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OPS Services Reference

Base URL: https://ops.epo.org/rest-services/ Auth header: Authorization: Bearer <token>

For JSON response: Accept: application/json (works on all XML-supporting services) Quick JSON shortcut: append .json to any URI.

1. Published-Data Service

Generic Request Structure

GET /published-data/{reference-type}/{input-format}/{input}/[endpoint]/[constituents]
  • reference-type: publication | application | priority
  • input-format: docdb | epodoc
  • input: e.g. EP1000000, EP1000000.A1
  • endpoint (optional): biblio, abstract, fulltext, claims, description, images, equivalents
  • constituents (optional): biblio, abstract, full-cycle, images (comma-separated)

Omitting endpoint defaults to biblio.

Bibliographic Data

# Single patent
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000.A1/biblio
Accept: application/exchange+xml

# Without kind code → returns all publications for this application
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000/biblio

# With full-cycle (all publications in lifecycle)
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000.A1/biblio,full-cycle

# Abstract only
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000.A1/abstract

# Bulk GET (small sets)
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1676595,JP2006187606,US2006142694/biblio

# Bulk POST (up to 100 references)
POST /published-data/publication/epodoc/biblio
Content-Type: text/plain

EP1676595
JP2006187606
US2006142694

Fulltext

Two-step: inquire first, then retrieve.

# Step 1: Check availability
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000/fulltext
Accept: application/fulltext+xml

# Step 2a: Get description
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000/description
Accept: application/fulltext+xml

# Step 2b: Get claims
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000/claims
Accept: application/fulltext+xml

Supported authorities for fulltext: EP, WO, AT, BE, BG, CA, CH, CY, CZ, DK, EE, ES, FR, GB, GR, HR, IE, IT, LT, LU, MC, MD, ME, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SK

Images

Two-step: inquire to get links, then retrieve.

# Step 1: Get available image links
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000.A1/images
Accept: application/ops+xml

# Step 2: Retrieve by link from Step 1 response
GET /published-data/images/EP/1000000/PA/firstpage
Accept: image/png        # or image/pdf, application/tiff

# All thumbnails (PDF)
GET /published-data/images/EP/1000000/A1/thumbnail
Accept: application/pdf

# Single page from full document
GET /published-data/images/EP/1000000/A1/fullimage
Accept: application/pdf
X-OPS-Range: 1

# TIFF thumbnail (requires range)
GET /published-data/images/EP/1000000/A1/thumbnail.tiff?Range=4

Image formats: image/pdf, application/tiff, image/png, image/jpeg

firstpage.jpeg returns max 320px wide. PNG/TIFF are original size.

Equivalents (Simple Family)

GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000/equivalents
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000/equivalents/abstract
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000.A1/equivalents/biblio
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000.A1/equivalents/biblio,full-cycle
GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000.A1/equivalents/images

Bibliographic Search

GET /published-data/search?q=applicant%3DIBM
GET /published-data/search/biblio,abstract,full-cycle?q=applicant%3DIBM

# POST
POST /published-data/search
Content-Type: text/plain

q=applicant%3DIBM

# Pagination (default 1-25, max 100, total max 2000)
X-OPS-Range: 26-50

2. Family Service

INPADOC extended patent family — relatives sharing at least one priority.

# Family members only (no biblio)
GET /family/publication/docdb/EP.1000000.A1

# With bibliographic data
GET /family/publication/docdb/EP.1000000.A1/biblio

# With legal status
GET /family/publication/docdb/EP.1000000.A1/legal

# With both
GET /family/publication/docdb/EP.1000000.A1/biblio,legal

# By application number
GET /family/application/epodoc/EP99203729

# By priority
GET /family/priority/docdb/US.18314305.A

# Wildcard kind code
GET /family/publication/docdb/EP.1000000.*
GET /family/publication/docdb/EP.1000000.A*

# POST
POST /family/publication/docdb
Content-Type: text/plain

EP.1000000.A1

Note: If family is very large (100s of members), response will be truncated with truncatedFamily="true".

