The European Patent Office Now Accepts Drawings in Colour!

Add a Splash of Colour to Your European Patent Application

As of 1 October 2025, things have become a little less black and white at the European Patent Office (EPO).

According to a Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 7 July 2025, European patent applications filed electronically (including divisional applications) may now include drawings in colour or greyscale.

Under the new regime, mixed submissions combining colour/greyscale and black-and-white drawings are permitted.

Previously, although the EPO allowed submission of colour drawings, those drawings would in practice be converted to black and white for processing, file inspection and publication.

From 1st October 2025 onward, the EPO’s systems support full processing, inspection and publication in the original colour or greyscale format.

However, there are caveats and conditions:

• A divisional patent application cannot include subject matter extending beyond the content of the parent application as filed. Colour or greyscale drawings in a divisional application will be examined with respect to compliance with rule.  Therefore, it is likely that colour drawings in a divisional application will be objected to if the original parent application included black and white drawings.
• If the application enters the European phase from an international (PCT) application on or after 1st October 2025, colour or greyscale drawings will be accepted provided that the International Bureau (who handles the PCT application) has published them (i.e. the colour/greyscale version is available for inspection and the publication notes that the application was filed with colour/greyscale).
• For Euro-PCT applications that entered the European phase before 1st October 2025, even if originally filed with colour drawings, the EPO will process them based on the black-and-white version as published. If the applicant later files amended colour drawings, they will be scrutinised to check whether they add subject matter extending beyond the content of the application as filed.
• When submitting missing parts or corrected drawings, the new drawings must correspond exactly (including in colour/greyscale extent) to the drawings in the priority application. If the priority drawings were black and white, the corrections must also be black and white.

The change to allow colour and greyscale drawings at the EPO will affect patent applicants in all fields of technology, but those active in the following areas are likely to benefit the most:

• Life sciences & biotechnology: Applicants in these fields often rely on complex microscopy images, cell culture figures, or protein structural diagrams, which can lose crucial information when converted to black and white. Colour filings will allow them to present results more faithfully.
• Medical technology: Medical imaging (X-rays, MRI scans, histology slides) often depends on colour or greyscale gradations. These can now be shown in patent drawings without the risk of data loss or misinterpretation.
• Chemistry & materials science: Colour-coded spectra (NMR, IR, chromatograms) or images showing composite materials and crystalline structures will benefit from being reproducible in colour.
• ICT & electronics: Certain fields like graphical user interfaces (GUIs), software visualisations, or signal processing diagrams frequently use colour coding to distinguish features; these can now be directly reflected in applications.
• Mechanical & design-related inventions: Although traditional line drawings are common here, complex assemblies, prototypes, or flow visualisations (like fluid dynamics) sometimes use colour for clarity, which will now be permissible.

In short, this change is most beneficial for sectors where visual detail is technically significant and difficult to convey in black and white.

It should reduce ambiguity, improve examination efficiency and save applicants time and cost previously spent on redrawing or simplifying figures.

At SH&P, we are looking forward to filing some patent applications at the EPO that contain a little more colour!

If you have colourful idea that you would like to discuss, get in touch with our patents team for a consultation.

Posted: 22nd October 2025