filing receipt is not issued upon filing a GB patent application.  Instead, like China, an official receipt only arrives once the application has passed initial checks.  The UKIPO has explained its reasonings behind this decision; however, it feels like a step backwards to me. I cannot see this change being warmly welcomed.

 

Another requirement that has been introduced with this system is the need to file word copies of the description, claims and abstract.  Again, the reasonings the UKIPO have given for this make sense and whilst this may not be seen as a negative per se, it is certainly an oddity in the filing systems I have used - one I’m not quite sure how I feel about yet!  Of course, without the word documents, the checks mentioned above may not be feasible, so perhaps it is worth it.

 

The UKIPO are continuously fixing and developing the system, but as I write this, there are also some practical issues to iron out.  Currently, you can’t save any new actions into draft, and certain tasks can’t be done at all yet.  Some processes also seem slower than before: for example, if you’re filing a response and simultaneously need to take a procedural step, such as requesting an additional search, these must be done as separate actions.  It is a small inefficiency, but in our deadline-driven world, small inefficiencies can feel like big frustrations.

 

Ultimately, these are all things I can get used to with time, and the UKIPO will no doubt fix the teething problems before a wider launch, but they are still in my ‘cons’ column, for now…

 

Looking ahead

 

Change can always be disruptive, but in this case, the positives by far outweigh the negatives for me.  The new system is sleek, modern and genuinely more helpful.  There are still quirks to iron out, but the direction of travel is absolutely right, and I look forward to this service being part of my day job.

 

For those of us who spend our days deep in filing systems and deadlines, this overhaul has the potential to make our jobs smoother, faster and less stressful.  And if it means fewer panicked phone calls, and a filing experience that belongs in 2025 rather than 1995, then I’d call that progress worth embracing.