7.4 Processing a continued processing request

When a request for continued processing is received, the Office will determine whether the request meets the criteria as set out in regulation 62A. If the request meets the criteria the Applicant will be informed via a discussion that their request for continued processing has been granted. The Office will then consider the response submitted. As part of the consideration the Office will conduct a subsequent search of the Register from the date which the application was abandoned until the date which the Office accepted the continued processing request.

This search will determine any citations which will need to be late raised by the Office against a trade mark application that was filed in the period of the two month continued processing window that the Applicant’s mark was abandoned.

A request for continued processing that has been accepted by the Office will be published in the monthly Journal advertising that the mark has been re-instated by the Office.

If the request for continued processing does not meet the criteria the Applicant will receive a letter confirming why the request for continued processing has been declined. If the request for continued processing is declined due to all the objections not being addressed, and if the Applicant is within the two month timeframe of the expired deadline they may be able to re-submit the request with an amended response.