3. Number Service

Convert between original, docdb, epodoc formats.

# docdb → epodoc
GET /number-service/application/docdb/MD.20050130.A.20050130/epodoc

# original → docdb (Japan)
GET /number-service/application/original/JP.(2006-147056).A.20060526/docdb

# docdb → original (Japan)
GET /number-service/application/docdb/JP.2006147056.A.20060526/original

# original → epodoc (USPTO)
GET /number-service/application/original/US.(08/921,321).A.19970829/epodoc

# PCT original → docdb
GET /number-service/application/original/(PCT/GB02/04635).20021011/docdb

# POST
POST /number-service/application/docdb/epodoc
Content-Type: text/plain

MD.20050130.A.20050130

Conversion matrix:

original  → docdb, epodoc
docdb     → epodoc, original
epodoc    → original

4. Register Service

European Patent Register data. EP-only. Input format: epodoc only.

# Bibliographic data (default)
GET /register/application/epodoc/EP99203729
Accept: application/register+xml

# Events (dossier actions)
GET /register/application/epodoc/EP99203729/events

# Procedural steps
GET /register/application/epodoc/EP99203729/procedural-steps

# Unitary Patent Protection
GET /register/publication/epodoc/EP99203729/upp

# Combined
GET /register/application/epodoc/EP99203729/biblio,events,procedural-steps

# Search
GET /register/search/?q=pa%3DIBM
Accept: application/register+xml

# POST search
POST /register/search
Content-Type: text/plain

q=pa%3DIBM

Using combined constituents is generally more quota-efficient than separate calls because OPS returns dossier slices in one request envelope.

Pagination: default 1–25, max 100 via Range header.

5. Legal Service

Legal event data for the full patent lifecycle (INPADOC).

GET /legal/publication/docdb/EP.1000000.A1
Accept: application/ops+xml

POST /legal/publication/docdb
Content-Type: text/plain

EP.1000000.A1

Response includes ops:legal elements per family member with:

  • code — legal event code (e.g., AK, RER)
  • desc — human-readable description
  • L001EP–L500EP — structured legal data fields

6. Classification (CPC)

# Retrieve a CPC symbol
GET /classification/cpc/A
GET /classification/cpc/A62C37/48

# With children (depth)
GET /classification/cpc/A?depth=1
GET /classification/cpc/H04W?depth=all   # only for level > 5

# With navigation (prev/next)
GET /classification/cpc/A01?navigation

# With ancestors
GET /classification/cpc/A01?navigation&ancestors

# Search by keyword
GET /classification/cpc/search/?q=chemistry
GET /classification/cpc/search/?q=chemistry&Range=1-20

# Retrieve media from classification text
GET /classification/cpc/media/1000.gif
Accept: image/gif

# Classification mapping (ECLA ↔ CPC ↔ IPC)
GET /classification/map/ecla/A61K9/00/cpc
GET /classification/map/cpc/A01D2085/008/ecla?additional

# POST
POST /classification/cpc
Content-Type: text/plain

A01B

Mapping input → output formats:

ecla  → cpc, ipc
cpc   → ecla, ipc

7. Data Usage API

GET https://ops.epo.org/3.2/developers/me/stats/usage?timeRange=30/03/2024
GET https://ops.epo.org/3.2/developers/me/stats/usage?timeRange=01/03/2024~31/03/2024
Authorization: Bearer <token>

Content Types Reference

Service Accept Header
Published-data (XML) application/exchange+xml
Published-data (fulltext) application/fulltext+xml
Images image/pdf, application/tiff, image/png
Number-service application/ops+xml
Family application/ops+xml
Legal application/ops+xml
Classification/CPC application/cpc+xml
Register application/register+xml
Any XML service application/json or application/javascript

JSON shortcut: Add .json to any OPS URI.

GET /published-data/publication/epodoc/EP1000000/biblio.json

JSON format: OPS uses BadgerFish convention (XML attributes → @, text content → $).