UK IPO continues to operate

24th Mar 2020

The UK IPO has confirmed that its services remain “mainly unaffected at present”, despite the UK going into a state of ‘lockdown’.

Paper forms continue to be accepted, although the UK IPO has asked customers to use its online service whenever possible. “This will give us the best chance of continuing to deliver our services” it said in an online statement. 

For services that are not available online, there is a new email address: [email protected], which can be used instead of faxing or posting documents to us. 

Fax remains an option, however this is under review by the UK IPO. It went on to say: “Please do not send duplicate copies to the email and fax. This will slow down the processing of yours and others’ forms.”

"The majority of our staff are equipped to work from home and are doing so to avoid unnecessary travel and social contact. Our sites remain open for essential work that can only be undertaken on site."

UK IPO hearings

Hearings will continue to take place via telephone, Skype or other online methods. There will be no physical hearings booked until at least 1st June 2020. 

Parties involved in upcoming hearings will be notified if the arrangements for their hearing changes. 

Click here to read the full statement from the UK IPO

Deadline extensions

The UK IPO had already announced that requests for an extension to deadlines for those affected by COVID-19 will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The UK IPO has also told us that extending deadlines can be done retrospectively. However, they are unable to offer any form of flexibility on changing absolute deadlines such as a notice of opposition or priority deadline. 

Click here to read more. 

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