The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fee structure has changed as of 1 September 2022.

The fees are now as follows –

Transmittal Fee:

  • £75

Search Fee:

  • £1,518

Further charges and more information can be found here

The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced it will be increasing official fees by approximately 2.5% from 1 April 2022 – two years since its last fee increase in April 2020. Full details of the increases are available via the EPO website.

For more information about the fee increases and how they may affect your European patent portfolio, and to discuss your options in filing early to save costs, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

 

We our celebrating 10 years as Burrows Chambers Associates.  Ten 10 years ago, Neil Chambers joined forces with Anthony Burrows (now in his 33rd year of running his own IP Firm).

Anthony and Neil are both still located at Business Centre West in Letchworth Garden City and are proud to continue serving local, national and international Clients with their Intellectual Property requirements.

We would like to thank our Clients for their continued support and loyalty, and we look forward to serving you for another 10 years and beyond!

As a way of helping celebrate, all current Clients will be added to a prize draw to win a bottle of champagne.

(information correct at time of publishing)

The Intellectual Property Office has an online resource to assist people in finding the Goods and/or Services that would be acceptable as part of a UK Trade Mark Application. The IPO advises that, when applying to register a Trade Mark, you must use the classification system to specify the Goods and/or Services you wish to protect.

 

The service, which can be found on the website of The IPO, recommends that one considers:

what people pay you for;

what goods you sell, or are intending to sell in the future, under the Mark; or

what services your offer, or intend to offer, under the Mark.

Further help can be found here – https://www.search-uk-trade-mark-classes.service.gov.uk/searchclasses

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has had temporary fee changes (fee reductions) in place since the 30th July 2020 in order to help customers during the pandemic.

The temporary fee changes provision will end on the 31st March 2021. Any actions taken on or after the 1st April 2021 will require the usual fees.

Please follow the link to find out more directly from the IPO’s website – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/temporary-fee-changes

 

If you have been relying on paying your Patent renewal fees late, and incurring no additional costs through the temporary fee changes, you must now pay the required renewal fees by the end of March – otherwise normal extension fees will be incurred.

As a Firm, we are always here to help our Customers and, so, if you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

When applying to register a Trade Mark, you must use the classification system to specify the goods and/or services for which you will use or intend to use your Trade Mark.

The Intellectual Property Office has launched a new searching service which will help you search for, and classify, the goods and/or services you need to apply for to register your Trade Mark.  This searching service is predominantly aimed at those individuals or businesses who will wish to apply themselves; however, it will also be of use to Firms of Attorneys too, like the tool TMClass offered by the EUIPO.

For more information please follow this link – IPO new search UK trade mark classes service now available – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

It is important to know that, as of the 1st January 2021, those wishing to protect their Trade Mark and Registered Design Rights in the United Kingdom and the EU will need to make separate provisions, and EU Trade Marks and Registered Designs now no longer protect the United Kingdom.

If you have existing EU rights which were Registrations as of the 31st December 2020, reciprocal rights have been created covering the UK, and the above affects just new rights or rights which were Applications as of the 31st December 2020.

Further, as of the 1st January 2021, proprietors outside the UK will require an Address for Service in the UK.

We are here to help you and your Clients, and welcome any queries the above may raise.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published a summary of the key changes to IP rights from the 1st January.  Please follow this link for further information – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/intellectual-property-after-1-january-2021.

 

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has launched a new service to help business and individuals interesting in registering a Trade Mark for the first time. The service is an online tool which helps improve their chances of registering a Trade Mark. The tool is specifically aimed at those who have little or no knowledge of the application process and who have not applied for a Trade Mark before.

The tool will enable one to check:

if anyone already has a Trade Mark too similar to their proposed Trade Mark;

their proposed Trade Mark against basic Trade Mark rules on acceptability; and

their estimated application costs.

An early version of the service is still under development and the IPO recommend that business and individuals try the service out and leave feedback for the IPO.

To find out more about this new service please follow the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ipo-launches-trade-mark-pre-apply-service

The Intellectual Property Office has introduced the following temporary fee changes which are in place from the 30th July 2020 to the 31st March 2021.

The fee changes relate to the following – Patents, supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) Trade Marks and Registered Designs

  • No fees for extensions of time
  • No surcharge for Patent Application fees paid after the date of filing
  • No fees to apply for reinstatement and restoration of Rights
  • No surcharge for payment of a late renewal fees for Patents and Designs
  • £1 surcharge for payment of a late renewal fee on Trade Marks
  • No surcharge for late payment of SPC fees

However, the deadlines for completing actions, requesting extensions of time and paying fees are not affected by these fee changes and should be complied with

For further information, please refer to the IPO website  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-important-update-on-ipo-services

 

Update to Interrupted Days
The Intellectual Property Office has decided to bring the interrupted days period to an end on 29 July 2020. The first day of operation when all interrupted days deadlines will expire will be Thursday 30 July.
*An interrupted day is a day in which the normal course of business at the IPO is not possible.

The UK IPO is working to put in place measures that will ease burdens on business following the end of the period of interruption. This includes seeking Parliamentary approval to enable the temporary removal of fees for requests of extensions.

Interrupted Days

Following the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK, the Intellectual Patent Office has declared 24 March, and subsequent days until further notice, interrupted days.

What does this mean for your IP rights?
The declaration of interrupted days means that many deadlines for Patents, supplementary protection certificates, Trade Marks, Designs, and Applications for these rights which fall on an interrupted day will be extended to the next non-interrupted day.
To help rights holders, the UK Patent Office will provide a minimum of 2 weeks’ notice before ending the interrupted days period.
What does it apply to?
This applies to all time periods set out in the various relevant UK Acts and Rules, and to all non-statutory periods that have been specified by staff.
What does it not apply to?
This does not apply to time periods set out under the various international IP treaties e.g. the Patent Cooperation Treaty, European Patent Convention, or the Madrid system, where the Office may be acting as a Receiving Office.
The most notable exceptions are any deadline for filing priority claiming Design, Patent or Trade Mark Applications – these deadlines must not be missed,
This period of interruption does not affect filing dates of IP applications which are filed at the Office and do not claim priority from a previous application. These will be assigned a filing date under the usual rules.
Why is this action being taken?
The UK IPO is taking this action owing to the disruption to applicants’ businesses and its ability to receive and send post by the current coronavirus pandemic. It is consistent with action taken by other intellectual property offices such as the European Patent Office and the European Union Intellectual Property Office.
The next update will be on 22nd June and at least 2 weeks’ advance notice will be given to plan prior to the end of interrupted days.

If you would like any clarification, please contact us by email or phone.