Patent Cooperation Treaty; with Regulations in the United States

Article 27
National Requirements

(1) No national law shall require compliance with requirements relating to
the form or contents of the international application different from or
additional to those which are provided for in this Treaty and the
Regulations.

(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) neither affect the application of the
provisions of Article 7(2) nor preclude any national law from requiring,
once the processing of the international application has started in the
designated Office, the furnishing: ~

(i) when the applicant is a legal entity, of the name of an officer
entitled to represent such legal entity,
(ii) of documents not part of the international application but which
constitute proof of allegations or statements made in that application,
including the confirmation of the international application by the
signature of the applicant when that application, as filed, was signed by
his representative or agent.

(3) Where the applicant, for the purposes of any designated State, is not
qualified according to the national law of that State to file a national
application because he is not the inventor, the international application
may be rejected by the designated Office.

(4) Where the national law provides, in respect of the form or contents of
national applications, for requirements which, from the viewpoint of
applicants, are more favorable than the requirements provided for by this
Treaty and the Regulations in respect of international applications, the
national Office, the courts and any other competent organs of or acting for
the designated State may apply the former requirements, instead of the
latter requirements, to international applications, except where the
applicant insists that the requirements provided for by this Treaty and the
Regulations be applied to his international application.

(5) Nothing in this Treaty and the Regulations is intended to be construed
as prescribing anything that would limit the freedom of each Contracting
State to prescribe such substantive conditions of patentability as it
desires. In particular, any provision in this Treaty and the Regulations
concerning the definition of prior art is exclusively for the purposes of
the international procedure and, consequently, any Contracting State is
free to apply, when determining the patentability of an invention claimed
in an international application, the criteria of its national law in
respect of prior art and other conditions of patentability not constituting
requirements as to the form and contents of applications.

(6) The national law may require that the applicant furnish evidence in
respect of any substantive condition of patentability prescribed by such
law.

(7) Any receiving Office or, once the processing of the international
application has started in the designated Office, that Office may apply the
national law as far as it relates to any requirement that the applicant be
represented by an agent having the right to represent applicants before the
said Office and/or that the applicant have an address in the designated
State for the purpose of receiving notifications.

(8) Nothing in this Treaty and the Regulations is intended to be construed
as limiting the freedom of any Contracting State to apply measures deemed
necessary for the preservation of its national security or to limit, for
the protection of the general economic interests of that State, the right
of its own residents or nationals to file international applications.

Article 28
Amendment of the Claims, the Description, and the Drawings,
Before Designated Offices

(1) The applicant shall be given the opportunity to amend the claims, the
description, and the drawings, before each designated Office within the
prescribed time limit. No designated Office shall grant a patent, or refuse
the grant of a patent, before such time limit has expired except with the
express consent of the applicant.

(2) The amendments shall not go beyond the disclosure in the international
application as filed unless the national law of the designated State
permits them to go beyond the said disclosure.

(3) The amendments shall be in accordance with the national law of the
designated State in all respects not provided for in this Treaty and the
Regulations.

(4) Where the designated Office requires a translation of the international
application, the amendments shall be in the language of the translation.

Article 29
Effects of the International Publication

(1) As far as the protection of any rights of the applicant in a designated
State is concerned, the effects, in that State, of the international
publication of an international application shall, subject to the
provisions of paragraphs (2) to (4), be the same as those which the
national law of the designated State provides for the compulsory national
publication of unexamined national applications as such.

(2) If the language in which the international publication has been
effected is different from the language in which publications under the
national law are effected in the designated State, the said national law
may provide that the effects provided for in paragraph (1) shall be
applicable only from such time as:

(i) a translation into the latter language has been published as
provided by the national law, or

(ii) a translation into the latter language has been made available to
the public, by laying open for public inspection as provided by the
national law, or

(iii) a translation into the latter language has been transmitted by the
applicant to the actual or prospective unauthorized user of the invention
claimed in the international application, or

(iv) both the acts described in (i) and (iii), or both the acts
described in (ii) and (iii), have taken place.

(3) The national law of any designated State may provide that, where the
international publication has been effected, on the request of the
applicant, before the expiration of 18 months from the priority date, the
effects provided for in paragraph (1) shall be applicable only from the
expiration of 18 months from the priority date.

(4) The national law of any designated State may provide that the effects
provided for in paragraph (1) shall be applicable only from the date on
which a copy of the international application as published under Article 21
has been received in the national Office of or acting for such State. The
said Office shall publish the date of receipt in its gazette as soon as
possible.

Article 30
Confidential Nature of the International Application

(1)(a) Subject to the provisions of subparagraph (b), the International
Bureau and the International Searching Authorities shall not allow access
by any person or authority to the international application before the
international publication of that application, unless requested or
authorized by the applicant.

(b) The provisions of subparagraph (a) shall not apply to any
transmittal to the competent International Searching Authority, to
transmittals provided for under Article 13, and to communications provided
for under Article 20.

(2)(a) No national Office shall allow access to the international
application by third parties, unless requested or authorized by the
applicant, before the earliest of the following dates:
(i) date of the international publication of the international
application,

(ii) date of the receipt of the communication of the international
application under Article 20,

(iii) date of the receipt of a copy of the international application
under Article 22.

(b) The provisions of subparagraph (a) shall not prevent any national
Office from informing third parties that it has been designated, or from
publishing that fact. Such information or publication may, however, contain
only the following data: identification of the receiving Office, name of
the applicant, international filing date, international application number,
and title of the invention.

(c) The provisions of subparagraph (a) shall not prevent any designated
Office from allowing access to the international application for the
purposes of the judicial authorities.

(3) The provisions of paragraph (2)(a) shall apply to any receiving Office
except as far as transmittals provided for under Article 12(1) are
concerned.

(4) For the purposes of this Article, the term “access” covers any means by
which third parties may acquire cognizance, including individual
communication and general publication, provided, however, that no national
Office shall generally publish an international application or its
translation before the international publication or, if international
publication has not taken place by the expiration of 20 months from the
priority date, before the expiration of 20 months from the said priority
date.