宁知视界 | 10月1日起，欧洲专 利局将接受专 利申请中使用彩色或灰色附图
2025.11.18
发布者：
The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced that, as of 1 October 2025, it will be accepting colour and greyscale drawings in applications filed by means of electronic communication.
图片拍摄于2025年9月7日德国·科隆/朱宁
根据欧洲专 利局主席2025年7月7日的决定，该决定将于2025年10月1日生效，自2025年10月1日起，欧洲专 利局将允许以电子申请的方式提交彩色及灰色的专 利附图。
According to the Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated July 7, 2025 which will enter into force on October 1, 2025, the EPO will allow the electronic filing of drawings in colour and greyscale of patent applications from October 1, 2025.
需要注意的是：
The following are points should be attention：
在说明书、权利要求或摘要中使用彩色或灰度附图的，将不予接受。按照现行惯例，如果以彩色附图申请，这些元素将被转换为黑白的方式对外公开。
The use of colour or greyscale in the description, claims or abstract is inadmissible. In line with current practice, if nonetheless filed in colour, such elements will be converted to black and white for publication.
在后续提交中，如果彩色或灰度图纸是在2025年10月1日或之后通过电子方式提交的，例如分案申请、修改、更正、完善质量和翻译的也将被接受，但仅限于与原始附图相同的程度。这意味着，如果之前的申请是以黑白附图提交的，那么后续的提交也必须以黑白附图提交。
Colour or greyscale drawings in subsequent submissions electrically submitted on or after October 1, 2025, such as divisional applications, amendments, corrections, improvements of quality, and translations, will also be admissible, but only to the same extent as the original drawings. That means, if the previous application was filed with drawings in black and white, subsequent submission must also be filed with drawings in black and white.
在欧洲专 利申请（欧洲直接申请）中，则允许混合提交彩色/灰度和黑白附图。
Particularly in the European patent applications (European direct applications),mixed submissions combining colour/greyscale and black-and-white drawings are permitted.
如果欧洲专 利是基于彩色或灰度附图授权的，则授权阶段的公告文本同样也将包含这些彩色或灰色的附图。
Where a European patent is granted on the basis of drawings in colour or greyscale, the B publication will likewise contain these drawings in colour or greyscale.
新规定将适用于截至10月1日提交的所有欧洲专 利申请以及相关的后续电子申请。但是该项新规并不适用于国际阶段的PCT申请。
New rule will be available for all European patent applications filed as of 1 October and related subsequent electronic filings. The new rule will not apply to international phase PCT applications.
详言之，在国际（PCT）申请的国际阶段，WIPO以黑白形式呈现彩色和灰色附图，以供后续处理和国际公开。然而，这些都被保留下来，并在PATENTSCOPE数据库中用于对外公开。
Specifically in the international phase of international (PCT) applications, colour and greyscale drawings are rendered in black and white by the WIPO for subsequent processing and international publication.However, these are retained and available to the public on PATENTSCOPE.
欧洲专 利局接受在电子申请中使用彩色或灰色的专 利附图是一个里程碑事件，因为它允许使用通常由发明者所创建的、而无需准备线条图的方式来提交专 利申请。在某些情况下，这种彩色的附图甚至是可能有助于展示和理解发明。
Accepting of electronic filing of drawings in colour or greyscale is a milestone event for European patent offices, as it allows to use drawings for patent applications in a form in which they often are created by inventors without having to prepare line drawings. In some cases such coloured drawings may even facilitate the presentation and understanding of the invention.
See,https://www.epo.org/en/legal/official-journal/notice-5-september-2025
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