In the framework of the Benelux Organisation for Intellectual Property, the National Offices of Intellectual Property of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg have developed a common IT system, the Benelux Patent Platform  (BPP) - to modernise and support all patent related business processes for the three National Offices.

While the three National Offices are adopting a shared IT system and made an effort to harmonise their business processes and legal procedures to a large extent, they continue to conduct their business nationally. Key business drivers for implementing the shared Benelux Patent Platform are the following:

  • All three national systems supporting patent related processes needed to be updated and modernised: a shared platform is economically more advantageous than the implementation of separate systems in the National Offices
  • A shared platform offers a consistent service to applicants and the industry and also makes collaboration with other IP organisations (WIPO, EPO and patent professionals) more efficient
  • Improving internal business processes delivers direct benefits to the patent applicants and the industry as a whole in terms of quality of service and timeliness.

The BPP platform covers end to end patent and supplementary protection certificates (SPC) management processes, including the following functionality:

  • Back Office – covering workflow based case management through the entire patent lifecycle, and supporting all relevant patent types: National (NP), European (EP), International (PCT), Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC). The system fully supports documents classification and paperless office paradigm.
  • Front Office – allowing external users (customers, applicants and public) to interact with the BPP system, for the management of their patents, fees payment, access to public patent register, etc. Patent applications can be filed using the EPO software (eOLF) or on paper.
  • Integration – providing integration with the back office systems and with external service providers such as EPO, WIPO and other National Offices.

Integration with EPO includes the following interfaces:

  • NP – request search and classification; receive search report and written opinion; publication at EPO Espacenet
  • EP & EuroPCT – retrieve patent details;  send annuities
  • NP & SPC & EP & EuroPCT – send legal status details; deep-linking with EPO
  • PCT – send search fees

Integration with WIPO includes the following interfaces:

  • PCT – send PCT forms; receive PCT forms; send international filing fees
  • Retrieve IPC scheme.

The Belgium Office has gone live with BPP on the 22nd of September 2014.

The BE-BPP portal gives access to three distinct parts:

Two secure modules (My Page and eFiling) and one free access module (eRegister). 

MyPage 

MyPage has two functions: Payer and Portfolio. You can request access to both functions or to one of the two.

  • With the "Payer" function you can: 
    • track the status and annual fees of your patents and patent applications;
    • carry out payment orders for your patents;
    • pay taxes related to patents on behalf    of applicants or patent holders;
    • monitor the situation of your current account
  • The "Portfolio" function allows you to consult data related to your patent portfolio, as well as the correspondence and documents in the "patent files" you manage.

Acces to MyPage

eFiling

The Belgian Intellectual Property Office (hereafter IPObel) offers online services that allow you

  • to create and to file patents applications and supplementary protection certificate (SPC) applications electronically, as well as
  • to create and send other patent/SPC-related documents electronically to the IPObel.

    The online services offered by the IPObel use a software package developed by the European Patent Office (hereafter EPO) called « electronic On Line Filing » (eOLF) via a Belgian reception server as well as the smart cards issued by the EPO in order to ensure the security of online filing.

In this context the IPObel offers you the following online filing services:

  • the filing of a Belgian patent application;
  • the filing of documents produced after the filing of a Belgian patent application or the grant of the Belgian patent;
  • the filing of documents relating to European patents in Belgium (Belgian national phase);
  • the filing of a notification of an entry in the Patent Register (assignment, change of address, license, pledge, etc.) and filing of documents produced after filing a change request;
  • the filing of an application for a supplementary protection certificate (SPC) for medicinal products;
  • the filing of an application for a SPC for plant protection products;
  • the filing of a request for a pediatric extension in connection with an existing SPC application or SPC for medicinal products;
  • the filing of additional documents to be added to an existing file of a SPC application or SPC.

eRegister 

eRegister comprises public bibliographical data from the patent register as well as the full patents and the correspondence between the Office and the applicants.

Belgian patent publication documents are available, in PDF and/or XML versions, for consulting and downloading via :

  • BPP-eRegister for Belgian patents granted as from 22nd September 2014 ; and
  • Espacenet database for Belgian patents granted before and as from 22nd September 2014. Their bibliographic data are available in eRegister with a link towards Esp@cenet .

Belgian patent publication documents are available for re-use of public data (see the notice about re-use of public data).

You can find data about:  

  • Belgian patents BE;
  • European patents designating Belgium (EURO-PCT included);
  • Belgian supplementary protection certificates (SPC) for medicines and phytopharmaceutical products.

The data are regularly updated. The update of eRegister may, under certain circumstances, take several days.

eRegister does not require any subscription and is accessible for all. 

Access to the BE-Benelux Patent Platform 

For all practical or technical questions concerning BPP, please contact the BE-BPP HELPDESK (on each business day from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 and from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.) : 

  • by telephone :+32 2 277 51 19
  • by e-mail : piie.bpp-helpdesk@economie.fgov.be
  • by post:
    FPS Economy
    Intellectual Property Office
    Rue du Progrès, 50
    1210 Brussels
    Belgium
Last update
22 February 2024