UK IPO Interrupted days

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK IPO has declared 24 March 2020 and all subsequent days as “interrupted days” until further notice. During these interrupted days, the IPO will not carry out its normal course of business.

As such, deadlines relating to trade marks and deigns (as well as patents and SPCs) that fall within these interrupted days will be extended.

New filings

New Trade Mark and Design applications will not have their filing dates affected by these interrupted days where they are filed at the UK IPO and do not claim priority from a previous application. These will continue to be assigned a filing date under the usual rules. Most accepted Trade Marks will be published for opposition purposes. There may be a delay for some because of the need to notify owners of any earlier UK marks (and international marks with UK designation) identified within the search report as this is currently only done by post.

Examinations

The UK IPO has also announced that it will allow four months to respond to new examination reports issued in relation to Trade Mark applications, not the current two months, removing the need for an extension.
It is not possible to extend the reply period for Designs examination reports but extensions are available.

What next

The Office will give brand owners or their representatives a minimum of 2 weeks’ notice before ending the interrupted period.

However, the Office cautions that Interrupted Days have been introduced as a safety measure only where normal business is not possible. Brand owners or their representatives should therefore continue to work towards their existing deadlines.

The position was reviewed on 29 May 2020 and the next review day will be 22 June.