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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited (Patent) [2003] UKIntelP o35103 (14 November 2003) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2003/o35103.html Cite as: [2003] UKIntelP o35103 |
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For the whole decision click here: o35103
Summary
The Hearing Officer found that the proprietor, represented by the General Manager (the Directing Mind), had effectively taken reasonable care to see that the sixteenth year renewal fee was paid by issuing standing instructions that renewal fees should be paid automatically on any overseas patent which was licenced, even if its Japanese parent patent was abandoned. The fact that the subject patent was licenced meant that the fee should have been paid and so the decision by an employee to abandon the patent by not paying the renewal fee was contrary to the proprietor's standing instructions. That decision was not something the General Manager could be expected to have foreseen. The Hearing Officer therefore concluded that the proprietor had taken reasonable care to see that the renewal fee was paid and allowed the application for restoration.
