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2012
(3) The countries of the Union may require any person making
a declaration of priority to produce a copy of the application
(description, drawings, etc.) previously filed. The copy, certified as
correct by the authority that received such application, shall not
require any authentication, and may in any case be filed, without fee,
at any time within three months of the filing of the subsequent
application. They may require it to be accompanied by a certificate
from the same authority showing the date of filing, and by a translation.
(4) No other formalities may be required for the declaration of
priority at the time of filing the application. Each country of the
Union shall determine the consequences of failure to comply with the
formalities prescribed by this Article, but such consequences shall in
no case go beyond the loss of the right of priority.
(5)
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Patents and Industrial Designs Act
2012
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G. (1) If the examination reveals that an application for a patent contains
more than one invention, the applicant may divide the application into certain
number of divisional applications and preserve as the date of each the date of the
initial application and the benefit of the right of priority, if any.
(2) The applicant may also, on his own initiative, divide a patent application
and preserve as the date of each divisional application the date of the initial
application and the benefit of the right of priority, if any. Each county of the Union
shall have the right to determine the conditions under which such division shall be
authorised.
H. Priority may not be refused on the ground that certain elements of the
invention for which priority is claimed do not appear among the claims formulated
in the application in the country of origin, provided that the application documents
as a whole specifically disclose such elements.
Subsequently, further proof may be required.
Any person who avails himself of the priority of a previous application
shall be required to specify the number of that application; this number
shall be published as provided for by paragraph (2), above.
E. (1) Where an industrial design is filed in a country by
virtue of a right of priority based on the filing of a utility model, the
period of priority shall be the same as that fixed for industrial designs.
(2) Furthermore, it is permissible to file a utility model in a
country by virtue of a right of priority based on the filing of a patent
application, and vice versa.
F. No country of the Union may refuse a priority or a patent
application on the ground that the applicant claims multiple priorities,
even if they originate in different countries, or on the ground that an
application claiming one or more priorities contains one or more
elements that were not included in the application or applications
whose priority is claimed, provided that, in both cases, there is unity
within the meaning of the law of the country.
With respect to the elements not included in the application or
applications whose priority is claimed, the filing of subsequent
application shall give rise to a right of priority under ordinary
conditions.
I. (1) Application for inventors' certificate filed in a country in which
applicants have the right to apply at their own option either for a patent or for an
inventors' certificate shall give rise to the right of priority provided for by this
Article, under the same conditions and with the same effects as applications for
patents.
(2) In a country in which applicants have a right to apply at their own
option either for a patent or for an inventors' certificate.
ARTICLE 4bis
[Patents: Independence of Patents Obtained for the Same Invention in Different
Countries]
(1) Patents applied for in the various countries of the Union by nationals of
countries of the Union shall be independent of patents obtained for the same
invention in other countries, whether members of the Union or not.
(2) The foregoing provision is to be understood in an unrestricted sense, in
particular, in the sense that patents applied for during the period of priority are
independent, both as regards the grounds for nullity and forfeiture, and as regards
their normal duration.
(3) The provision shall apply to all patents existing at the time when it comes
into effect.