Patent Cooperation Treaty; with Regulations

 

RULE 16

THE SEARCH FEE

16.1 Right to Ask for a Fee

(a) Each International Searching Authority may require that the applicant
pay a fee (“search fee”) for its own benefit for carrying out the
international search and for performing all other tasks entrusted to
International Searching Authorities by the Treaty and these Regulations.

(b) The search fee shall be collected by the receiving Office. It shall be
payable in the currency prescribed by that Office, it being understood
that, if that currency is not the same as the currency of the State in
which the International Searching Authority is located, the search fee,
when transferred by the receiving Office to that Authority, shall be freely
convertible into the currency of the said State. As to the time of payment
of the search fee, Rule 15.4(a) shall apply.

16.2 Refund

The search fee shall be refunded to the applicant if the determination
under Article 11(1) is negative.

16.3 Partial Refund

Where the international application claims the priority of an earlier
international application which has been the subject of an international
search by the same International Searching Authority, that Authority shall
refund the search fee paid in connection with the later international
application to the extent and under the conditions provided for in the
agreement under Article 16(3)(b), if the international search report on the
later international application could wholly or partly be based on the
results of the international search effected on the earlier international
application.

RULE 17

THE PRIORITY DOCUMENT

17.1 Obligation to Submit Copy of Earlier National Application

(a) Where the priority of an earlier national application is claimed under
Article 8 in the international application, a copy of the said national
application, certified by the authority with which it was filed (“the
priority document”), shall, unless already filed with the receiving Office,
together with the international application, be submitted by the applicant
to the International Bureau not later than 16 months after the priority
date or, in the case referred to in Article 23(2), not later than at the
time the processing or examination is requested.

(b) If the applicant fails to comply with the requirement under paragraph
(a), any designated State may disregard the priority claim.

(c) The International Bureau shall record the date on which it received the
priority document and shall notify the applicant and the designated Offices
accordingly.

17.2 Availability of Copies

(a) The International Bureau shall, at the specific request of the
designated Office, promptly but not before the expiration of the time limit
fixed in Rule 17.1(a), furnish a copy of the priority document to that
Office. No such Office shall ask the applicant himself to furnish it with a
copy, except where it requires the furnishing of a copy of the priority
document together with a certified translation thereof. The applicant shall
not be required to furnish a certified translation to the designated Office
before the expiration of the applicable time limit under Article 22.

(b) The International Bureau shall not make copies of the priority document
available to the public prior to the international publication of the
international application.

(c) Paragraphs (a) and (b) shall apply also to any earlier international
application whose priority is claimed in the subsequent international
application.

RULE 18

THE APPLICANT
18.1 Residence

(a) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), the question whether an
applicant is a resident of the Contracting State of which he claims to be a
resident shall depend on the national law of that State and shall be
decided by the receiving Office.

(b) In any case, possession of a real and effective industrial or
commercial establishment in a Contracting State shall be considered
residence in that State.

18.2 Nationality

(a) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), the question whether an
applicant is a national of the Contracting State of which he claims to be a
national shall depend on the national law of that State and shall be
decided by the receiving Office.

(b) In any case, a legal entity constituted according to the national law
of a Contracting State shall be considered a national of that State.

18.3 Several Applicants: Same for All Designated States

If all the applicants are applicants for the purposes of all designated
States, the right to file an international application shall exist if at
least one of them is entitled to file an international application
according to Article 9.

18.4 Several Applicants: Different for Different Designated

(a) The international application may indicate different applicants for the
purposes of different designated States, provided that, in respect of each
designated State, at least one of the applicants indicated for the purposes
of that State is entitled to file an international application according to
Article 9.

(b) If the condition referred to in paragraph (a) is not fulfilled in
respect of any designated State, the designation of that State shall be
considered not to have been made.

(c) The International Bureau shall, from time to time, publish information
on the various national laws in respect of the question who is qualified
(inventor, successor in title of the inventor, owner of the invention, or
other) to file a national application and shall accompany such information
by a warning that the effect of the international application in any
designated State may depend on whether the person designated in the
international application as applicant for the purposes of that State is a
person who, under the national law of that State, is qualified to file a
national application.

18.5 Change in the Person or Name of the Applicant

Any change in the person or name of the applicant shall, on the request of
the applicant or the receiving Office, be recorded by the International
Bureau, which shall notify the interested International Searching Authority
and the designated Offices accordingly.

RULE 19

THE COMPETENT RECEIVING OFFICE

19.1 Where to File

(a) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), the international
application shall be filed, at the option of the applicant, with the
national Office of or acting for the Contracting State of which the
applicant is a resident or with the national Office of or acting for the
Contracting State of which the applicant is a national.

(b) Any Contracting State may agree with another Contracting State or any
intergovernmental organization that the national Office of the latter State
or the intergovernmental organization shall, for all or some purposes, act
instead of the national Office of the former State as receiving Office for
applicants who are residents or nationals of that former State.
Notwithstanding such agreement, the national Office of the former State
shall be considered the competent receiving Office for the purposes of
Article 15(5).

(c) In connection with any decision made under Article 9(2), the Assembly
shall appoint the national Office or the intergovernmental organization
which will act as receiving Office for applications of residents or
nationals of States specified by the Assembly. Such appointment shall
require the previous consent of the said national Office or
intergovernmental organization.

