Liberalising Address for Service (AFS) Requirements for Patents, Trade Marks and Registered Designs.
In October 2003 the UK Patent Office (UKPO) published a consultation document inviting views on a proposal to liberalise address for service (AFS) requirements for patents, trade marks and registered designs, and consequential changes to postal service regulations. Now, the UKPO proposes:
to make no unilateral changes to the AFS rules, but support the liberalisation of AFS across the EU;
to seek the abolition of the postal deeming rules for patents and registered designs;
to extend the provisions relating to postal delay, to cover undue delays to any means of communication and to delays anywhere within the EU; and
to amend the postal interruption provisions so that only those communications affected by the interruption would qualify for extended time limits.
I ask myself whether such initiative would also include an EU-wide attempt to abolish the German mandatory requirement of professional representation before the German Patent and Trade Mark Office for applicants not seated on German territory.
UK Patent Office (UKPO) published a consultation document inviting views on a proposal to liberalise address for service (AFS) requirements for patents, trade marks and registered designs, and consequential changes to postal service regulations. Now, the UKPO 