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§ 706 Backup Copies - ADMINISTRATIVE INSTRUCTIONS UNDER THE PCT
§ 706 Backup Copies
The backup procedures provided for in Section 706 are optional for both receiving Offices and applicants. It has been included with a view particularly to addressing the concerns of those applicants and receiving Offices which are less familiar with and experienced in the filing and processing of applications in electronic form. It is noted that any applicant who wishes to make a parallel filing on paper of an application filed in electronic form is in any event at liberty to do so. The 16-month time limit corresponds to the time limit for performing certain other actions which must be completed before international publication.
(a) Where an international application was filed in electronic form, the applicant may, if the receiving Office so permits and within 16 months from the priority date, file a backup copy of the application on paper or on a physical medium in accordance with Annex F, provided that the backup copy shall be identified as such and shall be accompanied by a statement by the applicant that the content of the backup copy is identical to that of the application as filed in electronic form.
See Annex F, Appendix IV, paragraph 2(d).
(b) Where an international application was filed in electronic form, the receiving Office may, of its own volition or at the request of the applicant, prepare a backup copy of the application on paper or on a physical medium in accordance with Annex F, provided that the content of the backup copy shall be identical to that of the application as filed in electronic form. The Office shall, upon request by the applicant and subject to the payment of a fee, send to the applicant a copy of such a backup copy.
(c) The receiving Office shall mark any backup copy filed or prepared on paper
A backup copy filed on a physical medium similarly must be appropriately identified as such (see Section 706(a) and (b) and Annex F, Appendix IV, paragraph 2(d)).
with the words "BACKUP COPY" or their equivalent in the language of publication of the international application on the bottom of the first page of the request and on the first page of the description.(d) The applicant may, within 16 months from the priority date, request the receiving Office to substitute a backup copy filed in accordance with paragraph (a), or prepared in accordance with paragraph (b), for the application in electronic form, in which case the backup copy shall be considered to be replacement sheets effecting a correction under Rule 26. The replacement sheets shall be considered to have been received by the receiving Office on the date on which it received the applicant's request.
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