Article 9 Amendment of the Patents Rules 1995

For rules 28 and 29 there shall be substituted—

“Preliminary examination under section 15A

28.

(1)

On a preliminary examination the examiner shall determine whether the application complies with the requirements of rules 6 to 6C.

(2)

The examiner shall report to the comptroller his determinations under paragraph (1) and the comptroller shall notify the applicant accordingly.

Search under section 17

28A.

(1)

A request under section 17(1)(c)(i) for a search shall be made on Patents Form 9A/77.

(2)

The comptroller may, if he thinks fit, send to the applicant a copy of any document (or any part thereof) referred to in the examiner’s report made under section 17(5).

Procedure where earlier application made

29.

(1)

Where, on a preliminary examination, the examiner finds that a declaration made for the purposes of section 5(2) specifies a date of filing for an earlier relevant application—

(a)

more than twelve months before the date of filing of the application in suit; or

(b)

where the comptroller has given permission for a late declaration to be made under section 5(2), more than fourteen months before the date of filing of the application in suit,

he shall report this finding to the comptroller and the comptroller shall notify the applicant accordingly.

(2)

Where the comptroller has notified the applicant under paragraph (1), the applicant shall, before the end of the relevant period, provide the comptroller with a corrected date; otherwise the declaration, in so far as it relates to the earlier relevant application, shall be disregarded.

(3)

The relevant period is the period of two months starting on the date of the notification under paragraph (2).

(4)

For the purposes of paragraph (2), “corrected date” means a date that would not have been reported by the examiner under paragraph (1).”.