WIPO: Submission of Sequence Listings in accordance with the provisions of WIPO Standard ST.26

Jun 8, 2022

WIPO: Submission of Sequence Listings in accordance with the provisions of WIPO Standard ST.26

On July 1, 2022, the amendments to the PCT Regulations and the PCT Administrative Rules will enter into force. As a result, as of July 1, 2022, international and Japanese domestic applications* containing nucleotide or amino acid sequences will be required to submit sequence listings in accordance with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) standard ST.26.

Not only the Japan Patent Office (JPO), but also the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), etc. will require submission of sequence listings for patent applications containing nucleotide or amino acid sequences in accordance with the provisions of WIPO standard ST.26 as of July 1, 2022. Applications filed before July 1, 2022 do not need to comply with WIPO standard ST.26.

The main differences between WIPO standard ST.26 and the previous regulation (standard ST.25) are as follows:

• Peptides of less than 4 and nucleotides of less than 10 are not allowed (they were optional in the previous ST.25).
  
  
• Only the first applicant should be listed in the applicant’s section (in the previous ST.25, only the first applicant could be listed in the case of a joint application).
  
  
• In the priority application section, only the earliest priority application should be written (in the previous ST.25, combined priority
  applications could be enumerated).
  
  
• The “t” stands for uracil in RNA and thymine in DNA (previously “u” stood for uracil in ST.25).
  
  
• D-amino acids should also be included (in the previous ST.25, only L-amino acids were required, and D-amino acids were optional).
  
  
• Branching sequences and nucleotide analogues should also be listed (previously optional in ST.25).
  
  
• Amino acids are represented by a single letter (in the previous ST.25, amino acids were represented by three letters).
  
  
• Must be provided as XML file (previously a txt file in ST.25).

For further details, please see

　this link

　Note: Japanese domestic applications include divisional applications, conversion applications, applications based on utility model registrations, and applications with priority claims.