Spruson & Ferguson is actively monitoring the emerging issue of the Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (Wuhan virus) and we will provide further updates as the situation evolves.

China Update

The State Council in China has announced that the Lunar New Year holiday will be extended to Sunday 2 February (except for Hong Kong). As a result, all official deadlines have been moved to Monday 3 February.

Currently our Beijing office remains closed, but our Hong Kong, SAR office is monitoring email and providing support.

Hong Kong (SAR) Update

The Public Service Counter of the Intellectual Property Department in Hong Kong is closed and publication under the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Journal has been suspended. Limited services including E-Filing and Online Search (as at January 24 2020) are still operational.

For the deadlines for filing any document with the Registrars of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks according to the Notice of Interruption in the Operations of the Patents Registry, Designs Registry and Trade Marks Registry, if the time for filing any document with the Registrar was between the 29 to the 31 January 2020, the period shall be extended to Monday 3 February 2020.

Currently our Hong Kong, SAR office is operating with limited staff. Our teams in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are on hand to provide support with incoming and ongoing work.

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