STOP PRESS: that Relative Grounds draft order

In response to his earlier post (immediately below) the IPKat has just heard from David Stone (Howrey) and Felicity Hide (Boult Wade Tennant), more or less simultaneously, that the Registry has indeed addressed the issue. Says David:

"The Registry has acknowledged that the new practice is coming into force in October and, for any current applications where prior rights have been cited, is allowing applicants to apply to have the application stayed until October. If the stay application is made, the mark will proceed to publication in October (ie, the prior objections will "go away"), but the Registry will notify the earlier right holder/s of the new application.

So, better to file now and get the earlier priority date than to wait until October - the effect (other than the filing date) will be the same".

And Felicity says:

"The Registry is already offering suspension of pending applications facing S5 citations, so that they can go forward to acceptance in October 2007 under the new legislation. Indeed, the Registry is wording its letters so that if the applicant/agent doesn't respond, the application will automatically be suspended".

The IPKat says many thanks, to you both and to all those people who may be writing along much the same lines while this note is being posted!