{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/patents-rules-2007/article-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/patents-rules-2007/article-2.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2007/3291",
  "legislation_title": "The Patents Rules 2007",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/patents-rules-2007",
  "path": "article/2",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "General interpretation",
  "text": "(1) In these Rules—\n“the Act” means the Patents Act 1977 and “section”, unless the contrary intention appears, means a section of the Act;\n“application number” includes file number;\n“compliance date” means the last day of the compliance period;\n“compliance period” means the period prescribed by rule 30;\n“declared priority date” has the meaning given to it by rule 3(1);\n“initiation date” means the date on which a new application was initiated by documents, mentioned in section 15(1), being filed at the Patent Office;\n“new application” means a new application filed under section 8(3), 12(6) or 37(4) or as mentioned in section 15(9);\n“no declared priority date” has the meaning given to it by rule 3(2);\n“Patents Form” has the meaning given to it by rule 4(1);\n“priority application” means an earlier relevant application specified in a declaration for the purposes of section 5(2);\n“sequence” and “sequence listing” have the same meaning as they have under the Patent Co-operation Treaty;\n“start date” means, in relation to rules 106(6)(a) and 116 on supplementary protection certificates, the first day following the day on which the basic patent expires; and\n“termination” has the meaning given by section 20B(7) and “terminated” shall be construed accordingly.\n(2) Where a period of time has been altered under rules 20(4), 71(7), 81 or 107 to 111, any reference in these Rules to the period of time shall be construed as a reference to the period as altered.\n(3) For the purposes of these Rules a document is available to the comptroller where—\n(a) it is in electronic storage (whether in the Patent Office or elsewhere) and he can access it by using electronic communications; or\n(b) it is kept at the Patent Office,\nand he has been furnished with sufficient information to obtain a copy of the document.\n(4) But a document may be treated as unavailable to the comptroller where—\n(a) its accuracy cannot be verified to his satisfaction; or\n(b) he has to pay to access it.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/3291/article/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T03:40:58.093437+00:00",
    "licence": "OGL-UK-3.0",
    "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
    "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
  }
}