Restoration of priority in patent cases

To obtain restoration of priority, the failure to meet the deadline must have been unintentional. This means that you must not have deliberately failed to comply with the deadline.

When requesting continued processing despite missing a deadline, you must explain specifically why you did not comply with the deadline and why this did not happen deliberately. We will normally accept your explanation without further examination. Keep it short and precise.

You must also do what you unintentionally failed to do within the deadline. If you do not, we cannot process your request.

To have the priority right restored, you must submit the following within two months after the expiry of the 12-month period:

• the application for which you claim priority
• a priority claim
• a request for continued processing despite missing the deadline (restoration of priority)

You must pay a fee of NOK 3 000. We will invoice you for the fee.

Please note that we cannot restore the priority right if you submit the request for continued processing despite missing the deadline after the preparations for making the patent application available to the public have been completed.

To have the priority right restored, you must submit the following within two months after the expiry of the 12-month period:

• the application for which you claim priority
• a priority claim
• a request for continued processing despite missing the deadline (restoration of priority)

You must pay a fee of NOK 3 000. We will invoice you for the fee.

Please note that we cannot restore the priority right if you submit the request for continued processing despite missing the deadline after the preparations for international publication of the patent application have been completed.

If the receiving office has refused or rejected your request to restore priority for an international patent application, you may still request restoration of priority when the application enters the national phase in Norway.

To have the priority right restored, you must submit the following to the receiving office within two months after the expiry of the 12-month period:

• the application for which you claim priority
• a priority claim
• a request for restoration of priority

You must also submit a request for continued processing despite missing the deadline (restoration of priority) to us. You must do this either:

• within one month after the expiry of the 31-month time limit in section 31 of the Patents Act
  or
• within one month from the date on which you requested earlier processing under Article 23(2) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty

You must pay a fee of NOK 3 000. We will invoice you for the fee.

If the receiving office has restored the priority right, we will base our assessment on that decision. However, this does not apply if we consider that the Norwegian conditions for restoration were not met. In such cases, you will be given an opportunity to comment before we make a decision.

If you request restoration of priority, we will treat the patent application as an application with priority until the request for restoration has been finally decided. This means, among other things, that the application will become available to the public once 18 months have passed from the priority date.

You may appeal to the Norwegian Board of Appeal for Industrial Property Rights (KFIR) against decisions we make concerning restoration of priority.

The provisions of the Norwegian Patents Act on restoration of priority do not apply to European patent applications. For such applications, reference should instead be made to the rules in the European Patent Convention, in particular Article 122 and Rule 136.

It is not possible to restore priority for design and trademark applications.