UNITED KINGDOM - GB
Jurisdiction - General Information
The United Kingdom has been a Contracting Party to the Paris Convention for the Protection ofIndustrial Property since July 7, 1884. It has also been a Contracting Party to the Patent Cooperation
Treaty (PCT) since January 24, 1978. In addition, it is a party to the Budapest Treaty on the International
Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure and the Patent Law
Treaty (PLT).
The United Kingdom is a member of the European Patent Organization (EPO).
More legal information about intellectual property-related laws and regulations of the United Kingdom
can be found on WIPO Lex.

Online Patent Register and Online Gazette
The United Kingdom has an Online Register and an Online Gazette (The Patents Journal).

Features and search functionalities
The Online Register has an English interface. It contains information about United Kingdom (countrycode GB) and European Patent publications.
Through the Online Register you can retrieve information on PCT National Phase Entry, Fee Payment,
Legal Status, Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs), and access the Dossier/File Wrapper
Information and the Full Publications.
SPCs can be searched on a specific Supplementary Protection Certificate Search page.
The Online Register can also be searched by United Kingdom or European Patent publication number.
The Online Gazette is published weekly on Wednesday in English. It is searchable by date, number andname. Results can be displayed in HTML or downloaded in PDF or XML format. You can search forinformation on filed applications from journals dating from October 2006. Other information is available
from March 2008. Patent journals from 12 August 1998 to 26 March 2008 can be downloaded from theNational Archive.
Espacenet, which allows searches by PCT Application/Publication Number, Applicant/Inventor Nameand Priority Data, includes links to the Online Register of the United Kingdom for GB publications.
The Online Register may not include changes which have occurred in recent months to European
Patents before the EPO, which can be found on the European Patent Register.

Additional Information
Particularities of patent protection in the United Kingdom
Protection through SPCs is available.
Patents issued in the United Kingdom or European patents designing the United Kingdom can haveeffects or enjoy particular conditions in foreign jurisdictions. The Intellectual Property Office has
published information in this regard at this link.
The exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union did not have legal effects on the validity ofnational or European Patents designating the United Kingdom.

Search tips
An example of information on Legal Status is, e.g. "Terminated before grant" for "Publication Number"
GB2509099.
An example of Fee Payment can be retrieved, e.g. for "Publication Number" GB2450001.
GB and EP Publications as well as unpublished GB applications (e.g. GB1618796.5) can be searched on
the Patents Journal search page.
SPCs can be searched by "SPC number", e.g. SPC/GB01/044, or by "patent number", e.g. EP0674513.
Full Publications can be obtained from the Publication Server.