The WIPO Digital Access Service Proves its Worth but Challenges Remain

The World Intellectual Property Organization’s WIPO Digital Access Service (DAS) is an electronic system allowing participating intellectual property (IP) offices to exchange priority and similar documents securely.

The system enables applicants and offices to meet the requirements of the Paris Convention for certification in an electronic environment. Prior to its creation, applicants had to request certified paper copies of priority filing documents from the IP office at which the priority application was filed and then transmit those documents to other IP offices, typically through a foreign agent. WIPO DAS allows applicants to request the priority filing IP office (known as the Depositing Office or Office of First Filing) to make priority documents available through the Service and then to request other offices (known as the Accessing Offices or Offices of Second Filing) to retrieve those documents through the Service. The exchange of documents then takes place electronically between the offices.