New address for service rules
The Patents, Trade Marks and Designs (Address for Service) Rules 2009 (SI 2009/546) come into force on 6 April 2009.
As a result, applicants and any person commencing or opposing proceedings before the comptroller or registrar will be able to provide an address for service anywhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the Channel Islands. The address for service is the address to which all correspondence will be sent in proceedings.
The changes will:
- Give individuals and businesses the choice of using patent and trade mark attorneys based anywhere in the EEA or the Channel Islands
- Make it easier for individuals and businesses to use the same address for service when dealing with multiple national offices in Europe.
Before the introduction of these changes, it has been necessary for a party involved in inter partes proceedings (where more than one party is involved) to provide an address for service in the United Kingdom. The new rules will remove this restriction with the result that all parties will be able to use an address for service anywhere in the UK, any other country in the EEA or the Channel Islands.
The freedom to provide cross-border services is one of the fundamental freedoms of the European single market, as set out in Article 49 of the EC Treaty.
The Statutory Instrument and accompanying explanatory material is available from the OPSI website:
