For the whole decision click here: o19702
Summary
The applicant failed to reply to an examination report and the application was treated as refused at the end of the rule 34 period. The applicant claimed not to have received the WR1 letter. More than a year later, he was mistakenly sent correspondence regarding someone elses patent renewal. This prompted him to enquire as to the status of his application and, upon being informed that it run out of time, he requested an extension of the period for response to the examination report and of the period for putting the application in order.
The HO indicated that he would have been willing to extend the period for reply to the examination report as the applicant had suffered a number of traumatic events in his life at the time he would have been expected to be preparing his response. However, he refused to exercise discretion to extend the period for putting the application in order as there had been a failure to put forward any persuasive argument that the applicant had demonstrated a genuine underlying intention to proceed with his application.