Withdrawing Patent Applications

This notice seeks to inform applicants and practitioners of the method the Intellectual Property Office recommends for withdrawing patent applications.

Background
Any request to withdraw an application is always an important action and is dealt with as quickly as possible in the Office. However, quick action in the Office becomes crucial when a withdrawal request is received for an application which is soon to be published. We of course wish to avoid erroneous publication.

Ways of withdrawing applications
Withdrawal of a patent application can be made by:

•	emailing  withdraw@ipo.gov.uk 
•	faxing the Office on 01633 817777
•	writing to the Office

We highly recommend that the email option be used, as this will ensure that the request is dealt with quickly by a dedicated team of staff. Full details of this service can be found at Withdrawal of patent applications by e-mail.

Notifying the Office of withdrawal in time to prevent publication
An application for withdrawal in time to prevent publication must be received in this Office by 23:59 on the day before preparations for publication are complete (the PPC date). The official letter notifying applicants of the PPC date for their application will only be received 2 or 3 days prior to the PPC date. That leaves a very short time in which to notify the Office of withdrawal.  If the email message or written notification is not received by 23:59 on the day before the PPC date, it will be too late to prevent publication.

Therefore the earlier applicants and practitioners can make decisions about withdrawal and notify the Office, the better. 

Further guidance on withdrawal of patent applications is available.

If you have any queries about this notice, please contact:

Steve Bender  or  Christine Farrington
Room 2R33
Concept House
Cardiff Road
Newport
NP10 8QQ
+44 (0)1633 814422  or  +44 (0)1633 814701

Provision of Information from the Intellectual Property Office

On-Line Web Services

A number of free services are available via our web site.
 
esp@cenet
This service provides an interface to the published patent application databases of the  Intellectual Property Office, the European Patent Office and other European national patent offices, as well as access to the PCT database of published patent applications.  A full copy of the specification, claims and drawings may be viewed if available.

Designs Image Search
This service provides access to images of UK registered designs along with bibliographic information.

Trade Mark Text
This service provides searches for trade marks matching/starting with specified text.

Trade Mark Proprietor
This service provides searches for trade mark proprietors.

Trade Mark Classification Index
The index serves as a guide to the classes of goods and services to specify when applying for Trade Mark registration.  With over 70,000 terms, the index shows which class to put each term in.

Legal Decisions
This service provides the text of reasoned decisions issued by the office since the beginning of 1998.

Status Information
These services provide the status information for Patents, Supplementary Protection Certificates, Trade Marks and Designs.

Other Services

The Status Information and further information can also be obtained on paper from the office.  Some of the information available is shown below, along with the relevant prices.

Patents: Request for uncertified copy from file or register £5

Designs: Request for uncertified copy of extract £5

Trade Marks: Request for uncertified copy from file or register £5

Note  Trade Marks & Designs: The cost is £5 per file copied, though we reserve the right to quote for our actual costs where particularly large files are involved.

General: Cost, per page, of faxing information   £1  (plus VAT)

Payment
Deposit accounts: Customers may charge orders against their account with the Office.  In such cases the deposit account number should be quoted on the order.

Credit and debit cards: Full details on how to pay via Credit or Debit can be found on our website.

Cheque: These should accompany any order, be crossed "Account Payee Only" and made payable to "The Intellectual Property Office".  Payments from overseas must be in sterling drawn on a UK clearing bank.

Orders
Post: Sales, Concept House, Cardiff Road, Newport, South Wales NP10 8QQ

e-mail (Deposit Account Holders only): sales@ipo.gov.uk

Telephone (Deposit Account Holders and payments by credit and debit card only): +44(0)1633 813651

Fax (Deposit Account Holders and payments by credit and debit card only): 
+44(0)1633 817777.