Responding to Official Actions

We generally await your comments and instructions before preparing a response to an Official Action. If we do not hear from you, we will routinely send you a reminder one month before the deadline. Upon receiving your instructions, we prepare and duly file the response with the NIPO. If necessary, we will contact you before finalizing the response.

Extensions of reply terms can be obtained twice during the prosecution of the application. Obtaining these two-month extensions is a mere formality. No argument need be filed with the petition, no public fee needs to be paid, and the NIPO will not issue a confirmation of the new deadline.

Reinstatement: If a deadline is not met, the application will be shelved. However, it can be reinstated if the response is filed and a reinstatement fee paid within four months. Note that this method can also be used in order to obtain an extension of the reply term if the two cost-free extensions have already been used. There is no limit to the number of reinstatements you can obtain during the prosecution of an application, but the reinstatement fee doubles as of the second occurrence.