At a time when most of the IP community (apparently not in Sweden though) is in lockdown, it's interesting to see who is adapting best to the new world order. It seems to me that we solos have a big advantage over our larger competitors. Okay work has probably fallen off and you are busy keeping up with the admin and credit control. Nevertheless, organisations that depend on teamwork and the assistance of secretaries, filing clerks and other support staff, are definitely struggling to do the work at home thing. Whereas, for the last 15 years unsupported work at home is what I've been doing so no change there then. Of course, I can no longer go out to the gym or indeed anywhere else except the local Co-op.
I expect everybody has picked up on the freely available extensions of time that the UKIPO, EPO and EUIPO have offered. Just as a handy resource here are the links.
The UKIPO notice stalls time with effect from 24 March and is intending to review things on 17 April. The EUIPO notice stalls time a little earlier 16 March and takes all the deadlines effectively to 4 May. Wouldn't it be wonderful if on the next review both our major trademark offices could keep themselves in synchronism?
The EPO notice is as you would expect from a patent organisation much more complex. It isn't helped that new EPO fees came into effect from 1 April 2020. The next Official Journal will contain this notice of 30th March 2020 concerning which fee schedule to use. If you're patent colleagues would be well advised to keep a careful eye on the official journal.
Although in the UK the Postal Service is still working, because many people have closed physical offices, there is clearly some issue with post being received. Some parts of the UK IPO still use post and it doesn't appear that they have worked out a solution yet for dealing with that. Therefore, trademarks which have earlier mark right cited on them may suffer some delay in advertisement. Hopefully that will be resolved soon.
No doubt you will have heard that zoom is becoming the videoconferencing tool of choice. Even if you subscribe, it's relatively inexpensive and both young and old who have Internet connected devices seem able to cope with the interface. It's a little troubling that they were sharing data with Facebook and there had been hacking issues (though all the meetings I've attended so far haven't been hacked except by attendees who decided to leave the radio on in the background) so may not be ideal for confidential meetings but it would seem pretty safe to use it for hangouts and even basic webinars. So if anybody is interested in sharing their wisdom to make a proposal below. This is a good opportunity to keep up with CPD and developments in case law. Please post your suggestions or contact me
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