• Jurisdictional order

After the Spanish Government enacted the State of Alarm due to the current pandemic, the fulfillment of procedural timeframes has been suspended and interrupted, always linked to the development of the State of Alarm.

The General Council of the Judiciary, on May 23, approved through its Permanent Commission the following agreements:

  • As from June 4, the suspension of time limits and procedural activity, established in the second additional provision of the Royal Decree 463/2020, will be no longer in force. The calculation of deadlines will be retaken as from such date.
  • Until this date, all the deadlines and procedural activity will be on hold, in so far as the extension of the State of Alarm in in force pursuant to the Royal Decree 463/2020 and before June 4, 2020.
  • As from June 1, all timeframes embodied in the third additional provision of the Royal Decree 463/2020 in relation to the administrative proceedings suspension, will be retaken. The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM) has not yet issued an official communication or clarifications on how to handle all the upcoming and pending deadlines.

It is important to note that this agreement highlights the fact that all the procedural activity that will be retaken as from June 4, 2020, it will be performed as long as the current circumstances allow to do so, always taking into account the health and organizational demands.

  • Administrative order. EUIPO.

On 18 May 2020, the exceptional extensions granted to users by two decisions of the Executive Director of the EUIPO (Decision No EX-20-3 and Decision No EX-20-4) come to an end.

The President of the Office has issued a communication, dated 15 May informing that there will not be further timeframe´s extensions and that all deadlines will be retaken as from 18 May. We clarify as follows certain matters that may have to be taken into account by users when this decision enters into force:

  • Extension of time limits. Difficulties arising from measures taken by public authorities against the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 outbreak or instances of sickness of the party or its representative for the same reason do constitute exceptional circumstances that will be considered appropriate by the Office for granting second and subsequent extensions of the same time limit, when all the timeframes stated in the corresponding regulation have been exhausted and without needing authorization from the third party in inter partes
  • Suspension of proceedings. Where inter partes proceedings have been suspended, in addition to the above cases, financial difficulties preventing the party from obtaining or securing continued professional representation before the Office (within the meaning of Articles 119 and 120 EUTMR, and Articles 77 and 78 CDR) that are caused by the pandemic situation may also constitute a proper reason for granting a suspension.

The Office has also indicated that for certain proceedings where the deadlines were not met, in particular in the field of designs, a reasoning will need to be provided to the Office explaining the exceptional circumstances.

Finally, the Office highlights the possibility of filing an application for RESTITUTIO IN INTEGRUM (Article 104 EUTMR and Article 67 CDR), for those users who have suffered damage and wish to apply for a reinstatement of rights, taking into account the cases mentioned at the beginning of this section.