On March 11, 2011, a major earthquake and tsunami hit the northeast area of Japan, which made a significant impact on some applicants, patentee and other parties concerned. For the smooth running of patent procedure, On April 13 SIPO released a circular on parties failing to perform relevant formalities in time.

According to the circular, the Article 6 (1) of Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law may apply to the parties failing to perform relevant formalities in time provided by patent law and its implementation regulations or within the period specified by SIPO due to the impact of disasters. Parties may perform within two months from the date of clearness of the obstacles or in two years.

The Article 6 (4) may apply to parties who failing to finish particular action or procedure due to impact of disasters. Parties may require to extend the deadline within expiry, except those specified by implementing regulations of patent law.

(Source:cipnews.com.cn)