17.6. Termination of deferment

6.1 Deferment will be terminated automatically by the system at the expiration of  the specified time or when the latest ground no longer exists, whichever is longer, except those where:

• deferment was granted on the ground that the applicant has died
• a rectification action has been filed with the court and/or appeals have been lodged in a court or applications made for review in the ART against a decision of the Registrar
• during examination the grounds for deferment no longer exist e.g. all the citations are withdrawn

On termination of deferment the system will automatically send out a standard notice stating that deferment has been terminated.  The notice will also provide the new acceptance due date and advises the applicant to notify the Registrar if the application is now clear to be accepted or make further submissions if there are still outstanding matters, or to apply for further extensions of time for acceptance, if needed.  Because deferment is automatically terminated, examiners will have no notice that no further grounds for rejection apply.

6.2 Where an appeal or application for review has been made the deferment will be terminated when the court or ART notifies this office of their decision.  The termination will be three months after the decision was made or, if the decision specifies a different time, the termination will take place at the time specified in the decision.

6.3 Where the deferment was granted on the basis that the applicant died, the system will automatically terminate deferment 12 months from the date deferment was applied.

6.4 Where the deferment was granted on the basis of a rectification action by the applicant against a cited registration, deferment terminates when the rectification action is finalised. Hearings Support advises Trade Marks Administration Section that the rectification action has been finalised. The system will be updated and deferment will terminate on that day.

• Part 42 Rectification

6.5 Where the grounds for deferment have disappeared during the examination process, e.g. the citations have been withdrawn on re-consideration or because a case for “honest concurrent use” or “prior use” has been proved to the satisfaction of the Registrar, deferment should be terminated.

6.6 If there are multiple grounds for deferment the termination will occur when the longest running ground ends or no longer has effect.

If only one of the reasons for deferment ends a standard notice is sent advising the applicant that the deferment has been amended due to one of the reasons changing.  The notice also advises that deferment has not yet been terminated.