Covid-19 procedural deadlines for intellectual property law in Germany

Court

Unless the Court becomes active ex officio, deadlines and/or oral hearings may have to be moved upon individual motion by either party.  

No automatic extension of deadlines.

IPO (IP Office)

All deadlines set by IPO were automatically extended until May 4, 2020. The Arbitration Board for employee inventions matters had automatically extended all open pleading deadlines until May 15, 2020. 

There are no further automatic extensions of deadlines since May 4, 2020 or May 15, 2020 respectively.

Comments

All pending deadlines set by the IPO (DPMA) were extended, and no decision was taken on the basis of expiration of any time limit, until May 4, 2020. Deadlines provided for under statutory law could not be extended by the Office. If a deadline provided for under statutory law was missed due to the COVID-19 situation a motion to restore the status quo ante may be necessary. Oral hearings will be cancelled and no longer be held until June 30, 2020 .