Stakeholders who have grown used to having an additional ten days to respond to a communication from the European Patent Office (EPO) will very soon need to update their scheduling strategies. Documents dated on or after November 1, 2023, will bring about a significant change. The EPO is doing away with its “10-day rule”, which essentially means the end of the 10-day grace period for all response periods, which will now be calculated from the date printed on the document.
Up until November, professionals have had the chance to utilize the 10-day rule as a buffer, offering them flexibility in managing their client’s portfolios. But with this change, legal teams will have to adapt swiftly and put measures in place to compensate for the potential loss of response time.
The decision made by the EPO is tied to efforts aimed at standardizing and simplifying its rules and protocols. Many within the legal community are anticipating the impacts of this change, particularly within large corporations and law firms that manage numerous patent portfolios.
Foley & Lardner LLP has shed further light on this pressing issue, providing intricate details about the challenges that the abolishment of the 10-day rule could present.