Coronavirus hits intellectual property starting from China

It is known that the first nation affected by the COVID-19 emergency was the People's Republic of China, so that on February 6th the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) published a FAQ to answer to the most urgent needs.

The provided guidelines give clarifications on the prosecutions, with particular attention to the replies against the examiners' denials, the payments of government fees, the filings of evidences in the non- use cancellation actions, the filings, the filing of oppositions, the replies to oppositions, the filing of additional evidence in opposition procedures, the filing of evidences in trademark invalidation actions, and much more.
 
In such cases, if users have failed to comply with the official terms because directly infected, or because they are in quarantine, or, again, because they live in quarantined areas due to the epidemic, an extension of the deadlines can be granted up to their de-hospitalization, or until their state of isolation and / or forced control ends.
 
The suspensions do not start automatically, but require explicit written requests from the user, together with adequate evidentiary material from which it can be understood the place where he is located and what are the impediments to his professional activity, the state of the infection, the therapy, as well as his degree of isolation or control.
 
In order to lighten this burden of proof, the user can submit a single suspension request which automatically extends  all the filings managed by him, while, for the more complex disputes, it is necessary to indicate the number of the ip right.