Electronic Signing Of Assignments

Assignment documents filed electronically may now be signed using 'qualified electronic signatures'.

Previously

Previously, assignments, licences and other agreements for recordal were only accepted by the EPO if they had been executed using an original hand signature (though scanned copies were, and still are, sufficient for filing).

Now

At the end of last year, the EPO indicated that any assignment, licence or other agreements for recordal may be executed using a qualified electronic signature.

But what is a qualified electronic signature?

Three types of electronic signatures are widely accepted in Europe:

Simple electronic signatures – for example, a scanned copy of an original signature or an electronically created signature that has no identity verification.