I would like to echo Stephen Adams comments. A similar situation exists
for Australian patents.
Rodney Cruise
Phillips Ormonde & Fitzpatrick
Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-piug-l@derwent.co.uk [mailto:owner-piug-l@derwent.co.uk] On
Behalf Of Stephen Adams
Sent: Friday, 6 December 2002 9:57 PM
To: Phillips, Peter
Cc: 'PIUG-L@derwent.co.uk'
Subject: Re: Assessing conflicting information on legal status for U.S.
patent
I would like to highlight a point about legal status information in
general which came to light during some recent research of mine.
The United Kingdom - in common with many other countries - has certain
provisions to allow for late payment of annuity fees. The applicant is
often required to pay a supplement, but the end result is that they are
able to revive their patent after the formal 'lapse' date.
The important issue from the information aspect is that the lapse of a
patent in the UK is not formally reported in the official gazette
(Patents and Designs Journal) until after the grace period for late
payment and all the appeal procedures (if any) are CONCLUDED. This
means that a notice can appear in the PDJ to the effect that a GB patent
lapsed due to non-payment, up to NINE MONTHS after the 'effect date'.
Any users attempting to interpret patent status need to be aware that
similar official time lags can occur in the reporting of patent lapse,
and that such notices are frequently retrospective in action. I am sure
that this is not just a phenomenon of UK law, but parallels exist
elsewhere. Caveat emptor.
-- Stephen Adams Magister Ltd. Crown House, 231 Kings Road, Reading, RG1 4LS, GB Tel: +44 (0)118 929 9515 Fax: +44 (0)118 929 9516 E-mail: stevea@magister.co.uk Website : http://www.magister.co.ukRegistered in England and Wales. Company No. 3407685
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