

	Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP)

§ 20.1 Date and Number - none Patent Cooperation Treaty

§ 20.1 Date and Number

(a) Upon receipt of papers purporting to be an international application, the receiving Office shall indelibly mark the date of actual receipt on the request of each copy received and the international application number on each sheet of each copy received.

(b) The place on each sheet where the date or number shall be marked, and other details, shall be specified in the Administrative Instructions.

§ 20.2 Receipt on Different Days

(a) In cases where all the sheets pertaining to the same purported international application are not received on the same day by the receiving Office, that Office shall correct the date marked on the request (still leaving legible, however, the earlier date or dates already marked) so that it indicates the day on which the papers completing the international application were received, provided that

(i) where no invitation under Article 11(2)(a) to correct was sent to the applicant, the said papers are received within 30 days from the date on which sheets were first received;

(ii) where an invitation under Article 11(2)(a) to correct was sent to the applicant, the said papers are received within the applicable time limit under Rule 20.6;

(iii) in the case of Article 14(2), the missing drawings are received within 30 days from the date on which the incomplete papers were filed;

(iv) the absence or later receipt of any sheet containing the abstract or part thereof shall not, in itself, require any correction of the date marked on the request.

(b) Any sheet received on a date later than the date on which sheets were first received shall be marked by the receiving Office with the date on which it was received.

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