Renewal and restoration: what the decision maker looks at
When a registration nears its expiry date, the decision maker checks three things in sequence: was the renewal fee paid inside the office's own payment window, does the request match the classes still genuinely in use, and — if a deadline was missed — is there evidence that the failure was unintentional and put right without delay. A gap in any one of these stalls the file before it reaches a substantive review.
What triggers the check
Two separate routes lead to the same desk. The first is ordinary renewal: the proprietor pays before expiry, or inside a further grace period that carries a surcharge. The second is restoration, sometimes called restitutio in integrum: the registration has already lapsed, and the proprietor asks the office to treat the missed deadline as if it had not happened.
The office treats these as different files with different evidentiary weight. Ordinary renewal is a payment and a form. Restoration is a request that the office exercise discretion, and discretion is only exercised where the proprietor shows that the omission was not due to a lack of care. The exact length of each window is set and published in the office's own schedule, not repeated here, because it changes independently of this page and a wrong number is worse than no number.
Documents the file must contain
A renewal file is short: proof of payment, the current list of classes, and confirmation that the proprietor on record is still the correct one. A restoration file is longer, because it has to explain the gap.
- A statement of the cause of the missed deadline — a named person, a named event, not a general reference to workload.
- Evidence that the proprietor acted as soon as the obstacle was removed, with dates that the decision maker can check against the record.
- Any change to the proprietor's identity that occurred during the period in question, recorded and supported before the restoration request is filed, not alongside it.
- The renewal fee itself, plus any restoration fee the office charges for the discretionary step.
The third point matters more often than clients expect. A merger, a demerger, or a transfer inside a group changes who is entitled to file, and the office will not act on a request from a party it cannot yet recognise on the register. Where the change happened at corporate level rather than at trade mark level, the underlying mechanics are covered separately: Novation on a corporate change. Get that recordal filed first, or the restoration request sits behind it in the queue.
One more point of vocabulary is worth fixing before the file goes in. The person the register recognises as entitled to the mark is called the holder, and the term carries specific evidentiary consequences that recur across other registries this firm works with — not only trade marks. A short definition of how the term is used and evidenced elsewhere is set out here: What holder token issuance means in a file. The mechanics differ; the discipline of naming the right person does not.
Who decides, and the point of no return
An examiner in the office's registry function makes the first decision on the papers alone. There is no hearing at this stage. The examiner either accepts the renewal or restoration, requests missing evidence, or refuses.
| Stage | What happens | Who acts |
|---|---|---|
| Payment window | Fee paid, classes confirmed | Proprietor or representative |
| Grace period | Late payment accepted with surcharge | Proprietor or representative |
| Lapse recorded | Mark removed from the register for non-payment | Office, on its own initiative |
| Restoration request | Cause and diligence explained, evidence filed | Proprietor or representative |
| Examiner review | Papers checked, evidence tested, decision issued | Office examiner |
| Point of no return | Deadline for a restoration request itself expires | No party — a fixed office rule |
The point of no return is the line that clients ask about most. Once the deadline for filing the restoration request itself has passed, the earlier filing date cannot be recovered by any argument about diligence, however strong the evidence. A fresh application is still possible; it simply starts a new priority chain, and everything that relied on the old one — licences, disputes, customs recordals — has to be checked against the new date.
Three scenarios
If the fee was paid on time but for the wrong classes, the file is a correction, not a restoration. The decision maker treats it as an amendment inside the ordinary process, and no diligence evidence is needed.
If the deadline was missed because a licensee's internal deadline calendar was wrong, the office looks at whose obligation it actually was. A proprietor cannot rely on a third party's error to prove its own diligence; the evidence has to show what the proprietor itself did, and when.
If a third party disputes the restoration — for instance because it has already started using a similar sign in the gap — the file can turn into a contested matter with its own costs exposure. Where that risk is live, the cost mechanics are set out separately from the substantive question: Costs and security for costs. It concerns a different right, but the stages-and-timing logic transfers directly.
What this page does not cover
This page does not set out fee amounts, exact deadline lengths, or the wording of any specific legal provision. Those figures sit in the office's own published schedule and change on a timetable this page does not control. It also does not cover opposition to a newly restored mark by a third party who used the sign during the gap; that is a separate procedure with its own decision-maker and its own evidentiary standard.
Sources and limit
The description above reflects how the office's registry function is organised in practice, not a specific statutory text. Where a client's position depends on an exact deadline, fee, or provision, we check the current published schedule before advising, and the check is dated in the file.
Renewal and restoration decisions also feed into a broader question some clients ask separately: whether an asset that depends on the mark's registration should be treated as at risk before the office has even ruled. That question is answered on its own terms, with its own evidence standard: Asset report when maintenance is in doubt: who decides.
Related reading
The same office structure — an examiner deciding on the papers first, with a later route to a formal body — also governs opposition. What that decision maker weighs at each stage is set out here: Opposition settlement: what the decision maker looks at.
Verified
This page describes procedure and decision-making structure only. It states no fee amount, no deadline length, and no provision number, because none of these is fixed by us and all of them change independently of this text. Clients working to a live deadline should confirm the current figures with us before relying on any date.
Frequently asked questions
How long does renewal and restoration take in practice?
Ordinary renewal is usually a matter of processing time once payment clears. Restoration takes longer, because the examiner has to assess the diligence evidence before deciding, and may request further material. Neither figure is fixed; both depend on the office's current workload and the completeness of the file on first submission.
Which documents are needed to start?
At minimum: proof of the fee paid, the current class list, and confirmation of the proprietor of record. For restoration, add a dated explanation of the cause of the missed deadline and evidence of prompt action once the obstacle was removed.
What happens if the other side does not respond?
Where a third party is notified and required to respond by a set date, silence is treated as no objection on the record, not as agreement with the substance. The file proceeds on the evidence already filed, and the silent party keeps its own separate route to raise the point later if it still can.