(b) if the patent application is jointly owned, the application may only be withdrawn if
such withdrawal is requested by all of the joint owners.
A reference to the withdrawn application shall be entered by the entity responsible for
industrial property in the National Register of Patents referred to in the first paragraph of
Article 58 below.
41. The following patent applications shall all be rejected:
(1) those which are not considered inventions as defined by Article 23 above;
(2) those which may not be patented for the purposes of Article 24 above;
(3) those which are not considered industrially applicable inventions, as defined by
Article 25 above;
(4) those which have not been corrected within the time period of three months laid
down in Article 32 above;
(5) those which do not satisfy the provisions of Article 37 above;
(6) those which concern several inventions or more than one invention which are not
linked to each other as defined by Article 38 above.
All rejections of patent applications must be substantiated and notified to the applicant
or his agent by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. A reference to said
rejection shall be entered in the National Register of Patents referred to in the first
subparagraph of Article 58 below.
42. For the purposes of National Defense, the grant and working of an invention patent
may be prohibited, definitively or temporarily, where publication of the invention is liable to
harm the nation’s security.
To this end, any patent application, once the patent application has been corrected,
within the time period of 15 days provided for in the first paragraph of Article 43 below, may
be consulted on a confidential basis on the premises of the entity responsible for industrial
property.
Before the expiry of the time period of 15 days referred to in the previous paragraph, a
decision, either to postpone the grant and disclosure of the patent until the expiry of the time
period of 18 months stipulated in the first paragraph of Article 44 below, or to prohibit
definitively the grant, disclosure and working of said patent, shall be notified to the competent
administrative authority and to the entity responsible for industrial property.
If, once the time period of 15 days referred to in the second subparagraph of this Article
has expired, no decision has been notified to the competent administrative authority and the
entity responsible for industrial property, the report referred to in Article 43 below shall be
conveyed or notified to the applicant or his agent.
In the event of a postponement, and where no decision to maintain or lift the
postponement on the grant of the patent has been notified to the competent administrative
authority and to the entity responsible for industrial property during the time period of 18
months referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 44 below, the aforegoing report shall be
conveyed or notified and the patent shall be granted to the applicant or his agent on the
conditions laid down in Articles 46 to 48 below.
Where there is a definitive prohibition on the grant, disclosure and working of the
patent, the aforegoing report shall not be drawn up and the patent shall not be granted.