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PCT Receiving Office Guidelines

Chapter XVII: Withdrawal of the International Application, any Designation or any Priority Claim

Receipt of Notice Effecting Withdrawal of the International Application, Any Designation or Any Priority Claim under Rule 90bis.1, 90bis.2 or 90bis.3

314. The applicant may file with the receiving Office a notice of withdrawal of the international application (Rule 90bis.1(b)), of any designation, including the withdrawal of a designation for the purpose of a given kind of protection (Rule 90bis.2(d)), or of any priority claim (Rule 90bis.3(c)). The applicant may also file such notice of withdrawal directly with the International Bureau. Any notice of withdrawal has to be signed by, or on behalf of, all applicants indicated as such in the international application at the time the notice of withdrawal is submitted. Upon receipt of such a notice, the receiving Office marks the date of receipt on the notice of withdrawal and checks whether the withdrawal is effective, that is, whether:

(i) the notice of withdrawal is received within the time limit referred to in Rule 90bis.1(a), 90bis.2(a) or 90bis.3(a), as the case may be;

(ii) the notice of withdrawal is signed by or on behalf of all the applicants.

315. A notice of withdrawal of the international application must be signed by the applicant or, if there are two or more applicants, by all of them or, on their behalf, by their duly appointed common agent or common representative. Where a power of attorney or an authorization to sign on behalf of a legal entity is not yet submitted when the notice of withdrawal is received, the receiving Office requests the applicant to submit it.

316. An applicant who is considered to be the common representative under Rule 90.2(b), that is, the “deemed” common representative (paragraph 24), may not sign a notice of withdrawal on behalf of the other applicants (Rule 90bis.5).

317. If the above-mentioned requirements (paragraphs 314 and 315) are fulfilled, the withdrawal is effective upon receipt of the notice of withdrawal by the receiving Office (Rules 90bis.1(b), 90bis.2(d) and 90bis.3(c)).

318. A notice of withdrawal of the international application may state that the withdrawal is to be effective only on the condition that international publication can still be prevented (“conditional withdrawal”). In such case, the withdrawal is not effective if the condition on which it was made cannot be met, that is, if the technical preparations for international publication have already been completed. For completion of technical preparations for international publication, see paragraph 337.

319. Where different applicants or inventors are indicated for the purposes of different designated States and in the event of withdrawal of the designation of a State, the receiving Office may make an indication to that effect in the margin of the relevant sheet of the home copy.

320. If the withdrawal of a designation results in a person being indicated as applicant for the purposes of a State which is no longer designated, the receiving Office makes the necessary ex officio marking in the request.

321. Where the priority date of the international application has changed following withdrawal under Rule 90bis.3 of a priority claim, any date which is computed from the original priority date, and which has not already expired, is recomputed from the priority date resulting from that change. Time limits computed from the original priority date which have already expired are not reinstated (Rule 90bis.3(d)).