Litigation, Intellectual Property And COVID-19

As the world continues to deal with the outbreak of COVID-19, we look at the measures taken by our Courts and Intellectual Property Offices to tackle the practical effects the virus is having on working life:

The EU IPO

• The European Intellectual Property Office has taken decisive action by extending all time limits expiring between 9 March 2020 and 30 April 2020 to 1 May 2020. In practice, this means that these deadlines have been extended until Monday 4 May 2020 because Friday 1 May 2020 is a public holiday in various European territories.
• The extension is automatic (it does not need to be applied for) and applies to all EU IPO deadlines, including those relating to renewals, oppositions and ongoing proceedings.