EPO confirms to Barker Brettell that they are making updates to the register to accept colour drawing as well as greyscale when an application is filed electronically from 1 October 2025
According to a recent exchange between Barker Brettell and The European Patent Office (EPO), it is about to modernise its register to enable publication of colour drawings. In a first step towards that, the EPO will start accepting drawings in colour as well as greyscale when an application is filed electronically from 1 October 2025.
Why does this matter?
Beyond making patent applications more visually interesting, colour drawings can help to – for example – clearly present scientific data in graphs, especially if there are multiple trials or categories plotted. Converting these to black and white can remove a lot of information. Filing formal drawings also renders the graphs less clear since there are only so many variations on dotted lines that can accurately be distinguished.
Being able to file colour drawings would allow this information to be easily preserved in the patent application as filed, as published, and as granted.
How does this affect practice?
EPO Guidelines A-XI, 7.1 already allowed for filing drawings in colour. It remains true that if drawings are filed in colour, they are converted into black and white versions during processing at the EPO. Only the black and white versions are made available for file inspection and publication purposes. So what effect does this decision actually have?
After reaching out to the EPO to seek clarification as to the change, Barker Brettell has learnt that the EPO plan to make changes to the register allowing it to show colour drawings. This decision, published in the Official Journal of the EPO on 7 July 2025, therefore sets the legal framework once the new systems have been developed.
However, it is important to note that this decision only affects practice before the EPO. Lots of patent offices still only accept black and white drawings. Of the IP5 offices, only the Korean Intellectual Property Office currently generally accepts colour drawings in patent applications and the Japanese Patent Office does not accept colour drawings under any circumstances. In addition, international patent applications filed under the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) are also required to be in black and white line drawings.
Therefore, until more patent offices start accepting and publishing drawings in colour, it may be safest practice to file the drawings in the usual black and white line drawings in order to avoid losing crucial information in the drawings.
However, the EPO taking this step might be enough of a shift for other patent offices to also start moving towards modernising their filing and publication requirements. In due course, hopefully we will see more and more colourful patent applications.
Here at Barker Brettell, we have experienced IP attorneys on hand who keep up to date with constantly evolving European patent law who can assist you in how to best protect your inventions. If you would like more information, please contact one of the authors, Francesco Di Lallo or David Combes, or your usual Barker Brettell representative.
