Title: | Articles 30, 32, 34 and 35 of the Patents Act of 15712/1995 (text as it applies on 03/09/2009) |
Field of IP: | Patents |
Type of flexibility: | Substantive examination |
Summary table: |
Article 30
1. If the provisions stipulated under and by virtue of Article 24 have not been complied with,
the Office shall notify the applicant in that respect in writing within one month of the date of
filing referred to in Article 29(1) or, in the case of a divisional application, within one month
of the date on which the divisional application was filed, together with an indication of the
provisions that have not been complied with.
2. If the defects are not remedied within three months after dispatch of the notice referred to
in paragraph (1), or if the applicant gives notice before that time that he does not wish to
remedy them, the Office shall decide not to process the application. The Office shall inform
the applicant of its decision as quickly as possible.
Article 32
1. Within 13 months of:
a. the date of filing referred to in Article 29(1); or
b. if the application relates to one or more rights of priority that have been claimed, the first date of priority, the applicant shall request the Office to perform a search of the state of the art with respect to the subject matter of the patent application prior to the grant of the patent.
A fee in accordance with the rate stipulated under or by virtue of a general order in council for the Kingdom shall be paid together with the request submitted to the Office. The request shall not be handled until the Office has received that amount.
2. If a divisional application as provided for in Article 28 is involved, the request referred to in paragraph (1) shall be made within 13 months of the date of filing referred to in paragraph
(1) or priority of the original application or within two months after the filing of the divisional application if that date is later.
3. If the applicant has not requested the search referred to in paragraph (1) or if the Office has not received the amount referred to in paragraph (1) in a timely manner, the Office shall decide not to process the application. The Office shall inform the applicant of its decision as quickly as possible.
Article 34
1. A search of the state of the art as provided for in Article 32(1) shall be conducted by the
Office, if necessary with the assistance of the European Patent Office referred to in the European Patent Convention.
2. If the applicant so requests, the Office shall subject the application to an international search as provided for in Article 15(5)(a) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Such a search shall be deemed to be a search of the state of the art as referred to in Article 32(1).
3. If it appears from the search that the application filed is not in compliance with the provisions stipulated under or by virtue of Article 27, it shall be carried out with respect to the elements of the application relating to the invention or group of inventions referred to in Article 27 that is mentioned first in the claims.
4. The Office shall notify the applicant in writing of the results of the search of the state of the art.
5. If the provisions contained in paragraph (3) apply, the Office shall indicate that that is the case in the notification provided for in paragraph (4), specifying the invention or group of inventions with respect to which the search was conducted.
Article 35
1. If the Office is of the opinion that the search of the state of the art cannot be conducted owing to the application's lack of clarity, it shall so inform the applicant as quickly as possible in a substantiated, written notification.
2. If the defects are not remedied within two months of the dispatch of the notification
referred to in paragraph (1), or if the applicant gives notice before that time that he does not wish to remedy them, the Office shall decide not to process the application. The Office shall inform the applicant of its decision as quickly as possible.