Last updated on Wednesday, July 1, 2020
- WIPO Operations –
- Wednesday, May 6: To assist member states, organizations and individuals, the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) has collected a comprehensive repository of information and has made it publicly available on it’s website through its’ COVID-19 Policy Tracker and Information Repository.
- The International Bureau published the "Interpretative statement and Recommended Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Practice Changes in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic" (https://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/pct/en/covid_19/82quater.pdf) signed by WIPO Director General Francis Gurry on April 9, 2020.
- Thursday, April 9: WIPO is not able to send or receive paper communications by postal mail until further notice. All correspondence to WIPO should be sent via email, with no paper copy, to wipo.mail@wipo.int. Click here for more information.
- Tuesday, April 7: In case you missed it, click here to view the Director General's public broadcast.
- Thursday, April 2: WIPO has decided to postpone the following meetings in May 2020:
- WIPO Conversation on Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence (2nd Session), May 11 to 12, 2020;
- Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) (25th session), May 18 to 22, 2020; and
- Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Working Group (13th session), May 26 to 29, 2020.
- Monday, March 30: The International Bureau published detailed information on their website, urging PCT users to avoid submissions by postal mail and urgently provide a contact e-mail address if none was indicated in relation to their pending international application(s). Information on the Madrid Protocol can be found here. Information on the Hague Agreement can be found here.
- Wednesday, March 25: WIPO released a notice of public broadcast. On April 7, the Director General will cover the results of WIPO in 2019; program highlights and challenges for 2020; and management of the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on WIPO services and programs. The broadcast will be available on the WIPO website at www.wipo.int.
- Saturday, March 21: WIPO released the following news blast: https://www.wipo.int/portal/en/news/2020/article_0015.html
- Saturday, March 21: WIPO contacts IPIC to provide the following links for remedies available in case of failure to meet a time limit, and extension of time limits:
- Hague: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/hagdocs/en/2020/hague_2020_5.pdf
- Madrid: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/madrdocs/en/2020/madrid_2020_7.pdf
- PCT: https://www.wipo.int/pct/en/newslett/2020/article_0006.html
- Arbitration and Mediation Center: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/center/wipoupdate.html
- UDRP/ccTLD: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/center/wipocenterupdate.html
- Thursday, March 19: WIPO and its PCT operations remain open at this time. We have been told by WIPO management that there are no plans at present for WIPO to declare itself closed for purposes of filing and processing PCT applications. If WIPO offices were to close for purposes of filing and processing PCT applications, notice would be posted on the WIPO website and to various WIPO subscriber lists and national/regional Offices. Please visit the WIPO web site https://wipo.int and the WIPO Media Center sub-page for the latest information ( https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/ ).
- European Patent Office –
- Thursday, May 21: EPO has decided to postpone until further notice all oral proceedings in opposition scheduled until 14 September 2020 (previously until 2 June 2020) which have not either already been confirmed to take place by videoconference or will be held by videoconference with the parties' consent under the pilot project (Article 2 of the Decision of the President of the EPO dated 14 April 2020). Oral proceedings in examination will continue to be held by videoconference in accordance with the Decision of the President of the EPO dated 1 April 2020.
- Tuesday, May 5: EPO has further extended all periods and the postponement of opposition division oral proceedings to 2 June 2020: https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/official-journal/information-epo/archive/20200501.html
- EPO remains open, however has made various changes to procedures in response to COVID-19. Please monitor the following page for up to date information on their COVID-19 changes: https://www.epo.org/news-issues/covid-19.html
- United States Patent and Trademark Office –
- Wednesday, July 1: The USPTO has released additional information on the COVID-19 Trademark Prioritization Examination Program. Click here to learn more.
- Monday, June 29: The USPTO has extended certain CARES Act relief for small and micro entities. Click here to learn more.
- Friday, June 12: The USPTO announces relief to restore priority or benefit rights for patent applicants. Read the full notice on the USPTO website for further details.
- Friday, May 29: The USPTO has allowed filing of initial patent term extension applications via patent electronic filing systems in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Wednesday, May 27: The USPTO has granted further relief for certain patent-related fees and deadlines. For small and micro entities, filings that would have been deemed timely filed, if filed by June 1, 2020 pursuant to the CARES Act Notice dated April 28, 2020, will now be deemed timely filed if filed by July 1, 2020. For large entities, after May 31, 2020, relief will be available to those who need it on a case-by-case basis.
- Friday, May 8: The USPTO announced a new COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program for small and micro entities. Click here to learn more about the program.
- Wednesday, May 6: The USPTO will allow filing of plant patent applications and correspondence via patent electronic filing systems in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Tuesday, May 5: The USPTO released a form to assist with making a statement of delay due to COVID-19.
- Tuesday, April 28: The USPTO has extended certain patent and trademark deadlines to June 1. Click here for more information.
- Monday, April 6: The USPTO released a series of FAQs and answers for patent and trademark filers regarding the previously announced extension of certain patent and trademark-related timing deadlines under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. To access the patent FAQs, click here. To access the trademark FAQs, click here.
- Sunday, March 22: The USPTO encourages registered users of the USPTO’s Patent Electronic Systems who are not currently participating in the e-Office Action program to log into Private PAIR to update their Customer Number details to receive electronic notifications of office communications. Click here for more details.
- Thursday, March 19: The USPTO remains open but has closed the physical offices to the public. They have provided relief to USPTO customers affected by COVID-19 pursuant to 37 CFR 1.183 and 37 CFR 2.146. https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/coronavirus_relief_ognotice_03162020.pdf. Please visit this USPTO website to monitor their response: https://www.uspto.gov/coronavirus. USPTO has also waived the original handwritten signature requirement. Further info here.
- Mexican Patent and Trademark Office (IMPI) - Thursday, March 26: IMPI has issued a new resolution to suspend all its activities during the period from March 27, 2020 until April 19, 2020. Click here for more information.
- UK IPO –
- Friday, March 27: The UK IPO has announced that it will be declaring 24 March 2020 and subsequent days to be “interrupted days” until further notice.
- Monday, March 30: Following the update on Friday, March 27 detailing the changes to the UK IPO services during the COVID-19 outbreak, additional information has been released explaining the Patent, Trade Mark and Designs deadline and extension regimes that have been put into place. For patent deadlines and extension regimes, click here. For trademark and designs deadlines and extension regimes, click here.
FICPI has created a spreadsheet with information on the deadlines and key changes for national, regional and international IP Offices that is updated frequently by members of FICPI's global community.
Important – The World Trademark Review has made all of their COVID-19 related information and updates free, by removing the paywall. Please see the announcement here.
**The following link may be useful for tracking updates of IPO’s around the world: https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/brand-management/ip-offices-implement-measures-in-wake-of-coronavirus-crisis