Re-establishment of rights in a Finnish patent application

In a Finnish patent application, if the patent applicant or right holder fails to take action within a certain period of time, resulting in the loss of rights or the expiration of the patent, such as failure to pay annual fees or missing the deadline for European effectiveness, the applicant/right holder may submit a request to the PRH to re-establish rights if the relevant requirements of the Finnish Patent Law are met.

• The request or missed action must be taken within 2 months after the patentee or applicant becomes aware of the missed deadline. The absolute deadline for filing a request is one year after the expiration of the deadline. The one-year period for annual fees starts from the end of the overdue annual fee payment period
• If the applicant realizes that the deadline has been missed but does not take action within 2 months, his/her request for restoration of rights will not be processed even if less than one year has passed since the deadline.
• The restoration of rights must be requested in writing to the PRH in Finnish or Swedish, accompanied by a power of attorney.
• The request for restoration of rights must include the following:
  • Patent number or application number
  • Information about when the patent owner or applicant became aware of the missed deadline, so that the PRH can assess whether the request was filed within the deadline
  • Explanation as to why the action was not taken within the deadline
  • An explanation of how the applicant will take all necessary care in the circumstances to meet the deadline
  • If the PRH denies the request for restoration of rights, the fee for the missing action will be refunded to the patent owner or applicant, but the decision fee will not be refunded.
• There are three possible outcomes of a request for reinstatement of rights:
  • Not processed due to failure to comply with the time limit specified in the request or failure to pay the fee
  • Accepted
  • Rejected
• During the period between the loss of the patent owner or applicant's rights and the publication in the Patent Gazette, third parties are entitled to exploit the invention by means of the exploitation right provided for in section 71c of the Finnish Patent Act.
• If you are dissatisfied with the PRH result, you can file a lawsuit with the Finnish Market Court.
• Restoration of rights request fee: EUR 500