Guidance For Users Impacted by the July 19, 2024, Computer Outage

1) In the view of the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Rule 5 of the Regulations under the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks (the Regulations) provides for measures applicable to the global computer outage that began on July 19, 2024.   Interested parties who were unable to meet a time limit specified in the Regulations to perform an action before the International Bureau of WIPO due to that outage may request excuse of the delay on this basis.
 
2) Rule 5 of the Regulations provides for excuse of delay in meeting time limits (which may relate to the submission of documents and/or the payment of fees), due to force majeure reasons, including irregularities in “... electronic communication services owing to circumstances beyond the control of the interested party....” 
 
3) The International Bureau of WIPO will treat favorably any request made under Rule 5 of the Regulations citing the outage that began on July 19, 2024, and will waive the requirement for submitting evidence.