The coronavirus COVID-19 is also having an effect on trademark and design law.
Like many other intellectual property offices elsewhere in the world, earlier this week, both the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) announced the following measures:
- Where possible, employees must work from home
- Office buildings are closed to visitors
- Current deadlines are being postponed
BOIP deadlines
From 16 March until a time when normal work may reasonably be resumed (the so-called business-as-usual or “BAU” date), BOIP will not withdraw any applications or procedures due to failure to respect a deadline.
BOIP announced that it shall soon determine what this “BAU-date” will be.
With regard to all applications or procedures - including oppositions and applications for cancellation - concerning which deadlines are due to fall between 16 March and the BAU date, or which, on the BAU date, will have deadlines of less than a month, BOIP will provide an additional period of 1 month from the BAU date.
BOIP policy in respect of “COVID-19 coronavirus” applications
BOIP also provided an indication of its policy by mentioning on its website, that trademark applications containing the term “Corona”, such as:
- Corona Baby for clothing (including baby clothing) and
- corona mask for protective masks
have a high chance of refusal on absolute grounds by the Office, on the one hand because the applications have a descriptive nature, and on the other, because they are contrary to public order and public morality (these are both grounds for rejection on the part of BOIP).
At this moment the application for CORONA MASKS has already been refused, just as the same applicant’s COVID MASK for protective masks.
On the other hand the expedite application for:
- OLVG CORONA CHECK for medical research and screening
has been approved by BOIP on absolute grounds.
EUIPO deadlines
The EUIPO has announced that all time limits expiring between 9 March 2020 and 30 April 2020 are extended until 1 May. Since 1 May is a public holiday in Spain (where EUIPO is located), the new deadline will in practice be a little later, namely Monday 4 May 2020.
This special extension arrangement covers:
- time limits which have been set by any instance of the Office in any proceeding before the EUIPO, including opposition and cancellation procedures
- time limits which have been imposed directly under statutory provisions, including those originating from the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or other International Treaties.
Concrete examples
Among the deadlines being postponed to 4 May are those applying to:
- The right of Priority;
- Exhibition Priority;
- The Opposition Period;
- Requests for Renewal (submissions of appeals and grounds);
- Submission of applications for Conversion;
- Applications for deferment of publication of design.
Our trademark team will be pleased to advise you further on how to steer a course for your trademark and design portfolio through this turbulent period.
