Jurisdictional Specific Filing Dates

[ColinJ8085]

As understood, the „Filing Date“ field is considered by AppColl to be the actual date of filing of an application. However, this is not reflected in foreign national / regional stage entries and must be manually added.

In particular, I would like to request that the actual filing date and official filing date be distinguished in AppColl for foreign national / regional stage filings.

For example, for a US national stage entry, AppColl will file the (actual) filing date field with the 371(c) date, which is a different date from the filing date of the international stage. However, some jurisdictions, such as EP, consider the filing date of the national / regional stage date to be synonymous with the filing date of the international stage. So, assuming an international stage filing date of January 1, 2026, and an EP regional stage for which the application was properly submitted on August 1, 2026, AppColl populates the official filing date with the international stage filing date of January 1, 2026, and the (actual) filing date also with January 1, 2026 (rather than August 1, 2026), because the EPO / Espacenet considers the filing date of the regional stage entry to be the same as the filing date of the international stage.

If the Espacenet API provides the „real“ actual filing date, then I would like to suggest that this information be pulled for the „Filing Date“ field rather than the current source. Perhaps this would require a new matter type, such as Utility: Foreign National / Regional Stage or perhaps the API source can be changed (if possible).

Thanks!