The German Patent and Trademark Office has announced that deadlines in all ongoing IPR proceedings granted by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office will be extended until 4 May 2020 or no decision will be taken until then due to the expiry of the deadline
The Office has published the following information:
A translation reads as follows:
The operation of the service and the processing of procedures in the areas of patents, utility models, trademarks and designs at the German Patent and Trademark Office (GPTO) can be maintained by using the electronic working tools available to them.
However, many of the GPTO’s employees are affected by the current restrictions such as quarantine measures, so that there will be delays in processing in all areas. This mainly affects incoming paper mail and faxes as well as outgoing paper mail from the offices, which can only be processed with delays for the time being due to the limited presence of the GPTO’s staff on site.
Please use our electronic filing channels DPMAdirektPro and DPMAdirektWeb for IP applications and any further procedural steps - in particular for national and international procedures subject to a time limit - because the GPTO can reliably receive the electronic applications.
Delays may also occur in the preparation of certificates - in particular documents, register extracts, apostilles and certificates of origin - and in the preparation of priority documents. It is recommended that applications for these documents be submitted as early as possible.
The preparation of the IPR gazettes may differ from the planned publication dates.
Deadlines in all ongoing IPR proceedings granted by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office will be extended until 4 May 2020 or no decision will be taken until then due to the expiry of the deadline. There will be no separate notifications regarding the extensions of time limits. In addition, the GPTO will continue to generously determine the time limits to be set by the office in accordance with the situation.
Statutory time limits cannot be extended by the DPMA. In this respect, reference is made to the possibility of restitutio in integrum (see note of the GPTO of 10 March 2020).
FICPI’s view and involvement
FICPI has developed a suite of resources and information to help members of our global community to adapt to the new way of working under Covid-19 coronavirus restrictions, which brings opportunities for growth as well as some immediate challenges. This includes a useful spreadsheet showing the latest coronavirus updates from Offices around the world, compiled by FICPI members and updated on a regular basis.
Next steps
- Follow developments under IP News on the FICPI website.
- Find our Coronavirus help, support and guidance on the FICPI website.