China has been known to have NO wiggle room when it comes to #trademark or #patent deadlines; however, now they are finally bending the rule (or showing willingness to bend the rules) due to the COVID19 situation. In Notification No. 350 issued by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (effective 1/28/2020), China will extend the deadlines in the following ways:
- For anyone missing a PATENT deadline due to the COVID19 outbreak, they could still restore their rights by filing a request starting the 2nd month the obstacle is removed but no later than the 2nd anniversary from the original deadline.
- For anyone missing a TRADEMARK deadline due to the COVID19 outbreak, they could still restore their rights within the a couple of months when the obstacle is removed.
- Note that one must file an application in order to “restore” their rights or “resurrect” the original deadline along with supporting documents; the official fee can be waived.
It’s important to note that unlike some IP offices in the world, the extension in China is not automatic; one must file an application requesting the authorities to give an exception to its special circumstances (in other word, the authorities have a wide range of discretion). The most likely deadline to be significantly impacted by the COVID19 situation, in my opinion, is the court appeal or any court action in Beijing because all the documents must be “legalized”, by the Chinese embassy, if the action is initiated by a foreign company. Given DC and most of the states in the US are locked down and not a soul is walking on the street (let alone working from any government agency), it would be hard pressed to legalize any document at the moment. We probably will start seeing a sharp decrease in the court actions in China.
View the link to Notification No. 350 (written in Chinese)
