On 25 January 2011 a combined search and examination report was issued raising a number of substantive issues and setting a response date of 23 July 2012. The applicant did not reply until 24 December 2014 when he requested that he be allowed to file a late response. The examiner refused.
At the hearing the applicant provided a written timeline explaining his circumstances between January 2012 and the end of December 2014. He also provided additional information and detail orally. The hearing officer accepted that this showed that the applicant had experienced a series of unfortunate and unusual events spanning the vast majority of the period of time from before the specified response date to the present day. The hearing officer also accepted that the applicant’s reasons for responding late were peculiar to him and his application and that they were sufficient in terms of severity and extent to justify the exercise of discretion in this case. The hearing officer thus decided to allow a late response.
The hearing officer gave the applicant one month to file his response to the examination report. If he does not do so within this time then the application will be refused under section 18(3).
Citations:
[2015] UKIntelP o11315
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Intellectual Property
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.545465