A look at the first year of the Polish IP office’s fast-track programme

On 17 March 2021 the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland introduced fast-track mode: a new programme aimed at facilitating and accelerating registrations for trademark protection.

Applications must meet – and continue to meet – several criteria to qualify for the programme.

• The application must be made via the office’s electronic services platform, which means that all activities related to it must be performed electronically, including payment via the electronic payment service, e-Payment and signing the form with an electronic signature or with a trusted profile.
• The application requires a precise determination of the mark: the applicant must specify the type of mark, attach a graphic representation (if possible) and, in some cases, provide a description.
• The application may only concern an individual protection right.
• The list of goods and services should exclusively use classes which include terms that are automatically accepted by every EU national and regional IP office.
  
  An accelerated application should represent a significant advantage to applicants as it can be published in half the time or less of a standard application, Yet despite this, data obtained from the office shows that take up so far has been slow.
  
  A year seems enough time to check up on the efficiency of the new programme, so we asked the office for the data on its first year of performance. We learnt that:
• there were 404 fast-track applications compared to 14,013 standard applications;
• out of those 404 applications, only 248 went on to be registered; and
• the average time of publication of a trademark in fast-track mode was 0.43 months, which is an impressively quick.

Fast-Track mode was intended to provide a quicker, cheaper and simpler way to protect trademarks.  So why is uptake so low?

One reason may be the high proportion of fast-track mode applications that were rejected due to mistakes in the application, or there may simply be a lack of demand for expedited examination. The most important issue for rights holders is to submit their applications and receive an early priority date – expediting examination is rarely a critical issue. One might guess that the fast-track service offers little benefit, especially considering the fact that examiners typically process applications quickly and efficiently in any case. The office is certainly committed to improving offerings, therefore we may see the situation change in the future.

Applications submitted since fast-track mode has entered into force.