The United Kingdom intellectual property office originally stated that deadlines would be extended via its ‘interrupted days’ provisions in March 2020, a move that has subsequently been regularly reviewed.
Official deadlines for most trade marks, designs, patents, supplementary protection certificates, and applications for these rights, which fall on an interrupted day have been extended.
The UK IPO interrupted days period ended on 29th July.
This will mean that the first normal day of operation is Thursday 30th July.
The UK IPO is working to put in place measures that will ease burdens on business following the end of the period of interruption.
Temporary removal of official fees for requests for extensions of time
The following temporary official fee changes are in place during the period 30 July 2020 to 31 March 2021 in relation to patents, supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) , trade marks and registered designs:
• official fees for extensions of time will be zero
• there will be no official fee surcharge for payment of a patent application fee after the date of filing
• official fees to apply for reinstatement and restoration will be zero
• for patents and designs, there will be no official fee surcharge for late payment of a renewal fee
• for trade marks, the official fee surcharge for late payment of a renewal fee will be £1
The deadlines for completing actions, requesting extensions of time and paying fees are unaffected by these fee changes and must still be complied with.
These fee changes came into effect immediately after the United Kingdom intellectual property offices period of interrupted days, which ended on 29 July 2020.
Source: United Kingdom intellectual property office
Article Published July 30th, 2020