Patents Act, 1992

Date of filing application.

23.—(1) The date of filing of a patent application shall be the earliest date on which the applicant paid the filing fee and filed documents which contain—

(a) an indication that a patent is sought;

(b) information identifying the applicant; and

(c) a description of the invention even though the description does not comply with the requirements of this Act or with any requirements that may be prescribed.

(2) If the Minister prescribes a later date for payment of the filing fee under section 18 (3), the date of filing referred to in subsection (1) shall be the date on which the documents referred to in that subsection are filed.

(3) If any drawing referred to in the application is filed later than the date of filing accorded to the application by virtue of subsection (1), the Controller shall give the applicant an opportunity of requesting, within the prescribed period, that the date on which the drawing was filed shall be treated as being, for the purposes of this Act, the date of filing the application, and—

(a) if the applicant makes any such request, the date of filing the drawing shall be so treated;

(b) if the request is not made, any reference to the drawing in the application shall be deemed to be deleted.

(4) If any drawing referred to in the application has not been filed, the Controller shall invite the applicant to file the drawing within the prescribed period, and—

(a) if the drawing is subsequently filed within the prescribed period, the date on which it is filed shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as the date of filing the application;

(b) if the drawing is not so filed, any reference to the drawing in the application shall be deemed to be deleted.

(5) If in the case of an application which has a date of filing by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this section, or is deemed to have a date of filing accorded to it by virtue of section 24 or 81 , one or more claims or the abstract has not been filed within the relevant prescribed period, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn at the end of that period.