Chapter 27: Miscellaneous

Sections (27.01 to 27.10) last updated: September 2017.

Reporting lost correspondence

27.01

Under rule 110, the comptroller is empowered to certify any day where there is a general interruption or subsequent dislocation in the UK postal services as an interrupted day; any time limits expiring on such an interrupted day are automatically extended to the next day which is not an interrupted day. Under rule 111, the comptroller may extend any period of time specified on the Act or Rules, in a particular case of failure to meet that time period, where he is satisfied that the failure was wholly or mainly attributable to a failure or delay in a communication service.

27.02

Any instance where correctly addressed correspondence sent by the Office is reported to us as never having arrived at its intended destination should be reported for information security monitoring purposes to the Head of Administration (F1 – F3). The following information should be included:

  • the application /patent/reference number
  • the date the loss was reported to the Office
  • the original date of the lost correspondence
  • details of who the correspondence was sent to
  • the date the matter was rectified, that is, when a copy of the lost correspondence was re-sent.

IPSUM - Inspection of documents

27.03

Ipsum is the Office’s online document inspection service. Following its launch, certain documents are available free of charge on the IPO’s website for all patent applications published after 1 January 2008.

27.04

To add Tribunal section documents to Ipsum, they should be annotated ‘OLFI’.

27.05

Documents that are to be added but contain personal information (other than names or physical addresses) need to be redacted so that the personal information cannot be viewed. Any information considered sensitive, should also be redacted.

27.06

To redact information, you should use the Enhance function (grey) within the PDAX dossier. Once this has been actioned, the ‘OLFI’ annotation may be added.

27.07

A patent applicant or proprietor, or a third party, may request that a document or entire file relating to an application or granted patent which is open to inspection via Ipsum be removed from the system. If this is requested, the document or file should be taken off Ipsum as soon as possible. The Office will then consider the request and decide what action should be taken in respect of online availability of the document or file.

27.08

To remove an entire file from Ipsum, you need to contact the IT Helpdesk.

27.09

To remove an individual document from Ipsum, you should annotate it as “NOPIE” and then save the PDAX dossier.

27.10

In both cases, the following actions should be carried out:

  • a minute should be added to the dossier explaining why the document or dossier has been taken down and outlining any issues that should be considered before the dossier or document is returned to Ipsum
  • the cover label ‘NOPIE’ should be added to the front cover of the PDAX dossier
  • an entry should be made in the ‘NOPIE’ excel spreadsheet at x:\IPSUM Guidance Notes\NOPIE spreadsheet