COVID-19 Impact on Patent Offices: Office Closures and Service Delays

As COVID-19 continues to spread and disrupt industries
across the globe, patent offices in Coronavirus affected countries are, for
lack of better term, not immune. These patent offices are responding by
implementing deadline extensions, office closures, and delays in services.

Below is a list of relevant patent offices divided by
region and their respective statuses as of March 20, 2020:

NORTH
AMERICA

• United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
  • All offices closed from March
    16, 2020 until further notice – all USPTO operations will continue without
    interruption
  • Original handwritten
    signature no longer required for certain correspondence with the Office of
    Enrollment and Discipline (OED) and certain payments by credit card
  • Petition fees waived in certain
    situations for customers impacted by the coronavirus, but does not grant
    waivers or extensions of dates or requirements set by statute
• Canadian IP Office (CIPO)
  • All deadlines extended until
    31 March
  • Expect significant delays in
    all services
  • Multiple CIPO offices are no
    longer receiving correspondence, including in Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and
    Vancouver

EUROPE

• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
  • Reserving access to its
    headquarters to only personnel essential personnel
  • Processing of applications
    filed via WIPO’s IP services are so far not affected
• European Patent Office (EPO)
  • All deadlines due between
    March 9 and April 16 are now due April 17
  • The extension also applies to
    PCT applications handled by the EPO
  • Affected parties are not
    required to file a request to the office for the extension of the time limit to
    take effect
• United Kingdom IP Office (UKIPO)
  • Deadlines extended and IP
    rights reinstated for those affected by the virus, granting on a case-by-case
    basis
• Italian IP Office (UIBM)
  • Any certificates and IP
    titles that expire between January 31 and April 15 will remain valid until June
    15, 2020
• The German IP Office (DPMA)
  • The following are closed or
    unavailable until further notice
    • Information centers
    • Research rooms
    • On-site consultations
    • Initial consultations for
      inventors
• French IP Office (INPI)
  • All buildings closed to the
    public
• Czech Republic IP Office (UPV)
  • Open with reduced hours
• Norway IP Office (NIPO)
  • Customer service centers will
    “hold normal office hours, but staff will be taking the calls from home
  • No in-person meetings
  • NIPO headquarters are closed
    to the public until further notice
  • If specific deadlines or lost
    registered rights occur during this period, applicants and registrants can request
    re-establishment of those rights
• Finland IP Office (PRH)
  • Customer service building in
    Helsinki is closed
• Portugal IP Office (INPI)
  • All employees will be working
    from home from March 16, 2020
  • In-person services only
    available through pre-scheduling
• Austrian IP Office
  • All office deadlines in
    proceedings before the registry are extended by two months without the need for
    users to request a further extension
  • However, all deadlines
    directly resulting from the law cannot be extended

ASIA/PACIFIC

• Chinese Patent and Trademark Office (CNIPA)
  • Unaffected
  • Anyone in China who would
    miss the deadlines with regard to patents due to the coronavirus can apply for
    restoration of their rights
• Hong Kong IP Office
  • Extended all patent, design
    and trademark deadlines for any filing date that fell between January 29 and
    February 21
  • Deadlines that fall after
    these dates are currently unaffected
• Australian IP Office (IP Australia)
  • Requests for extensions can
    be made “in the normal way” and will be considered on a case-by-case
    basis
  • However, “some time
    periods cannot be extended” and suggested that brand owners reach out to
    IP professionals to check if an extension is possible
• Philippines IP Office (IPOPHL)
  • Moved to an “online
    only” service
  • From 16 March until 14 April,
    all manual IP filings are suspended
• New Zealand IP Office (IPONZ)
  • all services are currently
    operating as usual
  • users can request an
    extension of time should they be affected by the virus

MIDDLE
EAST/AFRICA

• Israel Patent Office
  • Do not visit the registry’s
    headquarters until further notice
  • Can contact the Authority by
    phone as usual, and submit documents online
  • Regular hearings in the
    Tribunal are cancelled, and new dates will be adjusted
• Saudi Arabia IP Office
  • Suspended operations for at
    least 16 days from 16 March
• African Regional IP Office (ARIPO)
  • Discouragement of walk-in
    enquiries and strongly encourage users to take advantage of the office’s online
    services and email/phone communications

CENTRAL/SOUTH
AMERICA

• Brazilian IP Office (INPI)
  • Face-to-face service is now
    suspended indefinitely
• Peru IP Office (Indecopi)
  • Suspended all public meetings
    indefinitely
  • All deadlines being processed
    are now suspended
• Chilean IP Office (INAPI)
  • Public opening hours reduced
    essential queries and procedures that cannot be carried out by other means
  • Extension of terms for
    administrative procedures