{"id":362277,"date":"2026-01-10T06:05:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/362277\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T06:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:05:19","slug":"epo-picking-up-the-pace-patent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/362277\/","title":{"rendered":"EPO Picking Up The PACE? – Patent"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

MC<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Marks & Clerk<\/p>\n


\n <\/a><\/p>\n

More<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n


\n \"Marks
\n <\/a><\/p>\n


\nMarks & Clerk is one of the UK\u2019s foremost firms of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys. Our attorneys and solicitors are wired directly into the UK\u2019s leading business and innovation economies. Alongside this we have offices in 9 international locations covering the EU, Canada and Asia, meaning we offer clients the best possible service locally, nationally and internationally. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n The slow speed of prosecution at the EPO is a bugbear for many applicants (and their attorneys). \n <\/p>\n


\n United Kingdom
\n Intellectual Property \n <\/p>\n


\n To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com. \n <\/p>\n

Article Insights<\/p>\n

Peter Youle\u2019s articles from Marks & Clerk are most popular:<\/p>\n


\n within Intellectual Property topic(s)
\n in United Kingdom
\n with readers working within the Construction & Engineering industries <\/p>\n

The slow speed of prosecution at the EPO is a bugbear for many
\napplicants (and their attorneys). Compounding frustrations,
\nenquiries as to the processing of the file provide often optimistic
\ntimeframes and the EPO’s “PACE” programme rarely
\nappears to achieve the desired result, with the three-month target
\nfor responding to applicants’ submissions that is ‘strived
\nfor’ by the EPO being missed as a matter of routine.<\/p>\n

However, in accordance with their Strategic Plan 2028, the EPO
\nare looking to accelerate by making changes to their procedures for
\nenquiries and its interaction with the PACE programme coming into
\neffect from 1 February 2026.<\/p>\n

For applications under PACE, filing enquiries as to the
\nprocessing of the file “will automatically cause the EPO to
\nissue the next action within one month”. This one-month
\ndeadline will also be imposed where an enquiry is filed following
\nthe lapse of an estimated response period from a previous
\nenquiry.<\/p>\n

The shortened deadlines for cases prioritised by applicants and
\nbolder wording relating to the meeting of the targets are welcomed,
\nthough they fall short of a guarantee.<\/p>\n

Notice from the European Patent Office dated 16 December
\n2025 concerning the handling of enquiries as to the processing of
\nfiles<\/p>\n

www.epo.org\/…<\/a><\/p>\n

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
\nguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
\nabout your specific circumstances.<\/p>\n

[View Source] <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MC Marks & Clerk More Marks & Clerk is one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-362277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}