Update - inschrijving wijziging houder Europees (EP-NL) octrooi

In our news item of November 18 (see below), we described the procedure for processing a change of owner of a European patent.

This new procedure was discussed during the PAO (Periodic Administrative Consultation). Based on this discussion, the Netherlands Patent Office will implement some changes. 

The Netherlands Patent Office will publish the final procedure on the portal at the beginning of next year. In that message, we will also mention the start date of this procedure.

Text from news item from 18 November 2025 (only published in Dutch)

From January 1, 2026, the Netherlands Patent Office will process all changes to European patents via a deed.

An EP-NL patent granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) will be entered in the Dutch patent register with the information provided electronically by the EPO. Changes made by a patent owner will then be recorded by the Netherlands Patent Office (NPO) upon request. 

The EPO submits a file containing all current details of the patent to be granted to OCNL approximately six weeks before the grant date.

If an assignment is communicated to the EPO just before grant, the EPO is not able to include this change in its electronic data file. 
The Netherlands Patent Office processed an EPO form free of charge as a gesture of goodwill. This change was not recorded as a deed in the patent register. This practice has become popular in recent years. However, technically, this practice is not in line with the ROW 1995.

The NPO will end this practice as of January 1, 2026. From that date onwards, the NPO will assume that the granting data provided by the EPO are correct. If this data turn out to be incorrect, you can have the data updated via the normal procedure for registrations in the Netherlands patent register. For more information, please see the Dutch document  ‘Leidraad inschrijvingen in het register’. 

It is therefore advisable to notify the EPO about changes in the data in good time before grant of the patent, so that the Netherlands Patent Office will receive the correct data from the EPO. The correct data will then be recorded in the Dutch patent register.