ARTICLE · 17 AUGUST 2022

The New Standard For Sequence Listings

Keltie LLP

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It is now a month and a half since WIPO ST.26 was adopted as the standard for sequence listings disclosed in a patent application. While the new standard brings a number of advantages...

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It is now a month and a half since WIPO ST.26 was adopted as the standard for sequence listings disclosed in a patent application. While the new standard brings a number of advantages, it has already led to concerns, particularly regarding divisional applications.

Aims of ST.26

Many patent applications in the biotech sector disclose nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences. Some of these applications include hundreds or even thousands of such sequences – each of which can be very long.

On 1 July 2022 (after considerable delays), the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) Standard ST.26 replaced ST.25 for sequence listings, and all IP offices of WIPO member states implemented it immediately for new patent applications. According to WIPO, the new standard aimed to harmonise sequence listing practices across offices, reflect advances in biotechnology and meet international sequence database requirements.

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