Intellectual property rights holders who register modifications made inside a company with the Polish Patent Office must present required evidence proving the occurrence of the changes. The completeness of the paperwork guarantees that a final decision is provided to put the required modification into the Polish Patent Office’s registers.
Registering a modification with the Polish Patent Office
Despite the lack of guidance from the Patent Office considering the type of documentation to be approved, patent attorneys appearing before this body is able to effectively advise the entrepreneur through the process of registering a change in the register and almost completely eliminate any potential problems related to the refusal of an application due to their experience. But what if the entrepreneur disregards the expert’s guidance and instead submits inadequate documentation? The Patent Office will give its remarks in the form of a written order once it has checked the supplied papers and determined that they do not constitute grounds for giving a positive decision to make an entry into the register.
The Patent Office shall set time limits for the party to perform specified acts of no less than – one month, where the party has its place of residence or registered office in the territory of the Republic of Poland; two months, where the party has its place of residence or registered office abroad, in accordance with Article 242(1) of the Act of 30 June 2000 – Industrial Property Law. This time restriction may be prolonged by two months at the request of the patentee if the business understands they will be unable to present the necessary documents or explanations within the time frame. You should keep in mind, however, that a request to extend the time limit for providing an official answer can only be made once, and you must explain why you were unable to meet the deadline. Unfortunately, if no appropriate explanations and/or documents as specified in the issued order are provided by the final deadline, the previously filed application to register a modification is denied due to formal deficiencies.
The absence of required certifications for those who signed the submitted documents is the most prevalent legal deficiency that prevents the Polish Patent Office expert dealing with the case from issuing an official decision to register the modification. It is important to remember that, regardless of the signatory’s position within the company, the Office will expect to receive documentation verifying that they are allowed to sign the papers and so represent the company. Similarly, mistakes in dates or the lack of a date on one of the papers presented with the application are usual deficiencies that result in no formal decision being made by the Polish Patent Office.
Right holders do not often follow the advice of competent patent attorneys representing them before the Polish Patent Office, preferring to decide on their own if the papers they provide are adequate. They frequently disregard the advice of experts, forgetting that any additional correspondence with the Patent Office, including the submission of missing paperwork or explanations, incurs additional fees that can be avoided. Keep in mind that the Polish Patent Office is required by law to review the application and paperwork; if the expert assessing the case finds any barrier to a favorable evaluation of the application, no decision to enter the change into the register will be granted. In accordance with Article 229(2) and (21 ) of the Industrial Property Law Act, the Polish Patent Office shall examine whether the submitted documents, which are to constitute grounds for issuing a decision to make an entry into the register, do not violate the Act and are compliant in terms of their form with the applicable regulations. The Office shall also verify whether the submitted documents or explanations constitute grounds for issuing such a decision.
In the absence of observations on the application and the given paperwork, the Office will make a decision to register the change within several weeks to several months, depending on the number of pending cases handled by the Office. Without a doubt, such a scenario is more advantageous for the entrepreneur than the time-consuming correspondence with the Polish Patent Office as a result of orders requiring the entrepreneur to correct deficiencies in the submitted documentation, which significantly delays the registration process of the change applied for.
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