regulations made under this Act.
24. Withdrawal of application
At any time before the grant of a patent or the notification of rejection of the
application or of refusal to grant a patent, the person who has made an application for
registration of a patent may withdraw the application.
25. Filing date; examination of application as to form and unity of invention
(1) The Registrar shall record as a filing date the date of receipt of the
application, provided that, at the time of receipt, the documents filed shall contain–
(a) the name of the applicant;
(b) a part which on the face of it appears to be a description;
(c) a part which on the face of it appears to be a claim.
(2) If the Registrar finds that the application did not, at the time of receipt, fulfil
the requirements referred to in subsection (1), he shall require the person making the
application to file the required correction.
(3) If the person making the application complies with the invitation referred to in
subsection (2), the Registrar shall record as filing date, the date of receipt of the required
correction, otherwise he shall treat the application as if it has not been filed.
(4) Where the application refers to drawings which in fact are not included in the
application, the Registrar shall require the applicant to furnish him with the missing
drawings and if he complies with the said requirement, the Registrar shall record as a
filing date the date of receipt:
Provided that the drawings were received within thirty days from the date of
receipt of the application.
(5) Where no requirement under subsection (2) or (4) was sent to the person
making an application and that person nevertheless files a correction, pertaining to any
of the requirements under subsection (1), to his application, the Registrar shall record as
filing date the date of receipt of the correction provided that the correction was received
within thirty days from the date of receipt of the application.
(6) Where the request is accompanied by the statement on the right to the patent
referred to in section 18(4), the Registrar shall send a copy of the statement to the
inventor who shall have the right to inspect the application and to receive, at his own
expense, a copy of the application.
(7) The Registrar shall cause an examination to be carried out as to whether
there are any of the following defects with respect to the application–
(a) the request does not comply with the requirements of section 18(3) , (4) or (5)
and the rules pertaining thereto;
(b) the description, the claims and, where applicable, the drawings do not comply
with the physical requirements prescribed by the regulations;
(c) the application does not contain an abstract;
(d) the applicant has not complied with a request made by the Registrar under
section 22;
(e) the fees referred to in section 23 are not paid as provided in the regulations.
(8) If the Registrar finds any of the defects referred to under subsection (1) he
shall require the person making the application to remedy such defects provided that any
corrections made to the application shall not be such that they would require a change of
the filing date and if the applicant does not comply with the said invitation, the Registrar
shall reject the application.
(9) Unless the application is to be the subject of an international-type search
under section 26, the Registrar shall cause an examination to be carried out as to
whether the application appears to comply with the requirement of unity of invention