Administrative Instructions under the Patent Cooperation Treaty

Section 705ter
Processing of International Applications Filed in or Scanned into Electronic Form in a Converted Electronic Format

(a)  Where an international application is filed in electronic form, or filed on paper and scanned into electronic form under Section 705bis(a), it may, subject to this Part, be converted from the initial or scanned electronic format into another electronic format permitted for this purpose as a complete and accurate copy ("converted copy") and processed on the basis of the converted copy.

(b)  The electronic format into which an international application may be converted for the purpose of paragraph (a) shall be XML format as referred to in section 3.1.1.1 of Annex F.

(c)  Pursuant to paragraph (a) and subject to the agreement between the relevant Offices, for the purposes of Article 12, the receiving Office, the International Bureau and the International Searching Authority may prepare a converted copy of the international application and keep it as the home copy, the record copy or the search copy, as the case may be.

(d)  Notwithstanding Section 705bis(c), where a converted copy of the international application is kept under paragraph (c) as the home copy, the record copy or the search copy, the copy in the initial or scanned electronic format shall be kept in the file of the international application in accordance with Rule 93.

(e)  Section 705bis(d) and (e) shall apply mutatis mutandis with respect to corrections of any inconsistencies in the converted copy with the copy in the initial or scanned electronic format kept under paragraph (d).