Responding to Office Actions

After submission of documents to Rospatent, the received application is registered and sent for examination. First, experts conduct a formal examination, and then analyze the declared trademark. If at any of these stages the specialists of the patent office have questions, then the applicant is sent a request.

Depending on the required information, experts send a request:

• On the provision of a document confirming the payment of the duty in the required amount.
• About clarifying, correcting or adding information about the applicant.
• About changing, clarifying, supplementing information related to the trademark.

Trademark inquiries relate to the description of the object, the presented image, the reduction of the list of goods and services according to the ICGS and other actions aimed at increasing the level of uniqueness and the degree of protectability of the designation.

Regardless of the nature and content of the request, it is important for the applicant to know that:

• Sending a response is an optional action, the owner of the designation has the right not to respond and not to send additional information to Rospatent.
• The request specifies the period within which the person can respond. If the applicant missed this period for a good reason, then they admit the filing of a petition for the restoration of the missed deadline.
• Sending documents does not automatically mean accepting or changing the original information. Experts first consider the information received and then decide whether to attach the documents to the application and take into account the changes, or refuse to do so.

Zuykov and partners will tell you how to respond to requests from experts from the patent office, help you draw up documents correctly and send them on time.