Patent Cooperation Treaty; with Regulations

Patent Cooperation Treaty; with Regulations in the United States

RULE 21

PREPARATION OP COPIES

21.1 Responsibility of the Receiving Office

(a) Where the international application is required to be filed in one
copy, the receiving Office shall be responsible for preparing the home copy
and the search copy required under Article 12(1).

(b) Where the international application is required to be filed in two
copies, the receiving Office shall be responsible for preparing the home
copy.

(c) If the international application is filed in less than the number of
copies required under Rule 11.1(b), the receiving Office shall be
responsible for the prompt preparation of the number of copies required,
and shall have the right to fix a fee for performing that task and to
collect such fee from the applicant.

RULE 22

TRANSMITTAL OF THE RECORD COPY

22.1 Procedure

(a) If the determination under Article 11(1) is positive, and unless
prescriptions concerning national security prevent the international
application from being treated as such, the receiving Office shall transmit
the record copy to the International Bureau. Such transmittal shall be
effected promptly after receipt of the international application or, if a
check to preserve national security must be performed, as soon as the
necessary clearance has been obtained. In any case, the receiving Office
shall transmit the record copy in time for it to reach the International
Bureau by the expiration of the 13th month from the priority date. If the
transmittal is effected by mail, the receiving Office shall mail the record
copy not later than 5 days prior to the expiration of the 13th month from
the priority date.

(b) If the applicant is not in possession of the notification of receipt
sent by the International Bureau under Rule 24.2(a) by the expiration of 13
months and 10 days from the priority date, he shall have the right to ask
the receiving Office to give him the record copy or, should the receiving
Office allege that it has transmitted the record copy to the International
Bureau, a certified copy based on the home copy.

(c) The applicant may transmit the copy he has received under paragraph (b)
to the International Bureau. Unless the record copy transmitted by the
receiving Office has been received by the International Bureau before the
receipt by that Bureau of the copy transmitted by the applicant, the latter
copy shall be considered the record copy.

22.2 Alternative Procedure

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Rule 22.1, any receiving Office may
provide that the record copy of any international application filed with it
shall be transmitted, at the option of the applicant, by the receiving
Office or through the applicant. The receiving Office shall inform the
International Bureau of the existence of any such provision.

(b) The applicant shall exercise the option through a written notice, which
he shall file together with the international application. If he fails to
exercise the said option, the applicant shall be considered to have opted
for transmittal by the receiving Office.

(c) Where the applicant opts for transmittal by the receiving Office, the
procedure shall be the same as that provided for in Rule 22.1.

(d) Where the applicant opts for transmittal through him, he shall indicate
in the notice referred to in paragraph (b) whether he wishes to collect the
record copy at the receiving Office or wishes the receiving Office to mail
the record copy to him. If the applicant expresses the wish to collect the
record copy, the receiving Office shall hold that copy at the disposal of
the applicant as soon as the clearance referred to in Rule 22.1(a) has been
obtained and, in any case, including the case where a check for such
clearance must be performed, not later than 10 days before the expiration
of 13 months from the priority date. If, by the expiration of the time
limit for receipt of the record copy by the International Bureau, the
applicant has not collected that copy, the receiving Office shall notify
the International Bureau accordingly. If the applicant expresses the wish
that the receiving Office mail the record copy to him or fails to express
the wish to collect the record copy, the receiving Office shall mail that
copy to the applicant as soon as the clearance referred to in Rule 22.1(a)
has been obtained and, in any case, including the case where a check for
such clearance must be performed, not later than 15 days before the
expiration of 13 months from the priority date.
(e) Where the receiving Office does not hold the record copy at the
disposal of the applicant by the date fixed in paragraph (d), or where,
after having asked for the record copy to be mailed to him, the applicant
has not received that copy at least 10 days before the expiration of 13
months from the priority date, the applicant may transmit a copy of his
international application to the International Bureau. This copy
(“provisional record copy”) shall be replaced by the record copy or, if the
record copy has been lost, by a substitute record copy certified by the
receiving Office on the basis of the home copy, as soon as practicable and,
in any case, before the expiration of 14 months from the priority date.

22.3 Time Limit under Article 12(3)

(a) The time limit referred to in Article 12(3) shall be:

(i) where the procedure under Rule 22.1 or Rule 22.2(c) applies, 14
months from the priority date;

(ii) where the procedure under Rule 22.2(d) applies, 13 months from
the priority date, except that, where a provisional record copy is filed
under Rule 22.2(e), it shall be 13 months from the priority date for the
filing of the provisional record copy, and 14 months from the priority date
for the filing of the record copy.

(b) Article 48(1) and Rule 82 shall not apply to the transmittal of the
record copy Article 48(2) remains applicable.

22.4 Statistics Concerning Non-Compliance with Rules 22.1 and 22.2

The number of instances in which, according to the knowledge of the
International Bureau, any receiving Office has not complied with the
requirements of Rules 22.1 and/or 22.2 shall be indicated, once a year, in
the Gazette.

22.5 Documents Filed with the International Application

For the purposes of the present Rule, the term “record copy” shall include
also any document filed with the international application referred to in
Rule 3.3(a)(ii). If any document referred to in Rule 3.3(a)(ii) which is
indicated in the check list as accompanying the international application
is not, in fact, filed at the latest by the time the record copy leaves the
receiving Office, that Office shall so note on the check list and the said
indication shall be considered as if it had not been made.

RULE 23

TRANSMITTAL OF THE SEARCH COPY

23.1 Procedure

(a) The search copy shall be transmitted by the receiving Office to the
International Searching Authority at the latest on the same day as the
record copy is transmitted to the International Bureau or, under Rule
22.2(d), to the applicant.

(b) If the International Bureau has not received, within 10 days from the
receipt of the record copy, information from the International Searching
Authority that that Authority is in possession of the search copy, the
International Bureau shall promptly transmit a copy of the international
application to the International Searching Authority. Unless the
International Searching Authority has erred in alleging that it was not in
possession of the search copy by the expiration of the 13th month from the
priority date, the cost of making a copy for that Authority shall be
reimbursed by the receiving Office to the International Bureau.
(c) The number of instances in which, according to the knowledge of the
International Bureau, any receiving Office has not complied with the
requirement of Rule 23.1(a) shall be indicated, once a year, in the
Gazette.

RULE 24

RECEIPT OF THE RECORD COPY BY THE INTERNATIONAL BUREAU

24.1 Recording of Date of Receipt of the Record Copy

The International Bureau shall, upon receipt of the record copy, mark on
the request sheet the date of receipt and on all sheets of the
international application the stamp of the International Bureau.

24.2 Notification of Receipt of the Record Copy

(a) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (b), the International Bureau
shall promptly notify the applicant, the receiving Office, the
International Searching Authority, and all designated Offices, of the fact
and the date of receipt of the record copy. The notification shall identify
the international application by its number, the international filing date,
the name of the applicant, and the name of the receiving Office, and shall
indicate the filing date of any earlier application whose priority is
claimed. The notification sent to the applicant shall also contain the list
of the designated Offices which have been notified under this paragraph,
and shall, in respect of each designated Office, indicate any applicable
time limit under Article 22(3).

(b) If the record copy is received after the expiration of the time limit
fixed in Rule 22.3, the International Bureau shall promptly notify the
applicant, the receiving Office, and the International Searching Authority,
accordingly.


Posted

in

, ,

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *