MUNICH - The Estonian Patent Office became the first in Europe to switch to using the ANSERA-based SEARCH tool exclusively, marking the latest milestone in IT co-operation between the European Patent Office (EPO) and national offices in the 39 contracting states of the European Patent Convention (EPC), according to the official website of EPO.  

Without requiring the installation of any hardware or software, the new cloud-powered tool currently provides 1 300 patent examiners at national offices in 28 countries across Europe with swift access to published patent, non-patent and commercial databases. ANSERA-based SEARCH, developed by the EPO in close co-operation with users, is due to gradually replace the legacy EPOQUE Net system globally, with more national offices preparing to complete the switch in the coming months.

The switch at the Estonian Patent Office follows a successful one-year pilot of the powerful new tool, which is closely based on the EPO's own highly sophisticated ANSERA search tool, named using a portmanteau that fittingly reflects the tool's purpose: to usher in "A New Search ERA".