Upon receipt of papers purporting to be an
international application, the receiving Office
shall indelibly mark the date of actual receipt
on the request of each copy received and the
international application number 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.
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.
(c)
For the purposes of Article
11(1)(ii), it shall be sufficient that the
part which appears to be a description (other
than any sequence listing part thereof) and the
part which appears to be a claim or claims be in
a language accepted by the receiving Office under
Rule
12.1(a).
(d)
If, on October 1, 1997, paragraph (c) is not compatible
with the national law applied by the receiving
Office, paragraph (c)
shall not apply to that receiving Office for as
long as it continues not to be compatible with
that law, provided that the said Office informs
the International Bureau accordingly by December
31, 1997. The information received shall be
promptly published by the International Bureau in
the Gazette.
20.5 Positive Determination
(a)
If the determination under Article 11(1) is
positive, the receiving Office shall stamp on the
request 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 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. At the same
time, it shall send to the International Bureau a
copy of the notification sent to the applicant,
except where it has already sent, or is sending
at the same time, the record copy to the
International Bureau under Rule 22.1(a).
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 one month, from the date of the
invitation. If such time limit expires after the
expiration of one 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.