WARNING: Although the information which follows was correct at the time of original publication in the PCT Newsletter, some information may no longer be applicable; for example, amendments may have been made to the PCT Regulations and Administrative Instructions, as well as to PCT Forms, since the PCT Newsletter concerned was published; changes to certain fees and references to certain publications may no longer be valid. Wherever there is a reference to a PCT Rule, please check carefully whether the Rule in force at the date of publication of the advice has since been amended.
How to remove access rights in ePCT of a former employee and assign access rights to a new person.
Q: I am working as a paralegal in a patent law firm and a colleague has recently left the firm. Unfortunately, he did not transfer his access rights in ePCT to anyone else before leaving and, since he is the only one who had access to certain applications, we are now unable to access them in the system. How can we remove his access rights and regain access ourselves to the applications in ePCT?
A: Gaining access to an international application in ePCT with strong authentication is referred to as becoming the ‘eOwner’ of that application. There is always one original eOwner for each international application, most typically the person who filed it using ePCT, however, it is also possible to obtain eOwner access rights by submitting a request post-filing. Only an eOwner can assign or remove access rights for other users and for this reason the International Bureau (IB) stresses that best practice is to always have at least two eOwners for each international application.
In the event that a sole eOwner is no longer available, this is where the IB can intervene to resolve the situation. The agent of record or the applicant should contact the PCT Operations Customer Support Section (eServices Help Desk), by e-mail at pct.eservices@wipo.int to request that the access rights of the sole eOwner be removed. The e-mail should indicate the name and e-mail address of the person whose access rights are to be removed and also the date of departure from the firm or company. To the extent possible, it is preferable to include the list of international applications concerned in order to facilitate processing by the eServices Help Desk.
After making the appropriate checks regarding the validity of this request, the IB will remove the former eOwner’s access rights, leaving the international applications available for a subsequent request for eOwner access rights. Note that the IB can only remove existing access rights as part of this process and does not have the authority in the ePCT system to reassign new access rights to any other person. This would require a new request for access rights to be submitted by the user in question.
To avoid the need to resort to the above procedure, it is recommended to include ePCT access rights management in the checklist of tasks to be dealt with when employees leave their employment, in order to ensure that the former employee re-assigns access rights prior to departure.
As previously mentioned, we strongly recommend that at least two persons within a patent department or law firm have eOwner access rights to international applications at all times in order to manage internal work and cover for absences and eventual departures. It is therefore important that once you have gained access to any application, you immediately give eOwner access rights to at least one other person who can subsequently manage access rights as required. It is possible to assign pre-defined access rights levels to other colleagues by using the access rights group function. Please see the video tutorial on this topic at:
https://multimedia.wipo.int/wipo/en/pct/how-to-set-up-access-rights-groups-in-epct-720p.mp4
It is important to note that, if you delegate access to another person, you are responsible for ensuring that the person is, and continues to be, entitled to view and/or manage the relevant international applications. However, the role of eOwner does not necessarily mean that you have any IP rights to an application and any transaction or document submitted must always be signed by an authorized signatory for that application.
For more information concerning access rights management in ePCT, please refer to the video tutorials page at https://www.wipo.int/pct/en/epct/access_rights.html
You can contact the PCT Operations Customer Support Section (eServices Help Desk) by e-mail to pct.eservices@wipo.int or call +41 22 338 9523 Monday to Friday, from 9:00 until 18:00 CET.