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Date of filing application (section 23 of Principal Act).
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6.— Section 23 of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for that section:
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“Date of filing application.
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23.— (1) The date of filing of a patent application shall be taken to be the earliest date on which the applicant paid the filing fee and filed documents which contain—
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(a) an indication that a patent is sought,
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(b) information identifying the applicant or information sufficient to enable that person to be contacted by the Office, and
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(c) (i) a description of the invention for which a patent is sought even where the description does not comply with other requirements of this Act or with any requirements that may be prescribed, or
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(ii) a reference, complying with any relevant requirements that may be prescribed, to a previously filed application made by the applicant or the applicant’s predecessor in title.
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(2) It is immaterial for the purposes of subsection (1)(c)(i) whether the description of the invention concerned is in, or is accompanied by a translation into, a language accepted by the Office in accordance with any requirements that may be prescribed.
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(3) If the Minister prescribes a later date for payment of the filing fee under section 18(3), the date of filing referred to in subsection (1) shall be the date on which the documents referred to in subsection (1) are filed.
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(4) Where documents filed at the Office do not satisfy all of the conditions specified in subsection (1), the Controller shall as soon as practicable after the filing of those documents notify the applicant of the further documents required to be filed in order for the application to have a date of filing.
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(5) Where documents filed at the Office satisfy all the conditions specified in subsection (1), the Controller shall as soon as practicable after the filing of the last of those documents notify the applicant of—
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(a) the date of filing the application, and
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(b) the requirements that must be complied with, and the periods within which they are required by this Act or rules made under this Act to be complied with, if the application is not to be treated as having been withdrawn.
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(6) If any drawing or a part of a description referred to in the application is filed later than the date of filing accorded to the application by virtue of subsection (1), the Controller shall give the applicant an opportunity of requesting, within the prescribed period, that the date on which the drawing or that part of the description was filed shall be treated as being, for the purposes of this Act, the date of filing the application, and—
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(a) if the applicant makes any such request, the date of filing the drawing or that part of the description shall be so treated,
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(b) if the request is not made, any reference to the drawing or that part of the description in the application shall be deemed to be deleted.
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(7) If any drawing or part of a description referred to in the application has not been filed, the Controller shall invite the applicant to file the drawing or that part of the description within the prescribed period, and—
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(a) if the drawing or part of the description is subsequently filed within the prescribed period, the date on which it is filed shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as the date of filing the application,
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(b) if the drawing or part of the description is not so filed, any reference to the drawing or part of the description in the application shall be deemed to be deleted.
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(8) Where the applicant, subsequent to the date of filing under subsection (1), files a missing part of the description or a missing drawing, subsection (6)(a) or (7)(a) shall not apply where—
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(a) on or before the date which is the date of filing the application under subsection (1) a declaration is made under section 26(1) in, or in connection with, the application, and
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(b) the applicant makes a request for subsection (6)(a) or (7)(a), as the case may be, not to apply and that request complies with the prescribed requirements and is made within the prescribed period.
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(9) An application which has a date of filing under this section or is deemed to have a date of filing accorded to it by virtue of section 24 or 81 shall be treated as withdrawn where any of the following applies:
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(a) the filing fee has not been paid within the prescribed period;
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(b) one or more claims or the abstract has not been filed within the relevant prescribed period;
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(c) where a reference to a previously filed application has been filed as referred to in subsection (1)(c)(ii), the applicant fails to file at the Office—
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(i) a description of the invention for which a patent is sought, before the end of the prescribed period,
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(ii) a copy of the application referred to, complying with the relevant prescribed requirements, before the end of the prescribed period.
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(10) This section applies to patent applications filed on or after the coming into operation of this section.”.
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