Directions under section 120(1) of the Patents Act 1977

Hours of business and excluded days

Introduction

1. The comptroller has made the following Directions under section 120(1) of the Patents Act 1977.

2. These Directions come into force on 15 July 2011.

3. The Directions of the same title which were given in December 2007 and came into force on 17 December 2007 are revoked.

Interpretation

4. In these Directions:

"the Office" means the Patent Office;

"the Act" means the Patents Act 1977;

"business" means business transacted by the public under the Act or any class of such business;

"excluded day" means a day excluded for any such business or class of business;

"applications" means applications for patents filed under the Act;

"forms" means documents containing the information required by the relevant Patents Forms as set out in Directions under section 123(2A) of the Act.

Hours of business

5. The Office shall not be taken to be closed at any time for the filing of applications in respect of which no declaration for the purpose of section 5(2) of the Act is made.

6. From Monday to Friday, the Office shall be taken to be closed at the following hours for the transaction of business of the classes specified -

(a) at midnight for the filing of applications, forms and other documents (except for the filing of applications in respect of which no declaration for the purpose of section 5(2) is made), and

(b) at 17:00 for all other types of business not detailed above.

Excluded days

7. The following shall be excluded days for all purposes under the Act, except for the filing of applications in respect of which no declaration for the purpose of section 5(2) is made:

(a) all Saturdays and Sundays

(b) Good Friday and Christmas Day

(c) any day specified as or proclaimed to be a bank holiday in or under section 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971.

8. Tuesday 4 January 2000 is an excluded day for all purposes under the Act.

John Alty
Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks
July 2011

For background and additional information please refer to guidance and notes on the Directions.