Article 20
Conditions Governing Rejection
(1) An application that does not fulfill the provisions of Article 12 above may, within a
period of six months from the date of notification that the application cannot be accepted as
filed because it does not have one principal subject, be divided into a number of applications
benefiting from the date of the initial application.
(2) Any application for which the requirements of Article 11, except for its
subparagraph (b), and those of Article 12 have not been fulfilled is defective. The defect shall
be notified to the applicant or his agent, who shall be invited to correct the documents within
a period of three months from the date of the notification. That period may be extended by 30
days, in cases of justifiable need, at the request of the applicant or his agent. The application
so corrected within the said period shall retain the date of the initial application.
(3) In the event of the corrected documents not being provided within the prescribed
period, the application for registration of the utility model shall be rejected.
(4) No application may be rejected under paragraph (3) above without the applicant or
his agent having first been given the opportunity to correct the said application to the extent
and according to the procedure prescribed.
Section III
Improvement Certificates
Article 21
Right to an Improvement Certificate
(1) The creator of a utility model or the persons entitled to a certificate of registration
of a utility model shall, for the entire duration of the utility model, have the right to make
changes, improvements or additions to the creation, complying, for the filing of the
application, with the formalities laid down in Articles 11 and 13 of this Annex.
(2) Such changes, improvements or additions shall be recorded in certificates granted in
the same form as the main certificate of registration which, as from the dates of application
and grant respectively, shall have the same effects as the said main certificate of registration.
(3) Improvement certificates taken out by one of the entitled persons shall benefit all
the others.
Article 22
Duration of the Improvement Certificate
Improvement certificates shall terminate with the main certificate of registration.
However, invalidation of the main certificate of registration shall not invalidate as of right the
corresponding improvement certificate or certificates and, even where absolute invalidity has
been declared under the provisions of Article 34, the improvement certificate or certificates
may survive the main certificate of registration until the normal term of the latter expires,
subject to continued payment of the annual fees that would have been payable had the
certificate of registration not been invalidated.