On entry into force of the Amendments to the Regulations No. 723 of the Cabinet of Ministers of 15 December 2015, on the Price List of Paid Services of the Patent Office, owners of industrial property rights may be exempted from payments for the extension of time limits, renewal of rights or continuation of proceedings.
In Latvia, the rights to objects of industrial property - patents, supplementary protection certificates, trademarks and designs - mostly belong to natural persons who do not have a declared place of residence in Latvia and do not own a company in Latvia, or to legal persons who have a legal address abroad and do not own a company in Latvia.
The Patent Office has been receiving information from rights holders or their representatives that the state of emergency announced in Latvia and other countries and the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic affect, make it difficult or physically impossible for rights holders to comply with the deadlines and perform procedural actions specified in the regulations. This is particularly the case for rights holders from the most affected countries - Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and others. According to Sandris Laganovskis, Director of the Patent Office, “It is necessary to ensure the abolition of fees for the relevant services if a private person is able to provide an evidence of having been affected by the Covid-19 restrictions. This is especially true for rights holders from other countries in the circumstances when the state of emergency in Latvia is lifted, but the emergencies declared in their countries and the adopted restrictions make it impossible for them to meet the set deadlines.”
The Amendments to the Price List of Paid Services of the Patent Office provide for the possibility to extend deadlines, renew rights or continue proceedings in case of non-observance of time limits defined by the industrial property regulations in the situation aroused by Covid-19.
The Amendments to the Regulations No. 723 of the Cabinet of Ministers of 15 December 2015, on the Price List of Paid Services of the Patent Office entered into force on 8 May 2020.
The Amendments to the Regulations No. 723 of the Cabinet of Ministers of 15 December 2015, on the Price List of Paid Services of the Patent Office have been designed to regulate paid services for a new designation - certification mark; eliminate inaccuracies in mathematical calculations in the previous version; make amendments related to the implementation of the patent administration information system; and provide for fees concessions during the state of emergency aroused by the spread of Covid-19 and for the four months following its end.