Brunei Court of Appeal decides that Re-Registration Patents are entitled to a 20-year term from the Date of Grant
By decision of 21 May 2014 in Civil Appeal No. 10 of 2013, the Court of Appeal construed the “date of the patent” in Section 115(4)(a) of the Patents Order, 2011 to mean the date of grant of the foreign patent on which the re-registration is based. As a result, re-registration patents are entitled to a term of 20 years from such date of grant.
Accordingly, in the new practice note, BruIPO indicates that effective 01 January 2015, re-registration patent owners have the option to calculate their renewal dates and fees payable using the date of grant as the base date instead of the date of filing of the foreign patent as previously.
We are currently reviewing this development and will be writing to all clients and associates with active re-registration patents on our records with advice as to the implications and options for future action.
