IPONZ services during COVID-19

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IPONZ offices will be closed from 5pm 24 December 2024 until 8:30am 3 January 2025. Our website services remain available, but IPONZ contacts and our Service Centre will be unavailable via phone or email during this time.

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Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand

IPONZ services during COVID-19

We recognise the unprecedented nature of current events and the impact that the response to COVID-19 is having on the community and businesses.

16 July 2020 update

IPONZ will no longer provide automatic extensions for cases and tasks whose due dates take place after 31 July 2020.

IPONZ will still accept requests for extension of time, but on a case-by-case basis. In cases where circumstances related to COVID-19 have affected the ability to respond by a given deadline, we recommend that the request provides specific details of these circumstances. Such requests will be treated favourably by IPONZ.

For more detailed guidelines with regards to Patents, Plant Variety Rights and Hearings under COVID-19, please see the following for more information:

 

25 May 2020 update

IPONZ has recently updated the range of cases and tasks whose due dates may be extended in acknowledgement of the disruption caused by COVID-19.

  • IPONZ will now provide extensions to task deadlines for responding to provisional refusals and subsequent compliance reports, for international trade mark registrations designating New Zealand (NZDs).
  • IPONZ will no longer automatically extend deadlines for trade mark owners to file their counterstatement and evidence in revocation proceedings for non-use of a trade mark. Extensions of time can be requested if the owner if impacted by COVID-19.

IPONZ will only provide automatic extensions in the above manner for task due dates that are on or before 31 July 2020. Extensions are applied every Monday for any case or task due dates for the upcoming week.

Due dates will be extended by 3 months in this way. Whenever the due date for a case or task is extended, its primary contact in the IPONZ online system will receive a notification of the extension.

 

15 April 2020 update

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 favourably 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 (for national trade mark applications)
  • (Updated 25 May 2020) Deadlines to respond to provisional refusal reports (for international trade mark registrations designating New Zealand, or NZDs)
  • (Updated 25 May 2020) Deadlines to file evidence for proceeding cases, not  including revocation proceedings for non-use of a trade mark.

IPONZ will only provide automatic extensions in the above manner for task due dates that are on or before 31 July 2020.

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.

Published on July 16, 2020
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