COVID-19 - a note to our clients

In light of the global situation surrounding novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Dehns acknowledges the increasing disruptions and anxiety caused by the outbreak.  We extend our gratitude to those working to mitigate the effects of the virus and our sympathies to all who are being personally affected.

We wish to reassure you that Dehns remains fully operational and will continue to provide our full range of services.  The vast majority of our staff are now working remotely, in line with the most recent advice of the UK and German governments, while maintaining the same levels of professional services and availability at all times.  We have robust IT systems and all our files are held electronically on replicated databases at multiple locations.  We therefore do not anticipate any disruption to our services.

For any correspondence that cannot be sent to us by email (e.g. original documents), please contact your usual Dehns attorney to seek guidance on where to deliver that correspondence.

Our relationship with our clients is very important to us and we are keen to keep in regular contact.  As well as using email correspondence we are happy to talk by telephone or video conference.

We do not anticipate any difficulties in dealing with any of the national or regional patent and trademark offices to secure clients’ intellectual property rights.  As the situation develops we will continue to adopt a flexible approach in response to the changing environment and the needs of our clients.

Several national and regional patent and trademark offices have issued changes to their practice in light of the disruption caused by the coronavirus. 

UK IPO and EPO updates:

The majority of the UKIPO services remain unaffected. Rights holders and IP professionals should continue to file using our online services where possible - they have advised that additional time should be allowed for them to handle the information filed with them.

For further updated guidance from the UK IPO, please click here.

For updates from the European Patent Office (EPO), please click here.

Please be advised we will continue working to current deadlines and advise all clients to do the same as long as it is possible to do so.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our business continuity plans or any of your cases, please contact your usual Dehns attorney or mail us at mail@dehns.com.