Administrative Instructions under the Patent Cooperation Treaty

Section 706
Documents in Pre-Conversion Format

(a)  Where, for the purposes of filing the international application in electronic form, the document making up the international application has been prepared by conversion from a different electronic document format ("pre-conversion format"), the applicant may, if the receiving Office so permits and the pre-conversion format is accepted for that purpose by that Office, submit, together with the international application, the document in the pre-conversion format, in which case:

(i) the document in the pre-conversion format shall be identified as such and shall be accompanied by a statement by the applicant that the international application as filed in electronic form is a complete and accurate copy of the document in the pre-conversion format;

(ii) the request shall preferably contain an indication that the document in the pre-conversion format is submitted under Section 706 together with the international application.

(b)  Where it is found that the international application as filed in electronic form is not in fact a complete and accurate copy of the document in the pre-conversion format submitted under paragraph (a), the applicant may, within 30 months from the priority date, request the receiving Office to correct the international application so as to bring it into conformity with the document in the pre-conversion format. Rule 26.4 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the manner in which corrections under paragraph (b) shall be requested.
 

(c)  Where the receiving Office, the International Searching Authority, the International Preliminary Examining Authority or the International Bureau discover what appears to be a correctable defect under paragraph (b), that Office, Authority or Bureau, as the case may be, may bring such defect to the attention of the applicant, drawing attention to the correction procedure under paragraph (b).

(d)  The applicant and, if copies of the international application have already been sent to the International Bureau and the International Searching Authority, that Bureau and that Authority shall be promptly notified by the receiving Office of any correction under paragraph (b). If required, the International Bureau shall notify the International Preliminary Examining Authority accordingly. Where a correction is made after the completion of the technical preparations for international publication, the International Bureau shall promptly publish any international application as so corrected together with a revised front page.

(e)  A correction under paragraph (b) shall be taken into account by the International Searching Authority for the purposes of the international search and the establishment of the written opinion, and by the International Preliminary Examining Authority for the purposes of international preliminary examination, if it is notified to that Authority before it has begun to draw up the international search report, the written opinion or the international preliminary examination report, as applicable, in which case the said report or opinion shall so indicate.

(f) Paragraphs (a) to (e) shall apply mutatis mutandis to any document making up any element of the international application referred to in Article 3(2).