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
- 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 -
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 -
Contingency filing service – ahead of retiring the legacy patents services, we are developing a contingency filing service. This will allow customers to submit patent applications to the IPO if the new patents service is unavailable
What we’ve already done
Release notes: 1 October 2026
Apply for a patent
We have made the following improvements to the Apply for a patent service:
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we’ve made significant improvements to the ‘check your answers’ page to make it easier to check your application details before you submit them. This applies to GB, national phase (NP1) and divisional patent applications. They include:
- we’ve improved the layout of the page. Important details like your reference number will now appear at the top of the page. We’ve also grouped similar information like party details together
- the number of pages in your description document will now be displayed so you can be sure you’re paying the right excess pages fees
- the derivation of right reason is listed against each inventor to give you certainty that the right reason has been provided
- you can see the fields that haven’t been completed as well as those that have
- a warning is displayed if the representative details haven’t been added to avoid applications being submitted without a representative
- we’ve added details of any fees to the bottom of the page -
you will get a warning message if you attempt to add the same applicant details twice on the same patent application
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when applying for a national phase (NP1) patent you will now be able to review address details if you created a new address when adding a representative
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you will no longer see an error in the content of the ‘assign representation’ screen when applying for a patent
Manage intellectual property
We have made the following improvements to the Manage intellectual property service:
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you will start receiving overdue renewal reminders and ceasing letters via email, if you were signed up to receive email notifications from us previously. This will apply to patents that have been applied for or changed in the new service. If you haven’t previously provided us with an email address for receiving patent correspondence, you will continue to get these letters by post
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when transferring ownership of a patent you will see various updates to the content and format of pages to make them consistent with other parts of the service
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you will now see links to provide feedback on the following transaction types:
- add, change or remove a licensee
- surrender a patent
- restore a patent
- cancel a licence of right
Bug fixes
Apply for a patent
We’ve fixed the following bugs in the Apply for a patents service:
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if a new address is created for a representative when filing a national phase (NP1) application, the address details will now display on the ‘check your answers screen’. Previously, the address was not being displayed
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when applying for a patent and adding a company as an owner, the link to search Companies House now opens in a new tab. Previously, it opened in the same tab
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you will no longer see errors or missing information on certified office copies. The improvements include:
- derivation of right information will now be included
- the country of filing code will be ‘GB’ for UK application
- suppressed inventors are not displayed
- non-UK addresses display the full country name
- duplicate postcodes are not displayed
- the parties are listed in the correct order
- the date format will display correctly (date – month – year) for divisional applications
Manage intellectual property
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when you first create your account a banner appears asking you to link your account to a legal entity (e.g. your organisation). This banner will no longer include inaccurate wording saying that you can link your account in profile and settings
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when you are going through the process of linking your account to a legal entity (e.g. your organisation) you will see a banner with a button saying ‘enter a linking code’. This button will now link to the ‘enter linking code’ screen. Previously the link was not working
What we’ve already done
Release notes: 10 September 2026
Service-wide improvements
We have made the following improvements to the whole service:
- since the service launched, we have been working to reduce the amount of disruption for customers when we make service updates. This release was our first ‘zero downtime deployment’, which means we did not have to take the service into maintenance for this release. While we will continue to have some service maintenance windows in the future, these will start to become increasingly rare as we automate more of our technical processes. We will also be able to introduce new features, fixes and improvements more quickly and reliably.
Apply for a patent
We have made the following improvements to the Apply for a patent service:
- you will now be able to add representative details more easily when applying for a national phase patent (NP1). 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 already been applied to GB patent applications
Bug fixes
Apply for a patent
We’ve fixed the following bugs in the Apply for a patents service:
- when removing applicants that are also inventors from your patent application you will now see more consistent behaviour. Previously, when removing multiple applicants, some were being re-added after being removed
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.