Direct deposit
The international application may be filed directly with the RO (A10 pct and Applicant's Guide §6.003).
Direct deposit arrangements (addresses, etc.) are governed by the applicable national law.
Mail-in deposit
The international application may be sent by post to the RO (Applicant's Guide §6.003).
Direct deposit arrangements (addresses, etc.) are governed by the applicable national law.
Filing by fax
Principle
The international application can be sent by fax to RO (Applicant's Guide §6.003) if :
- the RO authorizes it (R92.4.a PCT and R92.4.h PCT) and
- when requested by the RO (possibly in special cases R92.4.f PCT), the original is delivered to the latter within 14 days (R92.4.d PCT).
The use of faxes is governed by R92.4 PCT (or other similar means resulting in a printed or written document).
If the fax is illegible (in whole or in part), the fax is considered as not having been received and the applicant is informed (R92.4.c PCT).
EPO case
Before the EPO, it is still necessary to transmit in one copy (A151 EPC together R157 (2) EPC) the hard copy of the application documents and the application.
It should be indicated on the fax that paper documents are sent at the same time by mail ("Decision of the President of the European Patent Office dated 20 February 2019 concerning the filing of patent applications and other documents by telefax", OJ 2019, A18 ).
If no document is received, the EPO invites the applicant to produce these documents within 2 months (and not 14 days as indicated above).
If the applicant does not respond to this invitation, the fax is deemed not received, that is, the request is deemed withdrawn (R92.4.gi PCT).
Electronic filing
PCT-Easy
The deposit can be made using PCT-EASY : a paper filing accompanied by an electronic version (floppy disk, CD-Rom).
PCT-EASY software can be used (R89ter PCT and R3.1 PCT together Administrative Instructions 102bis.a) if the RO accepts it:
- the electronic version is not sufficient to obtain the filing date; you must also file the paper version (Guide for the applicant §6.007);
- the paper version is authoritative for this type of deposit (Guide for the applicant §6.007);
- the RO verifies that there is a concordance between the paper version and the electronic version filed (Guide for the applicant §6.002).
Any office that does not accept this type of deposit may:
- process the application as a paper application (Guide for the applicant, §11.097);
- ask the applicant to authorize it to transmit the application to the IB / RO (R19.4.a.iii PCT).
The EPO has not accepted a PCT-EASY filing since 1 April 2007 (OG 2007, 58).
ePCT
This deposit mode allows a deposit via a WEB interface if the RO is the IB (link to the site).
PCT-SAFE
WIPO has developed software for online electronic filings (link to the site) at the IB and possibly other RO's accepting it.
Other means
The international application may be filed in electronic format (R89bis.1.a PCT) if the RO accepts this type of deposit (R89bis.1.d PCT).
The deposit must then comply with Administrative instructions, chapter 7 and theAnnex F of the Administrative Instructions.
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