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<p>I bet this would never have gone wrong if the case had been filed
at the RO/IB via ePCT.<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/17/2023 7:56 PM, Andrew Berks via
Pct wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">I just found out the hard way that if a Receiving
Office (RO) issues a declaration under PCT Art. 14(3) that a
PCT application is "considered withdrawn" for insufficient
payment of fees, there is no way to revive the case. Nothing
in the PCT Treaty or Rules allows a reversal of this
declaration. See Rule 16bis.1(c).<br>
<br>
There is also a declaration under Art. 14(4) whereby an
application can be "considered withdrawn" for problems not
related to fees, but things can be done to revive under this
provision, see Rules 29.3 and 29.4. <br>
<br>
I paid fees on Apr. 16, 2023 in a PCT application filed on
Mar. 30, 2023. It turns out the USPTO lowered the fees on Apr.
1, so the search fee for the application filed Mar. 30 was
higher - but I didn't know that. The USPTO lowered fees on
Jan. 1, 2023 and I thought this was across the board, but
later in January they amended the fee schedule and the PCT
fees were restored to the 2022 rates and weren't lowered until
Apr. 1. <br>
<br>
The RO issued an RO133 with an invitation for additional fees,
and I thought it was a mistake. We spoke to the PCT help desk
(and didn't get correct info) and I wrote a letter to the RO
pointing out that I paid the fees on the fee schedule. Without
further explanation, the RO issued the 14(3) declaration (form
RO117). We filed a petition and the petition examiner got back
to me explaining the fee adjustment situation, and the
impossibility of recovering from this problem. <br>
<br>
Bottom line is I acted diligently at all times and paid the
fees that I thought were due, and now I am being told this
patent application is withdrawn with no recourse. <br>
<br>
This is a very harsh rule. Nothing like this that permanently
takes away rights with no appeal or recovery procedure should
be proper. Mistakes and misunderstandings happen all the time
and there should be procedures to revive this kind of problem.
This could happen even if the RO made a mistake. <br>
<br>
This situation doesn't automatically cause a loss of rights
because the application hasn't been published, so under the
Paris Convention the withdrawn PCT case can act as a regular
national filing, but this puts the client back one year (there
was a provisional application here filed Mar. 30, 2022). If
there had been a public disclosure during that year, we would
have a problem but fortunately that didn't happen here. <br>
<br>
If anyone has an idea to fix this, LMK.
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