| You complained that a Patent application was taking four and a half years and you will go to watchdog if no explanation received. |
We explained the delay for the examination taking place and advised that the application was due for exam shortly and that you would have ample time to reply to any issues arising from the exam report. |
| You complained that Patent searches have recently been taking longer to be supplied. |
We responded by apologising and explaining the reasons for the delay in certain Patent areas and that we could search your application out of turn if you requested this with sufficient justification. |
| You complained that after filing an international application we advised you that we would not recommend this at the first stage. Although you cancelled the cheque and had several telephone
calls with us explaining why, you still received a letter letting you know that the application was
being published the next day. |
We agreed that mistakes had been made with this application. The managers in the sections concerned have now improved the procedures to avoid similar problems occurring. We apologised for the mistakes that have been caused but explained that the options available to you are not limited by the inadvertent publication of the PCT application. |
| You were unhappy with the way you have been treated by us regarding your Trade Mark. You would like answers to all the questions that we seem to be ignoring. We also had further correspondence received from you providing 9 points of complaint. |
You requested a delay in us responding as you had further issues which you would send us in a further letter. We issued a response answering all 9 points of complaint. |
| You wanted a refund of two unsuccessful TM applications |
We stated that we have improved the website & will introduce a new service for applicants to obtain the examiner's report on the registrability of a Trade Mark for an initial outlay. The website made it clear that application fees could not be refunded if the Trade Mark could not be registered although we are sorry that we are unable to accept your Trade Mark we cannot refund the statutory
application fees. |
| You had various enquiries relating to Trade Mark applications filed. |
We issued a letter to explain the reasons behind what has happened and why. |
| You complained that you had not received a refund of £35.00 that you submitted with a Trade Mark application. |
We explained that a cheque for this amount was sent to you on or around the 7 August. As a cheque has not been received our Finance department will arrange for a replacement to be issued or a payment can be transferred directly into your account to prevent this from occurring again. |
| You were unhappy that your Trade Mark application has taken almost 5 months to process. |
We apologised for the delay, our current turnaround time for handling new Trade Mark applicants & correspondence is around 2 weeks. This makes the delay in us responding with your e-mail all the more disappointing. You should have now received communication from a Trade Mark examiner which we hope you find useful. If you wish to discuss how your app might proceed please contact the relevant Trade Mark examiners. |
| You raised a point in your letter of 21 August 2009 and your request for a refund of the Trade Mark renewal fees. |
We advised that there are no grounds for making any payment in this case. There has been no irregularity in procedure on the part of this office, there is no basis for an ex gratia payment. We apologised for not making it clear in earlier correspondence. |
| You stated that it has recently been brought to your attention having spoken to a member of our Patent consultants that your Trade Mark has no form of protection. |
We clarified by pointing out the benefit of Trade Mark registration is that it provides the owner with exclusive rights. Invasion of these rights is an illegal act and the law offers a number of legal remedies. However there is no provision in law for us to act on your behalf in such proceedings. These rights are personal and must be initiated by the registered owner through the courts. It would be a good idea to seek legal advice from the following governing bodies. |
| You were unhappy because the IPO has allowed & accepted another similar design to be processed. You have requested the details of the other similar mark and the office seems to be at a complete loss despite numerous phone calls. You paid for a file copy but only received the first page and when questioned was told that you could only receive this because you registered before October 2006. |
We issued a letter advising on all of the points raised and relevant guidance given on what to do next. |
| You were unhappy with the way in which your request for information has been handled. You would like to request an internal review. |
We wrote to you and explained that we would not provide the information requested and that the process of examination support officer’s sending out exam reports is normal practice within the office. |
