EPO Patent Search Skill

Search European patents using the EPO Open Patent Services (OPS) API and Google BigQuery with EP country filtering.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when users ask to:

• Search for European patents
• Find EP prior art for a technology
• Check legal status of EP patents
• Explore patent families across jurisdictions
• Conduct EP freedom-to-operate analysis
• Research the EP patent landscape for a technology area
• Get full-text EP claims or descriptions

What This Skill Does

Provides access to European patent data through two methods:

1. EPO OPS API (European Patent Data):
   • Full-text EP patent retrieval (claims, description)
   • Legal status and procedural history
   • INPADOC patent family linking
   • Applicant and inventor search
   • EP publication types (A1, A2, A3, B1, B2)
   • Designated contracting states
2. BigQuery (Worldwide Patents, EP Filter):
   • Fast keyword search across 100M+ patents with country="EP"
   • CPC classification search for EP patents
   • Filing trend analysis
   • Cross-jurisdiction comparison

Required Setup

BigQuery (Primary)

Prerequisites:

1. Google Cloud Project (free to create)
2. BigQuery API enabled
3. Application Default Credentials configured

Setup:

gcloud auth application-default login
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=your-project-id

EPO OPS API (Optional, for full-text/legal status)

Prerequisites:

1. Register at https://developers.epo.org/
2. Create an application to get Consumer Key and Secret
3. Set environment variables

Setup:

export EPO_OPS_CONSUMER_KEY=your-key
export EPO_OPS_CONSUMER_SECRET=your-secret

How to Use

When this skill is invoked:

1. Determine search type:
   • Keyword search: use BigQuery with country="EP" for speed
   • Full-text retrieval: use EPO OPS for complete claims/description
   • Legal status: use EPO OPS for procedural data
   • Family search: use EPO OPS INPADOC family service
   • CPC search: use BigQuery for broad classification browsing

2. Execute search:

   Full-text keyword search (EP patents), falling back to search_patents_bigquery with the same arguments if not configured:

   results = search_patents_google(
       query="blockchain authentication",
       country="EP",
       limit=20,
       start_year=2020
   )

   BigQuery CPC search (EP patents):

   results = search_patents_by_cpc_bigquery(
       cpc_code="H04L9/32",
       country="EP",
       limit=30
   )

   EPO OPS full-text retrieval:

   results = search_epo_patents(
       query="EP3456789",
       search_type="full_text"
   )

   EPO OPS family search:

   results = search_epo_patents(
       query="EP3456789",
       search_type="family"
   )

3. Present results:
   • Rank by relevance
   • Show key metadata (title, applicant, dates, IPC/CPC)
   • Highlight legal status (in force, expired, opposed)
   • Provide links to Espacenet for full documents
   • Note patent family members in other jurisdictions

Search Result Format

{
    "publication_number": "EP3456789A1",
    "title": "Authentication system using distributed ledger",
    "abstract": "A system for authenticating...",
    "applicant": "Example GmbH",
    "inventors": ["Hans Mueller", "Maria Schmidt"],
    "filing_date": "2019-03-15",
    "publication_date": "2020-01-22",
    "grant_date": null,
    "ipc_codes": ["H04L9/32", "G06F21/31"],
    "cpc_codes": ["H04L9/32", "G06F21/31"],
    "designated_states": ["DE", "FR", "GB", "NL", "IT"],
    "priority_claims": ["US16/234567 (2018-12-28)"],
    "family_id": "67890123",
    "legal_status": "Examination in progress",
    "publication_type": "A1"
}

EP Publication Types

Cross-Jurisdiction Linking

Use family_id to find related patents across jurisdictions:

EP3456789A1 (European application)
├── US10123456B2 (US counterpart)
├── CN112345678A (Chinese counterpart)
├── JP2020-123456A (Japanese counterpart)
└── WO2019/123456A1 (PCT application)

This is essential for:

• Prior art analysis (one patent may be available in multiple languages)
• Freedom-to-operate (check where patent is in force)
• Competitive intelligence (track filing strategy)

Presentation Format

Present search results as:

EP PATENT SEARCH RESULTS
=========================

Query: "blockchain authentication"
Source: BigQuery (EP filter) + EPO OPS
Found: 89 EP patents
Date Range: 2020-2025

[1] EP3456789B1 - Authentication system using distributed ledger
    Applicant: Example GmbH (DE)
    Filed: 2019-03-15 | Granted: 2022-08-10
    IPC: H04L9/32, G06F21/31
    Status: Patent in force (validated in DE, FR, GB)
    Family: US10123456B2, CN112345678B, WO2019/123456A1
    Espacenet: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search?q=EP3456789

[2] EP3567890A1 - Blockchain-based identity verification method
    Applicant: Tech Corp (US)
    Filed: 2020-01-10 | Published: 2021-06-16
    IPC: H04L9/00, G06Q20/38
    Status: Examination in progress
    Family: US20210203456A1, WO2020/234567A1

---

Top CPC Codes in Results:
- H04L9/32 (15 patents): Authentication/verification
- G06F21/31 (12 patents): User authentication
- H04L9/00 (8 patents): Cryptographic mechanisms

Common Use Cases

EP Prior Art Search

1. BigQuery keyword search (country="EP")
2. Identify relevant CPC codes
3. BigQuery CPC search (country="EP")
4. EPO OPS full-text for top results
5. Document findings with citations

Patent Family Analysis

1. Find EP patent via BigQuery or EPO OPS
2. Get family_id
3. Search for family members worldwide
4. Map filing strategy across jurisdictions
5. Check legal status in each country

EP Freedom-to-Operate

1. Search EP patents in relevant technology
2. Filter for granted patents (B1/B2)
3. Check legal status (in force vs expired)
4. Identify validated countries
5. Assess infringement risk

EP Opposition Research

1. Find granted EP patents (B1)
2. Check if within 9-month opposition window
3. Search for prior art predating priority date
4. Analyze claims scope
5. Assess opposition grounds (Art. 100 EPC)

Performance & Coverage

*BigQuery free tier: 1TB queries/month (~20,000 searches) **EPO OPS: Fair use (2.5GB data traffic per week)

Tools Available

• Bash: To run search scripts
• Read: To load saved search results
• Write: To save patent search results