On March 11, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom declared that the COVID-19 outbreak "can be characterized as a pandemic," cautioning that the WHO has "rung the alarm bell loud and clear."  At the time of the announcement, the WHO noted that there were 118,000 cases reported globally.  In the fifteen days since the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic, the number of global cases has almost quadrupled, with the WHO reporting in its latest situation report that as of March 26 there have been 462,684 cases.  The Director-General also stated that "[t]his is not just a public health crisis, it is a crisis that will touch every sector – so every sector and every individual must be involved in the fight."  The WHO's March 11 declaration -- and global developments since then -- raise the question of how the pandemic is affecting the patent community.

We have been reporting (see links below) on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, World Intellectual Property Organization, European Patent Office, IP Australia, Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ), Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (INPI), Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), and National Office of Intellectual Property (ONAPI) in the Dominican Republic, as well as U.S. Federal courts, including, in particular, the Supreme Court and Federal Circuit.  Today we present recent developments in India, Sri Lanka, Israel, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Indonesia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a Public Notice issued on March 19 by the Office of Controller General for Patents, Designs & Trademarks of Intellectual Property India, the Controller General indicated that "all in person hearings in Patents and Designs matters scheduled on or before 15th April, 2020 by the Controller should be changed to Video Conferencing (VC) hearings," and further, that "[w]herever the applicant is unable to agree for the VC hearing, the Controller shall adjourn such hearing for a date later than 15th April, 2020."  The Public Notice also indicated that hearings scheduled for after April 15, 2020 will remain as is (at least for now).  The Controller General also declared that pursuant to sub-rule (6) of Rule 6 of the Patents Rules, "the delay in transmitting or resubmitting documents to the Patent Office will be condoned/timeline be extended by the Controller on a petition for such condonation of delay/extension of time made not later than one month from the date when such COVID-19 outbreak ceased to exist."

However, only days later, on March 23, the Government of India announced a nationwide lockdown that would extend until March 31, and two days later, extended the lockdown until April 15.  In a notice distributed to the patent community on March 25, Indian patent law firm D. P. Ahuja & Co. indicated that as a result of the shutdown, the Patent and Trademark Offices have been closed, that no filings will be possible at the Patent and Trademark Offices until the lockdown is lifted, and that all deadlines will be automatically extended or extendable with petitions.  Indian patent law firm Chadha & Chadha confirmed that cases in India with deadlines on or before April 14, 2020 shall have a new deadline of April 15, 2020.

On Saturday, Sri Lankan patent law firm Varners noted that the Government of Sri Lanka had declared a public holiday from March 13-19 for all non-essential services, and then declared the period from March 20-27 as a period to work from home or remotely for all public sector and private sector personnel.  Travel into Sri Lanka was also restricted for two weeks beginning March 17.  As a result of these declarations, all Courts and the National Intellectual Property Office (NIPO) have been closed.  Varners also noted that it was working with other leaders in the IP field to request the Director General of the National Intellectual Property Office to grant an extension of four weeks in respect of impending deadlines in view of the current circumstances.

On Monday, Dan Feigelson of 4th Dimension IP posted an article on his America-Israel Patent Law weblog, informing readers of a notice issued by the Israel PTO on Sunday implementing a Saturday night decision by the Israel cabinet to reduce the number of public sector employees that are still working.  The ILPTO's implementation of the decision will remain in effect until May 1, 2020 or until the ILPTO publishes a new notice.  As discussed in the article, the main points of the ILPTO's implementation include:

• many employees were already working from home, and will continue to do so; registration certificates will continue to issue, and the Patents, Trademarks and Designs Journals will continue to publish at the end of each month;
• the ILPTO will strive to meet its obligations under treaties (e.g. providing PCT search reports on time), and to issue renewal certificates on time, but certain services (recording assignments, licensing new practitioners, notices of formal defects in PCT national stage applications, daily notices of outgoing correspondence) will be delayed at least until after Passover (April 15, 2020);
• the ILPTO will continue to accept submissions electronically and, for those parties permitted to do so, in person or by regular post, but in-person meetings and proceedings before the ILPTO, including hearings in adjudicatory proceedings, will remain in suspension;
• deadlines for filing new applications, responses to office actions and the like will not be held in abeyance, but non-statutory deadlines in adjudicatory proceedings will be suspended;
• applicants or other parties in proceedings before the ILPTO who are unable to timely make submissions as a result of coronavirus-related circumstances may request extensions or reinstatement based on those circumstances, which will be taken into account when deciding whether or not to grant the extension or reinstatement;
• in cases in which the ILPTO has an announced policy capping the number of extensions, that cap will be temporarily be waived, but statutory deadlines (e.g. for opposing a patent application or requesting a patent term extension) cannot be waived;
• in order to allow applicants/owners to file requests for extension/reinstatement, at least until May 1, 2020, no files will be closed for an applicant's/owner's failure to take an action, nor will the ILPTO send pre-file closure notices (which in many instances are a prerequisite for closing a file).

Additional information regarding the points above can be found on the America-Israel Patent Law weblog.  Most importantly, in an e-mail distributed to members of the patent community, Dr. Feigelson noted that "deadlines for PCT national phase entry, for payment of renewal fees, and for filing for patent term extensions remain in place," and further, "if any of your clients have a new drug that was recently approved or is about to be approved in Israel, the deadline for filing for PTE remains 90 days from the date of approval by the Israel Ministry of Health," which is not extendible.

Also on Monday, Mexican patent law firm OLIVARES notified the patent community that the Mexican Patent and Trademark Office (IMPI) had issued a decree stating that no terms would run from March 24 to April 19, 2020.  OLIVARES noted "that IMPI will remain open and that it will be possible to file applications and briefs even though their filing date will be considered as April 20, 2020," and that the suspension would not apply to the release of preliminary injunctions imposed by IMPI during an infringement proceeding.

On Tuesday, Australian and New Zealand patent law firm Griffith Hack updated the patent community about developments in Australia and New Zealand.  In particular, Griffith Hack reported that as of Monday, the Australian Federal Court's public-facing counters and face-to-face services had been closed until further notice, which had effectively stalled operation of the Court.  The Court, however, was working on protocols to resume trials electronically.  Griffith Hack also noted that both IP Australia and the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) were operating as usual, but both indicated that if circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic have affected or are affecting a business' ability to respond by a deadline, an extension of time could be requested (in the normal way) and would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.  Additional news about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on IP Australia and IPONZ can be found at the patent offices' websites (IP Australia and IPONZ).

On Wednesday, Vietnamese patent law firm Vision & Associates notified the patent community that the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam (IP Vietnam) is continuing to operate on its normal schedule at the present time, but in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is limiting in-person interviews with IP Vietnam's examiners until the situation is back to normal.

Earlier today, Indonesian patent law firm Biro Oktroi Roosseno notified the patent community that on Monday, the Directorate General of Intellectual Property (DGIP) issued Circular Letter Nomor: HKI-OT.02.02-10 regarding The Temporary Suspension of Activities in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at the DGIP.  In its Circular, the DGIP announced that until April 5, the Intellectual Property Integrated Service Counters at the DGIP would be closed, that Applicants can still file applications online, and that dispensations would be provided by the DGIP for the late filing of all formality documents for Intellectual Property applications that would otherwise have been due in March 2020.

Patent Docs will continue to monitor and report on patent-related developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In addition, we encourage our readers to let us know about developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic at other patent offices.