The simplified legal status gives an overview of the current status of a patent within its life cycle.
It can be quite cumbersome and sometimes difficult to find out what the actual status of a patent is. A patent goes through a long life cycle with many events along the way. From the start during the procedure at the different patent offices, the term “patent pending” is normally used until it eventually becomes a granted and alive patent. If the application is revoked/withdrawn or not granted, it will just stay as published patent in the database. To make it easier to visualize the actual legal status of the patent green, yellow and red are used throughout the IamIP Platform to give a hint on the actual status.
Wondering what the green, yellow, and red icons (dots) mean in the expanded view?
These icons indicate the simplified legal status. At first glance you can see whether
- a patent has been filed (yellow),
- it has been granted (green), and
- the property right is no longer valid (red).
To create this indicator, relevant legal statuses are evaluated. See also legal status watch.
In a European patent, a small arrow to the left of the patent number indicates that more information is available. The green “in force” indicator will be displayed in a European patent as long as one of the states that have acceded to the European Patent Convention still has the IP right in place. A click on the arrow shows you the legal situation in the respective countries.
Click on the description (not acitve, in force, pending) to display the legal status and procedure data from the INPADOC database.
By clicking on the register link, you will automatically be directed to the register of offices. For more than 20 offices, this link is available. The quality and possibilities of use of the registers is determined by the offices. IamIP has no influence on it.
