Article continuously updated

Update – 04/05/2020

As public life remained disrupted due to the COVID-19 situation, the EPO took steps to protect the rights of users. All deadlines whose expiration date is March 15, 2020 or a later date are extended again, until June 2, 2020.

Update – 30/04/2020

EUIPO continues to take into consideration the exceptional situation due to COVID-19 and extends all expiring periods between May 1, 2020 and May 17, 2020 until May 18, 2020.

Update – 17/04/2020

Due to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 the European Patent Office has published a notice informing the users that all time limits expiring on or after 15 March 2020 are further extended until 4 May 2020.

More information at https://www.epo.org/news-issues/covid-19.html

Update – 26/03/2020
The French Government has issued a decree on March 25, 2020, which leads to a postponement of deadlines set by the French IP law and the Patent and Trademark Office (INPI) with effect for time limits from March 12, 2020.

The computation of the new deadlines will be a function of the ending date (not known yet) of the urgency period decided in view of the Covid-19, and depends on the initial period set (one month or more) in the deadline.

However some time limits like priority dates are excluded from this exceptional time extension. Some professionals currently doubt that this decree cover patent annuity deadlines despite the information provided by the French Patent Office. That is why we recommend to observe the normal deadlines as often as possible.

Feel free to ask for a further assessment if you face a specific case.

20/02/2020
Considering the government decisions in Europe and Monaco in order to stem the spread of COVID-19, HAUTIER IP has implemented the necessary measures for the security of its team and the continuity of its services.

The use of telework will allow our team to ensure the continuation of its activity in the best possible conditions and to remain at your disposal for the follow-up of your files.

Postal services are very disrupted and due to the deployment of telework within our teams, we thank you to send us:

• your instructions by email (rather than by post), to the following addresses: contact@hautier-ip.eu; patent@hautier.fr; trademark@hautier.fr
• your payments by bank transfer (rather than by check).

In the event of confinement, if your instructions or checks or facsimile are sent by post, we cannot guarantee that they will be processed within our usual deadlines.

In addition, our office does not welcome any visitors from March 16.

Obviously, our internal procedures are likely to be updated according to the evolution of government announcements and we will not fail to keep you informed in real time.

Our entire team thanks you for your understanding and stays at your disposal for any further information.