Dear Colleagues,

In connection with the catastrophic events in Japan, we would like to inform you this important decision, taken by the Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) in respect of patent applications filing in the Japan Patent Office.

Information for applicants, patentholders and their representatives in connection with consequences of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan

Due to catastrophic events in Japan resulting form the powerful earthquake and tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011, the Eurasian Patent Office makes the following announcement.
EAPO legal acts and regulations do not provide any special provisions for extensions of procedural terms which non-compliance occurred in consequence of natural and anthropogenic disasters, however, in case of a failure to meet procedural time limits, applicants may use the following possibilities:

1) Procedural time limits, assigned by EAPO (in particular, time limits for applicant to submit response to examination request) according to the Rule 37(2) of the Patent Regulations, may be extended on a request filed not later than two months following the date of expiry.

2) According to the Rule 39 of the Patent Regulations, rights relating to a Eurasian application or Eurasian patent, which have lapsed as a result of the failure to respect the time limits, including limits of transfer of an international application to regional stage of examination at EAPO, may be restored.

3) According to the Rules 6(1) and 36(3) of the Patent Regulations, where a Eurasian application claiming priority could not, owing to circumstances beyond the applicant’s control, be filed within twelve months from the priority date, the latter may be extended by a period not exceeding two months.

We would like you to notice also the bail-out policy for applicants experiencing difficulties in proceeding with applications filed to JPO is published at the JPO web-site

Sincerely Yours,

Mr. Alexander Leonov,
Director General,
Russian Patent and Trademark Attorney, Eurasian Patent Attorney,
Senior teacher of Plehanova Russian Academy of Economics.

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