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ARTICLE · 09 JUNE 2020

No More Automatic COVID-19 Extensions At The EPO

Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
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In recent months, the EPO has announced various "COVID-19" extensions of time, allowing additional time for responding to certain time periods (see our blog post here).

European UnionIntellectual Property
K. Victoria Barker, Ph.D.
K. Victoria Barker, Ph.D.
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In recent months, the EPO has announced various "COVID-19" extensions of time, allowing additional time for responding to certain time periods (see our blog post here). The final "COVID-19" extension period expires 2 June 2020, but most workplaces are still a long way from being back to "normal". What does the absence of a formal COVID-19 extension mean for EPO users?

As noted in our previous blog post on this topic, many significant deadlines were excluded from this extension including the deadline for filing a divisional application, and the deadlines for filing written submissions.

Rather than providing a blanket extension of time for most (but not all) EPO time periods, the expiry of the "COVID-19" extensions of time means that if a time limit is now missed after 2 June 2020, the onus is on applicants to demonstrate that the time limit is missed due to a dislocation in the delivery or transmission of mail caused by an exceptional occurrence affecting the

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