Export documents in Office Open XML strict format

[mr_obvious]

Dear all,

I’m working in a patent law firm and we are thinking about switching from MS Office.

Lately patent offices are switching to XML files for submissions and they now started to switch to Office Open XML strict (not transitional!). As for the specific requirements, see for example here:
https://www.epo.org/en/legal/official-journal/2025/07/a50

I know that this standard is not really “open”, but that is what we have to live with. Our professional body is trying to convince the European Patent Office to also accept ODT (see epi Information | Report of the Online Communications Committee), so please no response that we shouldn’t use that standard without answering my question, we are trying to move to ODF, but we also have to play with the cards we’re dealt with.

As the go live for OOXML is in April this year, my question would be whether LibreOffice is capable of exporting documents in OOXML (strict)? I’ve only seen Word 2010-365 or Word 2007, but don’t know if one of these or both are OOXML transitional or one is the strict version.

Thank you for your help!

[iplaw67]

Hi,

You might already know that the French patent office has been using DOCX formats for its online patent application filing portal for a while now, which are then transformed into a PDF for the actual filing (presumably by FOP, although that is not entirely clear as the process is hidden from the user). The French PTO also provides a template for use with Word and LO Writer, the differences between the two being mainly in the numbering styles, as far as I can tell. I have been using Writer to draft nearly all of my patent applications (in various fields) for over 20 years, obviously converting them to PDF for submission in eOLF and PCT e-filing systems. As experience with the French system has shown, the move to prescribing ooxml as an obligatory format is not without a number of problems, most notably linked to the management of embedded objects, e.g. mathematical formulae, Markush structures, tables and even drawings (a heresy IMO, but I have to live with the rules).

Saving to DOCX 365 from LO Writer, whilst generally pretty good, will always be fraught with the potential for corner case formatting functions that aren’t entirely supported or implemented. Unfortunately for our profession, and in my own experience, corner cases can occur in high enough frequencies to be problematic. The LibreOffice project doesn’t cater to these issues, precisely because they are corner cases relative to the mass of documents produced and it is expected that one or more volunteers will group together to address them, or else hire one or more developers to do that.

The takeaway, as usual with most open source projects of this nature, is that YMMV.

I’ll have a look at the link you posted, I would probably be interested in joining the working party on the topic as it has been a bugbear of mine for a number of years that truly open standard implementations have failed to be widely adopted by both patent offices and users of the various patent systems worldwide.

[mikekaganski]

tdf#149658

[iplaw67]

As I surmised. I rest my case

[mr_obvious]

Thanks for your replies!

So I take it from mikekaganski that it is not implemented and probably won’t be for a long time as long as there is no further (external) support.

I already know that the USPTO accepts OOXML (transitional) and converts it (File patent application documents in DOCX | USPTO). They say that they have also tested their templates with LO. So pretty similar to the French PTO. It seems that the EPO is stricter with their requirements, as always (puns intended, the patent and OOXML one). Maybe if one can’t convince the EPO to change their requirements, then one can convince them to help LO to implement it? Either through funding or active support.