New Zealand
15 April 2020
If circumstances related to COVID-19 have affected you or are affecting your ability to respond by a deadline please apply for an extension of time. Such requests will be treated favorably by IPONZ. If this is not possible please contact us directly using the online form.
IPONZ may change the due dates for a number of cases and tasks in acknowledgement of the disruption caused by COVID-19. These include the following:
- Deadlines to respond to patent examination reports(for both Patents Act 1953 cases and Patents Act 2013 cases)
- Deadlines to request examination for patent applications
- Section 71 deadlines for patent applications
- Deadlines to respond to design examination reports
- Deadlines to respond to trade mark compliance reports (national trade mark applications only)
- Deadlines to file evidence for proceeding cases
If a due date for one of your cases has been moved, a case-specific notification will be provided to your primary contact via the IPONZ online system. Please check your case and tasks to confirm the new date. Note that extensions of deadlines for patent applications are subject to additional requirements as given in these notifications.
IPONZ is closely monitoring incoming requests and dealing with any time sensitive matters. As IPONZ staff are having to work remotely, we will not usually be able to achieve our published processing timeframes.
If you have corresponded with IPONZ in relation to a time-sensitive matter within the prescribed time, you may not receive a response within the typical time period. Please rest assured that any deadline will be treated as having been conditionally met and the IPONZ delay in processing will be taken into account if further action is required.
As the situation continues to change we will keep you informed through our website.
Please contact us using the online form if you have any questions about these matters.
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