By Peter A. Jackman & Lori M. Brandes, Ph.D.

On November 20, 2015, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) launched Dossier Access – a public online interface providing access to the file histories of related applications from participating patent offices around the world. Dossier Access is available at http://globaldossier.uspto.gov.

Background

The Global Dossier Initiative was established in June 2012 by five major patent offices to modernize the global patent system by developing a single portal/user interface to manage international patent examination information. The Global Dossier service has been available to USPTO Examiners since Spring 2015, and the launch of Dossier Access represents the extension of the Global Dossier to the public. In addition to the USPTO, the European Patent Office (EPO), Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) also provide a Global Dossier portal to the public. The Japanese Patent Office (JPO) will be introducing Global Dossier in 2016. The USPTO will continue to enhance and expand the services available through Global Dossier.

Advantages

Offers integrated access to application file histories from the USPTO, EPO, KIPO, SIPO and JPO, free of charge and with automatic machine translations to English.
Provides Office Action Indicators to help users identify applications that contain office actions, a Collections View for saving documents and applications for review later in a session, and the ability to download documents in an application.
Users can see the patent family for a specific application, containing all related applications filed at participating patent offices, along with the citation data for these applications.
Makes it easier for patent applicants to view, monitor and manage their own applications, as well as for patent challengers to do the same for competitors’ applications.
Provides easier access to patent information for the purposes of due diligence investigations, licensing agreements, appeals and litigation, saving both time and expense.
Encourages the streamlining of procedures among global patent offices. • Improves efficiency and predictability of global patent family prosecution.