Information on the improvements we're making to the patents service, including upcoming improvements and the latest updates.

From: Intellectual Property Office　Published: 28 July 2026　Last updated: 17 September 2026

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.

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

— improvements 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

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: 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

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

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.

Source: UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO)　Date: 17 September 2026　Original link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/patents-service-updates-and-improvements

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.