Refiling comparable word marks
We have received an update from the UK IPO about filing dates for refiled UK trade mark applications.
Last week we shared guidance from the UK IPO regarding filing dates for UK comparable trade marks that were pending prior to 1st January 2021 at the EUIPO.
However, the previous guidance the UK IPO provided on adding a statement to identify that a case is a refiling of an EU applications does not apply to word only marks.
The previous guidance advised that the ‘Article 59’ statement (below) should be entered into the ‘mark description’ box, however this box does not appear on the eTM3 form if the mark is a word.
The UK IPO is now advising that for word only applications once you have received your trade mark number you can email [email protected] letting them know the TM number and that you’d like a new filing receipt with the ‘Article 59’ statement.
The statement is as follows:
‘This case is filed pursuant to Article 59 of the Withdrawal Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union and the EU filing date was xx/xx/xxxx’
Once that request is updated onto the case file the examiner will populate the statement for you and re-send the filing receipt.
It is worth noting that the receipt that the UK IPO’s examination system generates appears different to the one you normally receive automatically at application.