The WIPO Document Converter is available fully integrated in ePCT filing for use when filing applications.
It is also available for demonstration and testing purposes through the following standalone webpage. This document converter standalone webpage must not be used in the preparation of a production filing when the document is still highly confidential.
The first session of a text processing task force was held from January 29 to 31, to help us understand and address some of the issues . This was attended by delegations from 23 national Offices, 2 intergovernmental organizations and 7 non-governmental organizations representing user groups.
The task force reviewed the current landscape of electronic filing. As a result of the China National Intellectual Property Administration converting all international applications filed with it as receiving Office to XML format, the International Bureau now receives over half of international applications in XML format and we have begun to publish international applications based on the XML not only where they are unchanged from filing, but also where corrections and rectifications have been made.
Delegations took a very positive approach, but recognized that many issues would need to be addressed.
Some of the issues on the side of applicants and attorneys included:
From the Office side, there was a need to:
Addressing these issues and requirements would involve a complicated set of legal issues, technical standards, new procedures and IT development that would need to be considered and coordinated.
As we need to break the work down into manageable sections that help us to move forwards, we propose the next session of the task force will deal primarily with the question of file formats, and what can be used for filing that is easily prepared by applicants to a well understood standard, how can a satisfactory long term archive of the application as filed be provided, and what formats can deliver optimal processing implementations.
Example types
Level 1 - PDF Filing, sheet processing, sheet master published
Level 2 - XML Filing, sheet processing, sheet master published
Level 3 - XML Filing, parallel XML, sheet processing, sheet master published
Level 4 - PDF Filing, converted to XML, XML processing, XML master generates sheet publication
Level 5 - XML Filing, XML processing, XML master generates sheet publication
Example type | IA Number | Publication date | Features |
---|---|---|---|
Level 1 | BR2020050475 | 03.06.2021 | Formulae in description (see description tab (OCR)) Conversion delivers poor quality drawing images R26 sheet markup |
Level 1 (-) | (paper original) | 14.01.2021 | Formulae in description (see description tab (OCR)) R26 sheet markup |
Level 1 (-) | (Contingency upload | 17.09.2020 | Embedded image in description (see description tab (OCR)) |
Level 2 | |||
Level 3 | (DOCX Filing) | 29.09.2022 | WIPO docConverter created XML from DOCX uploaded in ePCT Original had line numbered sheets Amended claims sheet processed in parallel - see full text tab contains amended claims (XML), Official publication sheets contain stamps |
Level 3 | (DOCX Filing) | 29.09.2022 | WIPO docConverter created XML from DOCX uploaded in ePCT Original had paragraph numbered sheets Color drawing - see figure 6B |
Level 3 | IB2022055496 | 22.12.2022 | WIPO docConverter created XML in French |
Level 3 | IB2022050019 | 14.07.2022 | WIPO docConverter created XML Nested ordered lists (see paragraph 16 in full text tab) Tables in XML (see paragraph 121 in full text tab) |
Level 3 | JP2023014556 | 02.11.2023 | XML application body from applicant (JPO-PAS i480) R26 drawing markup in XML (e.g. Figure 21) and sheet stamps (e.g. sheet 21) based on parallel processing Drawing texts listed in reference signs section (unfortunately another drawing was selected for the front page) |
Level 4 | CN2023088337 | 11.01.2024 | Chinese PDF to XML conversion Rule26 markup in paragraphs 79, 82 |
Level 5 | CN2023130669 | 25.01.2024 | Chinese XML Filing (English language) application body from applicant Amended claims |
Level 5 | CN2023130677 | 25.01.2024 | Chinese XML Filing (English language) application body from applicant Drawings rectified Rule91 (In Patentscope, see full text section in XML and see black-line markup on PDF rendered publication) |