Digital Access Service (DAS)

WIPO Digital Access Service

The WIPO Digital Access Service (DAS) is an electronic system allowing priority documents and similar documents to be securely exchanged between participating intellectual property (IP) offices. The system enables applicants and offices to meet the requirements of the Paris Convention for certification in an electronic environment.

The Service is intended for use with documents related to patents, utility models, industrial designs and trademarks.

Background

Traditionally, applicants have been obliged to request certified paper copies of documents from one office and then submit those documents to other offices.

WIPO DAS allows applicants to simply request the first office (known as the Depositing Officeor Office of First Filing) to make priority documents available to the System and then to request other offices (known as the Accessing Offices or Offices of Second Filing) to retrieve those documents via the Service. The exchange of documents then takes place electronically between the offices.

WIPO DAS: Participating Offices

Our searchable index of offices participating in WIPO DAS provides details of the types of applications managed by individual digital libraries together with any operational procedures and technical requirements.

Office type

Depositing office

The office – usually acting as office of first filing – allows applications to be made available to through WIPO DAS.

Accessing office

The office – acting as office of second filing – allows the applicant to request that a priority document be retrieved through WIPO DAS rather than filing a certified copy

https://www.wipo.int/das/en/participating_offices/

Availability of WIPO Digital Access Service (DAS) under WIPO-India Cooperation Agreement and its utilization by Applicants, Stakeholders and Public in general.

WIPO’s Digital Access Service (DAS) is an electronic system that allows easy transfer of certified copies of documents, which are typically required during filing patent applications in multiple countries. WIPO’s DAS allows applicant(s) to request a first patent office/office of first filing to make the certified copies available to other patent office’s/accessing offices where applicant(s) wishes to file the patent application. This certified copies exchange happens electronically between the patent offices. At present, there are nearly 20 patent offices that are using the WIPO DAS.

Considering recent events, a WIPO-India cooperation agreement was established between WIPO and IPO on 31 March 2018, stating that the IPO will now start using the WIPO’s DAS. IPO is now a depositing office, where the certified copies of documents are uploaded using the WIPO DAS.

The applicant(s) must make a request to the patent pffice stating that they require certified copies of documents to be submitted to the WIPO DAS. The request is made along with an applicable fee as perentry no. 49 in the First Schedule of the Patents Rules 2003. In case of Design Patents, the applicant(s) should submit Form 16 along with the applicable fee as per The First Schedule of The Designs Rules, 2001. Once the request is submitted to the depositing office, DAS sends an access code for authorization through email to the applicant(s). A separate access code is received for each certified document that the applicant(s) has requested from the depositing office. The applicant then sends a letter mentioning the patent application number along with the access code received through email from DAS to the receiving patent office(s). The certified copies are then successfully provided to the receiving patent office(s).

WIPO DAS is easy and quick as the system provides a mechanism for the office of first filing to add the certified copies of documents, and the accessing offices to receive the documents. The process is paperless, as the exchange between the patent offices happens electronically. DAS is secure as it’s hosted and administered by WIPO authorities. DAS is also reasonable in terms of cost as the applicant(s) need not pay for multiple sheets/copies of paper certified copies of documents. Also, WIPO does not charge the applicant(s) for using the system. Since all the exchange is done online, applicant(s) also save money on courier/postal charges. According to recent statistics, IPO ranks among top 20 countries for yearly numbers of PCT application filings. Hence, based on the above-mentioned details and statistics, IPO has definitely taken a wise decision in opting for WIPO DAS.

We hope this article was a useful read. 

Please feel free check our services page to find out if we can cater to your requirements. You can also contact us to explore the option of working together.

United States Patent and Trademark Office to Deposit Certified Copies of U.S. Design

Applications as Priority Documents via the WIPO DAS (World Intellectual Property

Organization Digital Access Service)

Effective October!, 2018, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as a

participating office in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Digital Access

Service (DAS), is expanding the scope of priority documents deposited by the USPTO in its

capacity as a depositing office to include certified copies of U.S. design patent applications.

The WIPO DAS is an electronic system allowing priority documents to be securely exchanged

between participating intellectual prope1iy (IP) offices. There is no fee for this service with

respect to the USPTO and participation for a particular application is voluntary. The system

enables applicants and offices to meet the requirements of the Paris Convention for certification

in an electronic environment.

The USPTO became a WIPO DAS pmiicipating office on April 20, 2009. See

http://www.wipo.int/das/en/notifications.html#US. With respect to foreign design applications,

the USPTO, in its capacity as an accessing office, will currently retrieve such applications that

are made available by participating depositing offices via the W!PO DAS (provided certain

conditions are met). The USPTO, in its capacity as a depositing office, however, does not

currently register or transmit U.S. design patent applications via the WIPO DAS. Id. The

USPTO's notification on the WIPO DAS web site will be updated to indicate that the USPTO

will be depositing ce1iified copies of U.S. design patent applications in its capacity as a WIPO

DAS depositing office effective October!, 2018.

