The Validate EP functionality enables users to quickly create national phase cases for existing international/regional patents within the system. 


This section includes:

 

Functionality Overview


The table below outlines the case details required to use the validate EP case creation option.

Option

Case Category

Case Country

Description

Validate EP

Patent

European Patent Office (EP)

Quickly create national phase cases for any countries within the European Patent Organisation.

 

The main details of the original case will be copied to the national case(s). This includes:

  • Case Titles
  • Case Users
  • Client
  • Default Case Dates (it is not possible to copy custom dates)
  • Case Contacts (Applicants/Inventors)

The validation cases you have created will automatically be added to the case family and be visible from the Family tab.

 

Steps to Create Validation Cases

 

1. Go to the Details tab of the EP case 

 

 2. Click ‘Validate EP’ in the left hand menu Options

If no grant date is available, a warning message will appear asking if you wish to continue. There are some default tasks that will be created for the new cases, based on these dates. If you do not want to generate these tasks click ‘Continue’, otherwise click ‘Back’.

 

3. Select Countries

Tick the box next to any countries where you would like to create a new case or choose the ‘Select all Countries’ in the top left.

 

 

 

4. Check additional details to copy

            Please see the table on ‘Validation Fields’ below.

 

5. Click ‘Validate’ 

 

This takes you to the summary screen which displays the details of the cases you are creating.

 

6. Confirm

Click ‘Validate’ again if you are happy with the summary.

 

You will be taken to the Details screen of the EP parent case you were viewing.

 

A list of the new child cases will be visible in the case details displayed on the right hand side.

 

Note: The status of EP validation cases will be set to ‘Granted (Active)’. This can be edited after the cases are created.

Default Validation Fields


When creating validation cases certain fields of information can be copied to the new cases. There are some differences in the default fields for validation cases which are outlined below.


The fields highlighted in the screen shot below are available to edit when creating EP validation cases:



Field

Default Values

Additional Information

Category and Sub-category

Category: Patent

Subcategory: ‘Validation of EP’

At the top of the screen the categories details are displayed. These can be edited if necessary.

‘Add Automatic 30/31 month rule Tasks ‘

Ticked by default.

Determines whether the system default tasks that record the deadline should be added to the new case(s) automatically. 

Note: It is possible to untick this by default or hide this option completely – please contact our support team for assistance with this. If you are using Workflow this option will not be available.                                                 

New Case Codes

[Original case code] +[Two-character country code]

Manually edit the new case codes, if necessary. 

Select Associate 

Blank/Preferred Associate

Select an associate for that country, if necessary. The associate will need to be added as a contact within your Address Book.

Note: If your system uses the Correspondence functionality you can configure a list of preferred associate contacts to select by default. Please see the module on ‘Outgoing Correspondence’ for more information on this.