IPO The Hearing Officer found that the proprietor, represented by the General Manager (the Directing Mind), had effectively taken reasonable care to see that the sixteenth year renewal fee was paid by issuing standing instructions that renewal fees should be paid automatically on any overseas patent which was licenced, even if its Japanese parent patent was abandoned. The fact that the subject patent was licenced meant that the fee should have been paid and so the decision by an employee to abandon the patent by not paying the renewal fee was contrary to the proprietor’s standing instructions. That decision was not something the General Manager could be expected to have foreseen. The Hearing Officer therefore concluded that the proprietor had taken reasonable care to see that the renewal fee was paid and allowed the application for restoration.
Judges:
Mr M C Wright
Citations:
[2003] UKIntelP O35103, GB 2176409
Links:
Statutes:
Intellectual Property
Updated: 16 October 2022; Ref: scu.455778
