Relief available to patent and trademark applicants, patentees, reexamination parties, and registered trademark owners affected by the severe flooding impacting the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul

[[VIEW_THIS]]

Patent Alert

Relief available to patent and trademark applicants, patentees, reexamination parties, and registered trademark owners affected by the severe flooding impacting the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul

“On behalf of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), I want to express our deepest condolences for the loss of life, injuries, and damage that have impacted the people of Brazil as a result of the recent severe flooding there,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and USPTO Director Kathi Vidal.

To that end, the USPTO is publishing an Official Gazette Notice announcing the special accommodations available to patent and trademark applicants, patentees, reexamination parties, and registered trademark owners affected by the severe flooding in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul beginning on April 27, 2024. As the Notice explains, the USPTO considers the effects of the severe flooding impacting Rio Grande do Sul to be an “extraordinary situation” within the meaning of 37 CFR 1.183, 2.146(a)(5), and 2.148 for those affected. You can find more information in the Official Gazette Notice available on the USPTO’s Patent Related Notices webpage.

The USPTO does not grant waivers or extensions of dates or requirements set by statute, but allows the waiver of petition fees. Further, stakeholders can always petition the Director for a waiver under 37 CFR 1.183, 2.146, or 2.148, even where the Director has not published such a notice stating that the USPTO is designating a situation as an “extraordinary situation.”

The USPTO has previously provided various forms of relief to patent and trademark applicants and other affected stakeholders who were unable to meet certain filing deadlines due to the effects of “extraordinary situations” as designated by the agency, including the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, disasters such as the wildfires in Hawai’i and the severe earthquake in Japan, and the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

For more information and guidance on major events impacting USPTO stakeholders, please visit the USPTO website.

Stay connected with the USPTO by subscribing to regular email updates.

Visit our subscription center at www.uspto.gov/subscribe to update or change your email preferences.

This email was sent from an unmonitored mailbox. To contact us, please visit our website www.uspto.gov/about/contacts. To ensure that you continue to receive our news and notices, please modify your email filters to allow mail from subscriptioncenter@subscriptions.uspto.gov.