Given the importance of drawings in design applications, the ce1iified copy of the U.S. design

patent application that will be deposited by the USPTO via the WIPO DAS will include any

drawings and appendices contained in the Supplemental Complex Repository for Examiners

(SCORE) that have a document filing date that is on or before the filing date of the U.S. design

patent application. Drawings and appendices submitted in p01iable document format (pdf)

through EFS-Web in U.S. design patent applications are stored as filed in SCORE and m·e also

conve1ied to TIFF images stored in the USPTO image file wrapper (IFW) system. Drawings and

appendices stored in SCORE generally have significantly higher image quality than the TIFFconverted

images stored in the IFW system. In addition, SCORE drawings may be in color or

grayscale, whereas TIFF images will only appear in black and white.

For U.S. design patent applications filed on or after October !, 2018, the USPTO will record

authorizations to permit access by a foreign intellectual prope1iy office, if the authorization is

provided in a properly signed Application Data Sheet (either form PTO/AIA/14 or the web-based

ADS through EFS-Web) submitted with the INITIAL filing. The authorization is acknowledged

on the filing receipt at Permission to Access Application via Priority Document Exchange: Yes

(or No).

For U.S. design patent applications filed prior to October!, 2018, and for U.S. design patent

applications filed on or after October 1, 2018, but for which authorization to permit access is not 

provided in an ADS with the INITIAL filing, applicants should use form PTO/SB/39

("Authorization or Rescission of Authorization to Permit Access to Application-As-Filed by

Participating Offices") to provide authorization to permit access. An ADS submitted after the

INITIAL filing of an application cannot be used to provide such authorization. A registered EFSWeb

user can avoid processing delays by using the coJTect document description, as indicated

near the top left margin of the form, when uploading the authorization form to an existing

application. A properly signed authorization is acknowledged on a replacement filing receipt as

noted in the previous paragraph.

Applicants may access the WIPO Digital Access Service Applicant Portal using their WIPO

Account. The WIPO DAS User Guide is available at:

http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/das/en/pdf/das_user_guide.pdf.

Futther information on priority document exchange via the WIPO DAS exchange, including

information on pmticipating offices, is available at: https://www.uspto.gov/patents-gettingstarted/international-protection/electronic-priority-document-exchange-pdx.

Questions about this announcement may be directed to Nelson Yang, Acting Director, Office of

International Business Solutions, 571-272-3785, or Tamm·a Graysay, Special Program Examiner,

International Patent Legal Administration, 571-272-6728. Comments may be directed to the

Priority Document Exchange electronic mailbox at pdx@uspto.gov. Electronic mailbox inquiries

are returned within one business day. 

The Priority Document Access Service (DAS) offers a simple and secure digital alternative to filing paper copies of priority documents with multiple patent offices. This service is administered by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Through the service a patent applicant claiming priority can have an electronic certified copy of their original application included in a secure digital library. This allows participating offices to access the document and removes the need to separately provide the document to each patent office in which a patent application is filed.

Participation in the service is voluntary for both patent offices and applicants. Priority documents can still be supplied to the International Bureau using other means (such as mail or fax). The International Bureau can also ask us to supply certified copies of priority documents.

How the Priority Document Access Service works

If your priority document was filed in Australia (as either a provisional, standard or innovation specification), the process for using DAS includes the following steps:

1. You must submit a request for us to send a certified copy of your priority document to WIPO's digital library.
2. Following receipt of the request, we will create a certified copy of the priority document and electronically transfer it to WIPO via a secure data exchange.
3. The document will be held by WIPO in a secure database. WIPO will acknowledge receipt of the document by supplying you with a unique access code.
4. Use the access code to authorise participating offices to access the priority document.

Where a patent application is filed in Australia (and relies on foreign priority) there is no requirement to provide a certified copy of a foreign priority document, unless it is requested by us. However, if we later request access to the document, you will be able to meet this obligation by advising us that the priority document is available from the DAS.

Further information on using DAS for PCT applications can be found on WIPO’s web site.

Costs

The standard fee for creating a certified copy of a priority document will still apply when using DAS. However, by using this service applicants may not need to order and pay for multiple copies of the one priority document.

We do not charge any additional fees for sending the priority document to, or retrieving it from, WIPO's digital library using DAS.

Online exchange of priority documents – Digital Access Service (DAS)

The Digital Access Service (DAS) is WIPO’s electronic library allowing priority documents to be exchanged between participating intellectual property offices.

Patent applicants do not have to submit their priority documents to another patent offices themselves; instead, they can ask for the documents to be uploaded to the DAS, from where the office requesting the document can retrieve it. The DAS guarantees data security, and only authorized offices have access to it.

The service includes priority documents related to national patent applications, PCT applications, and utility model applications.

Priority documents from PRH to other patent offices

Send us an informal order for a priority document, make it clear that you want the document to be uploaded to the DAS, and provide us with your email address. Once we have uploaded the document, you will receive an access code by email for forwarding to the authority who will retrieve the document from the DAS.

The fee for uploading a priority document to the DAS is the same as for a paper document. If needed, you can also order printouts of your priority document in the same order. Check the current fees in our price list.

Priority documents to PRH from other patent offices

When you want us to retrieve priority documents issued to you by other patent authorities from the DAS, send us an informal request with the following details:

• type of application (national patent, PCT, or utility model)
• country code
• application number
• priority date
• access code

Further information:

The list of the participating offices and other information about the DAS is available on the WIPO website.

Should you have any questions or technical problems related to the DAS, contact WIPO using their contact form, or call the number to the right at the bottom of the page.