Electronic signatures have been widely used for signing legal
documents, such as contracts and assignments for a long time.
The requirements for valid assignment documents at the EPO are
set out in Article 72 EPC, which specifies that the "shall
be made in writing and shall require the signature of the parties
to the contract."
In 2023, the Legal Division of the EPO had to consider whether
electronic signatures fell within the scope of this requirement.
This case was the result of a request to register an assignment,
based on an assignment document where both parties' signatures
were electronic, "text string signatures".
In its Decision, J 5/23, the Legal Division considered what was
meant by the term "signature" in the legislation. It
concluded that, in the absence of a broad definition of the term in
the Implementing Regulations, this must be limited to "a
handwritten depiction of someone's name." Therefore,
the electronically-signed assignment document in
