COVID-19 update: UKIPO announces end to ‘interrupted days’ period

The UKIPO has been continually reviewing the period of interrupted days since its commencement on 24 March 2020, and following its latest review has decided that the period of interrupted days will end on 29 July 2020. As a result, business will resume as normal from 30 July 2020 which is when all interrupted days deadlines will expire.

Now that the UKIPO has confirmed the end of this period, it is working towards putting measures in place to help ease the burdens on businesses, including seeking Parliamentary approval to enable the temporary removal of fees for extension requests.

The UKIPO has encouraged customers to meet their existing trade mark renewal deadlines where possible. If your renewal deadline falls after the period of interruption ends, this deadline will not be extended. Customers should also continue communicating with the UKIPO via online means.

For further information on the UKIPO’s previous reviews, see our earlier BrandWrites articles here and here.

If you have any questions on how this will impact you, please contact your usual Bird & Bird contact. For the full UKIPO guidance, see: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-important-update-on-ipo-services