Enforcing Your Patent: Restoration
If you wish to know whether a patent is valid in another country, please consult the relevant patent register. You can find out whether a particular patent is still in force in the Netherlands by consulting the Dutch patent register. If the patent has expired, you would therefore be permitted to make use of the technology described in the patent in the Netherlands.
Please note, however, that if a patent has lapsed inadvertently, a patent owner may file a request to restore a patent up to 1 year after that date. If a patent owner files this request, it will be mentioned in the Dutch patent register.
Lapse of a patent right
If you miss an official deadline, your patent right may lapse. If a patent right lapses, it may only be restored in particularly exceptional circumstances. The patentee must then submit what is known as an application to restore a patent.
Some official deadlines do not result in the lapse of your patent if you miss them. An example is the deadline for invoking a right of priority. If you miss this deadline, you are still permitted to submit an application to restore a patent.
Application to restore a patent
The restoration procedure requires that you must inform our office in writing of the reason why you missed the official deadline. This application must be submitted within a period of 1 year after the lapse and within 2 months after express knowledge of the lapse. You are also required to pay the amounts that would have been due had the deadline not been missed, plus a fee of € 161 for processing your restoration application.
Questions about patents?
If you need more information on how to apply for a patent in the Netherlands, please contact the public information office.
- Ministry of Economic Affairs
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