CNIPA Releases Announcement No. 350 on COVID-19 Related Measures
To protect the legal rights of the parties affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the "Announcement of the CNIPA on Matters Related to Time Limits for Patents, Trademarks, and Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits Affected by the Epidemic” ("Announcement No. 350”) on 28 January 2020.
According to Announcement No. 350, in respect of the deadlines for matters related to patents and layout designs of integrated circuits, where a party fails to observe a time limit prescribed by the Patent Law, Regulations on the Protection of Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits and their Implementing Regulations or a time limit otherwise specified by CNIPA for reasons related to the epidemic, resulting in the loss of rights, the party may request the restoration of rights within 2 months from the date when the obstacle is removed, provided that the request is made at the latest within 2 years from the date of expiration of the time limit. The requester needs not pay any fees for the restoration of rights in this situation, but has to submit a written request stating the reason for the request, attached with the corresponding supporting materials, and go through the formalities that should have been completed prior to the loss of rights.
And for matters related to trademarks, where a party fails to meet the time limit prescribed by the Trademark Law and its Implementing Regulations or otherwise specified by CNIPA for reasons related to the epidemic, resulting in the failure to handle relevant trademark matter, the time period will be suspended from the date when the obstacle to the exercise of rights arises until the date when the obstacle to the exercise of rights is removed, unless stated otherwise in the law. Where a party loses his/her rights as a result of the obstacle to the exercise of rights, the party may request the restoration of rights in writing within 2 months from the date of removal of the obstacle, stating the reason for the request and attaching the corresponding supporting materials.