19.2 Several Applicants

(a) If there are several applicants and they have no common agent, their
common representative within the meaning of Rule 4.8 shall, for the
purposes of the application of Rule 19.1, be considered the applicant.

(b) If there are several applicants and they have a common agent, the
applicant first named in the request who is entitled to file an
international application according to Article 9 shall, for the purposes of
the application of Rule 19.1, be considered the applicant.

19.3 Publication of Fact of Delegation of Duties of Receiving Office

(a) Any agreement referred to in Rule 19.1(b) shall be promptly notified to
the International Bureau by the Contracting State which delegates the
duties of the receiving Office to the national Office of or acting for
another Contracting State or an intergovernmental organization.

(b) The International Bureau shall, promptly upon receipt, publish the
notification in the Gazette.

RULE 20

RECEIPT OF THE INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION

20.1 Date and Number

(a) Upon receipt of papers purporting to be an international application,
the receiving Office shall indelibly mark the date of actual receipt in the
space provided for that purpose in the request form of each copy received
and one of the numbers assigned by the International Bureau to that Office
on each sheet of each copy received.

(b) The place on each sheet where the date or number shall be marked, and
other details, shall be specified in the Administrative Instructions.

20.2 Receipt on Different Days

(a) In cases where all the sheets pertaining to the same purported
international application are not received on the same day by the receiving
Office, that Office shall correct the date marked on the request (still
leaving legible, however, the earlier date or dates already marked) so that
it indicates the day on which the papers completing the international
application were received, provided that

(i) where no invitation under Article 11(2)(a) to correct was sent to
the applicant, the said papers are received within 30 days from the date on
which sheets were first received;

(ii) where an invitation under Article 11(2)(a) to correct was sent
to the applicant, the said papers are received within the applicable time
limit under Rule 20.6;

(iii) in the case of Article 14(2), the missing drawings are received
within 30 days from the date on which the incomplete papers were filed;

(iv) the absence or later receipt of any sheet containing the
abstract or part thereof shall not, in itself, require any correction of
the date marked on the request.

(b) Any sheet received on a date later than the date on which sheets were
first received shall be marked by the receiving Office with the date on
which it was received.

20.3 Corrected International Application

In the case referred to in Article 11(2)(b), the receiving Office shall
correct the date marked on the request (still leaving legible, however, the
earlier date or dates already marked) so that it indicates the day on which
the last required correction was received.

20.4 Determination under Article 11(1)

(a) Promptly after receipt of the papers purporting to be an international
application, the receiving Office shall determine whether the papers comply
with the requirements of Article 11(1).

(b) For the purposes of Article 11(1)(iii)(c), it shall be sufficient to
indicate the name of the applicant in a way which allows his identity to be
established even if the name is misspelled, the given names are not fully
indicated, or, in the case of legal entities, the indication of the name is
abbreviated or incomplete.

20.5 Positive Determination

(a) If the determination under Article 11(1) is positive, the receiving
Office shall stamp in the space provided for that purpose in the request
form the name of the receiving Office and the words “PCT International
Application,”or “Demande internationale PCT.”If the official language of
the receiving Office is neither English nor French, the words
“International Application”or “Demande internationale”may be accompanied
by a translation of these words in the official language of the receiving
Office.

(b) The copy whose request sheet has been so stamped shall be the record
copy of the international application.

(c) The receiving Office shall promptly notify the applicant of the
international application number and the international filing date.

20.6 Invitation to Correct

(a) The invitation to correct under Article 11(2) shall specify the
requirement provided for under Article 11(1) which, in the opinion of the
receiving Office, has not been fulfilled.

(b) The receiving Office shall promptly mail the invitation to the
applicant and shall fix a time limit, reasonable under the circumstances of
the case, for filing the correction. The time limit shall not be less than
10 days, and shall not exceed 1 month, from the date of the invitation. If
such time limit expires after the expiration of 1 year from the filing date
of any application whose priority is claimed, the receiving Office may call
this circumstance to the attention of the applicant.

20.7 Negative Determination

If the receiving Office does not, within the prescribed time limit, receive
a reply to its invitation to correct, or if the correction offered by the
applicant still does not fulfill the requirements provided for under
Article 11(1), it shall:

(i) promptly notify the applicant that his application is not and
will not be treated as an international application and shall indicate the
reasons therefor,

(ii) notify the International Bureau that the number it has marked on
the papers will not be used as an international application number,

(iii) keep the papers constituting the purported international
application and any correspondence relating thereto as provided in Rule
93.1, and

(iv) send a copy of the said papers to the International Bureau
where, pursuant to a request by the applicant under Article 25(1), the
International Bureau needs such a copy and specially asks for it.

20.8 Error by the Receiving Office

If the receiving Office later discovers, or on the basis of the applicant’s
reply realizes, that it has erred in issuing an invitation to correct since
the requirements provided for under Article 11(1) were fulfilled when the
papers were received, it shall proceed as provided in Rule 20.5.

20.9 Certified Copy for the Applicant

Against payment of a fee, the receiving Office shall furnish to the
applicant, on request, certified copies of the international application as
filed and of any corrections thereto.

 

Author: international

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